taipan

A foreign businessman in China; a tycoon.

Of course it was very sad, but the taipan could hardly help a smile when he thought how many of these young fellows he had drunk underground.

The British taipans stood in one sodden circle with their womenfolk, like bored officers at a garrison get-together.

A tycoon (usually of Chinese Filipino background)

Any venomous elapid snake of the genus Oxyuranus, found in Australia and New Guinea.