References

1980年，高永文畢業於香港大學醫學院。後來加入瑪嘉烈醫院。他當年師承瑪嘉烈的骨科顧問馮醫生，骨科醫生實習3年，及後選了骨科作為他的專業。1991年加入香港醫院管理局，任職專業事務及人力資源總監。2003 年嚴重急性呼吸系統綜合症肆虐香港期間，時任醫管局行政總裁何兆煒染病入院，高永文臨危受命，擔任醫管局署理行政總裁。2004年12月，他因為前醫管局主席梁智鴻請辭所觸動而離開香港醫院管理局。離職後，高永文合夥開辦骨科診所。2006年，曾為苗圃行動出任「助學大使」。現在為泰山公德會的滅癌獻愛心國際慈善基金會擔任信託人。^[1]

醫學專業資格

• 香港大學內外全科醫學士
• 英國愛丁堡皇家外科醫學院院士
• 香港醫學專科學院院士

Biography

He was born in 1914 in the city of Chaoyang (潮陽, 潮阳) in Guangdong province, and moved to Hong Kong with his father in 1931.^[1] In 1945, and started a factory manufacturing garments in Sham Shui Po for export. Lim earned himself the nickname of “African King” in the 1950s when he exported cheap military uniforms to African countries.^[2] His company, Lai Sun Garment, was founded in 1947, and later listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

He successfully diversified into real estate in 1987 when he set up another vehicle, Lai Sun Development.^[3] In the same year, Lai Sun acquired the Crocodile Garments business.^[1]

Philanthropy

Deeply attached to his hometown and mainland China, he would start a massive program of donations in the 1980s. He founded four secondary schools in Shantou. In 1994, he would found a technical college there with a donation of ¥35 million, and endowed Shantou City Education Foundation with a further ¥10 million.^[1]

He is said to have made in excess of ¥700 million in donations to causes throughout China, of which Shantou’s share was more than half.^[1]

Corruption scandal

Lim was arrested by Taiwan’s Bureau of Investigation on accusations that he offered NT$200 million in bribes to several officials of the Taipei County Land Administration Bureau, including its former director.^[2]

Lim owned some land originally slated for farming and industrial use. After Lim bought it, officials allocated the land for the new National Taipei University, allowing him to sell the land back to Taipei County for more than NT$890 million, an estimated NT$300 million above market value. He is alleged to have bribed officials to rezone the land.^[2]

In 1999, he was found guilty on charges of bribery and money laundering through the land deals, but his prison sentence of 38 months was reduced by one year.

His appeal of this conviction was still under consideration at the time of his death.

Personal

Lim was “married” four times and seven children.^[1] His is legally and officially married to his first wife, Lai Yuen-fong (賴元芳); his second wife, U Po-chu (余寶珠), is a 50-year veteran of the garment industry, and is a non-executive director of Lai Sun Garment.^[2]His third wife is named Gu Shui-ying (顧瑞英) and fourth wife is a divorcee Choy Yim-yu (蔡艷如).

Lim’s eldest son is Lam Kin-ming (林建名), works for Lai Sun’s Crocodile Garments brand.^[1] His second son, born of his second wife, is Peter Lam (林建岳) head of Media Asia Group and the Lai Sun Group. Their relations were under considerable strain when Peter acquired Furama Hotel Enterprises without consulting him.^[2] He has a socialite daughter, Pearl (林明珠), who is estranged.^[2] He has an adopted son, Lam Kin-hong (林建康)^[1]

On December 10, 2004, he gifted his 33.73% stake in Lai Sun Internatational equally to Peter and his mother.^[1] Lim died on February 18, 2005 of a lung infection.^[3]

References

Career

Rather than enter into his father’s business, Richard Li entered into the media business . He cut his deal-making teeth building STAR TV into Asia’s first satellite broadcasting service with a loan from his father,^{[citation needed]} Asia’s richest man Li Ka-shing. He then sold it to global media tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp for US$950 million in 1995 and turned his attention to the Internet.

