The Playmaker

Erick Thohir is emerging as one of the Indonesia’s most successful businessmen.

- Ardian Wibisono

Erick Thohir, 48, holds plenty of titles: media and entertainment mogul, sports team owner and, lately, chief of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s reelection campaign team, to name a few. Yet when asked what he considers his biggest achievement so far, he doesn’t hesitate: the Asian Games 2018. Thohir was brought in to lead the Asian Games national committee in 2015 amid concerns over the Games’ small budget and slow venue preparation. However, the successful two-week international sporting event—the second-largest in size after the Olympics—demonstrated Thohir’s expertise and experience in sports and entertainment.

Jokowi lauded Thohir’s success in pulling off the games when he appointed him last September to head his campaign for reelection this April. “Our national campaign team chief, Erick Thohir, as many of you know, is a successful businessman,” Jokowi said during a press briefing just days after the Asian Games ended. “He owns media channels, soccer clubs, a basketball club and many others. It is clear that anything he leads will be a success.” For his multiple successes, the Indonesian licensee edition of Forbes, Forbes Indonesia, named Thohir in January as its businessman of the year.

Thohir was born into a family of businessmen. His father, the late Mochamad “Teddy” Thohir, was the highest-ranking Indonesian in Houston-based Union Carbide’s country office before cofounding Astra International, which grew into the nation’s largest car dealer by sales (and is now part of Hong Kong’s Jardine group). His brother Garibaldi “Boy” Thohir is one of the largest shareholders in Adaro Energy, one of Indonesia’s largest coal producers. Boy was ranked No. 16 on Indonesia’s 50 richest list 2018, with an estimated net worth of $1.7 billion.