Richard Tsai comes from a wealthy Taiwanese family. His father Tsai Wan-tsai founded Fubon Financial Holdings. The business, now run by Richard, and his brother Daniel Tsai, has interests in several financial services including securities, banking and insurance. As well as graduating from National Taiwan University, Richard also attained a Master of Business Administration at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business.

Along with his brother, Richard Tsai is a large investor in momo.com a business specializing in e-commerce and internet shopping, and mobile phone service provider Taiwan Mobile. His cousins T.Y. Tsai, Tsai Cheng-da and Tsai Hong-tu are also Taiwan based billionaires.