He sparked a frenzied buying spree for Hong Kong technology stocks in April 1999 when he announced he would turn sleepy telecommunications equipment distributor “Tricom Holdings” into Asia’s premier Internet company under the name PCCW. The stock had recorded a 1,286 percent gain in a single day.^{[citation needed]}

He bought Cable & Wireless HKT in 2000. On August 2000, Li was seen as a saviour when his flagship PCCW outbid rival Singapore Telecommunications for HKT in a US$28.5 billion deal, Asia’s largest corporate takeover, he was dubbed “Superboy” (小小超) by the local media.^{[citation needed]} However, as local euphoria surrounding HKT’s takeover waned and global tech and telecom shares tanked, shareholders’ praise soon turned to criticism.^{[citation needed]}

Li suffered embarrassment in March 2001 when a newspaper ^[1] revealed he attended but did not finish his degree at California’s Stanford University, contrary to PCCW’s claims.

He endured another setback on February 2003 when PCCW made an approach to acquire Britain’s Cable & Wireless, which was rebuffed. PCCW later denied making a formal offer, which has led to an investigation by the Hong Kong stock exchange.^{[citation needed]} The company was later cleared mainly due to insufficiency of evidence.

Li gave up his spot as PCCW’s chief executive officer on July 25, 2003 but remains as chairman and executive director. Jack So, who left his chairman position at Hong Kong subway operator MTR Corp, took up the job of group managing director of PCCW.

In August 2006 Li paid HKD$280 million for a 50% stake in Chinese business paper Hong Kong Economic Journal.^{[citation needed]} Li promised no changes to the editorial content nor layoffs in the short term.^{[citation needed]}

Membership

Besides his business duties, Li is a member of various non-governmental organizations:

• Governor of the World Economic Forum for Information Technologies and Telecommunications
• Member of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) International Councillors’ Group in Washington DC
• Member of the International Advisory Board of the Center for International Development at Harvard University.
• Member of the Global Information Infrastructure Commission and the United Nations Information and Communication Technology Advisory Group.

External links

• The Official Web site of Richard Li
• short bios. at Forbes world richest people 2006

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Li

Early years
Lim Nee Soon, a Teochew, was born in Beach Road in Kampong Glam, Singapore, on 12 November 1879. His grandfather, and father Lim Peng Nguan arrived from Chao-chow-fu (Swatow), China, in a junk, in the 1860s, and became a sundries trader, in Beach Road. Lim Peng Nguan married Teo Lee’s eldest daughter, but he died in 1887, and left his son Nee Soon, then eight years old in the care of his maternal grandfather, Teo Lee (1833) who provided the young orphan boy with a sound Chinese and English education. As a Straits-born Chinese Baba, he was popularly known as Bah Soon, and because of that, Bah Soon Pah Road is named after Lim Nee Soon.

Education
The young lad was first educated in English at St. Joseph’s Institution, and then later, at the Anglo Chinese School. We have no details of his Chinese education.

Early career
Nee Soon’s first job was with timber merchants, Messers. Tan Tye & Co. He took great interest in rubber planting, and in 1904, was an assistant manager in Tan Chor Nam’s rubber estate. His next job was acting manager of United Singapore Rubber Estates Ltd. In 1909, when Sembawang Rubber Estates was formed, Nee Soon became its first General Manager, and later, its Consultant. He resigned in 1911 to start his own business as a rubber and pineapple planter and rubber factory owner. He was consultant to other rubber estate owners too, and by then he had already engaged in business as a merchant, contractor, and general commission agent.

History of rubber
Henry Nicholas Ridley (b. Norfolk 1855 - d. 1956, Kew, Surrey, England), Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, developed an improved rubber-tapping technique, and he was the strongest advocate of rubber-planting as a crop. Early this century the automobile industry boomed and rubber tyres were in great demand. In 1910, the government opened more than 2,000 acres of reserved land in Nee Soon to encourage rubber-planting. Rubber was Malaya and Singapore’s export wealth for more than 50 years.

