Philanthropist funds new campus for business school

Chinese investor Lei Zhang donated $8,888,888 to Yale University to help build a new business school campus and to fund international scholarships.

The size of the gift was chosen because eight is considered a lucky number in China, said the school in New Haven, Connecticut, on its website in a statement disclosing the donation. The pledge was announced in Beijing at an event hosted by Yale.

Zhang, who graduated from the Yale School of Management in 2002, worked for the Yale Investments Office under Chief Investment Officer David Swensen, according to the statement. In 2005, Zhang founded Hillhouse Capital Management Ltd, a Beijing-based investment fund that manages $2.5 billion. The company is named after the New Haven street where the Yale business school is located.