Business enterprises
In the wake of declining fortunes from gambier an pepper, Lim converted large tracts of gambier and pepper plantations in Yishun into rubber and pineapple ones. In 1911, Lim founded Lim Nee Soon & Co., chop Thong Bee, with an office at No 5 Beach Road; and in 1912, he built a row of shophouses and dwellings at Sembawang Road, and established chop Thong Aik Rubber Factory in Kangkar(chop refers to the traditional seal or official stamp bearing the Chinese characters of a company name, used for legal endorsements etc.). His businesses quickly flourished. He owned large rubber estates, 6,000 acres of rubber plantations in Singapore, and more than 20,000 acres in Johore and other small estates. In 1913 he started Nee Soon Rubber Factory in Choa Chu Kang, and also cultivated pineapples which was a good inter-crop with slow-growing rubber trees. His great interest in the pineapple industry won him the nickname, “Pineapple King”. His generosity is remembered during the World War I, when he presented pineapples to the officers and men of H.M.S. Malaya during the ship’s stopover in Singapore. For his liberal pineapple gifts to the troops, he received special acknowledgement from Brigadier-General Ridout.

In 1918, his address was 33, Robinson Road, and in that year, he was also Director of many companies, as follows: Chinese Commercial Bank, Eastern United Assurance Co. Ltd. Ulu Pandan Rubber Estates Ltd., United Sawmills Ltd., Hanyang Plantations Ltd., and Kulim Plantations Ltd.

1920s
Chop Thong Aik Rubber Factory at Kangkar was renamed Nee Soon & Sons Ltd. Rubber Works. In 1928, “Rubber King” Lee Kong Chian took over Nee Soon & Sons Ltd., and renamed it Lee Rubber. In 1925, Lim was listed as one of the founders, and executive of the following companies: Overseas Chinese Bank (Chairman), Chinese Commercial Bank Ltd. (vice-Chairman), Overseas Assurance Corporation (Chairman), Eastern United Assurance Corporation Ltd. (Director), and Nee Soon & Sons (Chairman).

1930s
The 1930s was the decade of depression. By then, Lim had sold most of his rubber holdings, but held directorships in many banks and other financial institutions. In early 1936, he was overworked, and had been feeling unwell, and was advised to take a holiday. He took a trip to China

Property
Lim Nee Soon owned Marsiling Estates, Yunan Estates, and Eho Yuan Estates, all in Singapore. By 1924, a large area along the Seletar River were his rubber plantations, and he also built shophouses and dwellings at Seletar Village which was eventually named Nee Soon Village after him. The list of his large holdings in Johore is unavailable.

Community service
Lim took a keen and active interest in public affairs and was very charitable benefactor. He was one of the co-founders of the Ee Hoe Hean Club, with Gan Eng Seng (1844-99) and Dr. Lim Boon Keng (1869-1957). He donated burial land for the Chinese community at Seletar. In 1915, during the Singapore Mutiny, Nee Soon succeeded single-handed in persuading six mutineers to surrender to the government without resistance. He was made a Justice of the Peace in 1925.

He was also a member of the Singapore Rural Board (1918-1925), and Member of the Reformatory Board (1918-1925), and served on the committees of Raffles College and St. Andrew’s Medical Mission Hospital. Mr. Tan Kah Kee and Lim Nee Soon founded the Chinese High School, the first Chinese secondary school in Singapore, which opened on 21 Mar 1919. He had donated $10,000 to the school’s building fund, and, from its beginnings, was made the school’s treasurer. In 1919 too, he was made President of Thong Chi Yi Yuen Hospital. He was President of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce for two periods, from 1921-1922, and 1925-1926, and a Member of the British Malaya Opium Committee in 1924. With other Teochew leaders, they formed the Singapore Teo Chew Poit Ip Huay Kuan in 1929.

The diplomat
He travelled extensively in the Far East, and visited China several times. In 1916, he had the honour of an audience with President Li Yuen Hung at Tientsin, and during this visit, he witnessed the North China great flood. In that same year, he also had an audience with acting President Feng Kuo Chang in Peking, and ex-President Dr. Sun Yat Sen (b. 12 November 1866, Zhongshan, Guangdong, China - d. 12 March 1925, Dongcheng, Beijing) in Canton, where he also interviewed Premier Tuan Chi Jui. In 1925 he was Honorary Adviser to the President of China, and to the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, in Peking (today’s Beijing).

Family
Wife: Wi Pek Hay.
Sons: Three sons; the two elder sons, the eldest Lim Chong Kuo (Chong Kuo Road was named after him in 1955) and Lim Chong Pang (b. 6 June, 1904 Singapore - d. 1956, Singapore; married Lee Poh Neo, and Chong Pang Village is named after him) were first educated at St. Andrew’s School in Singapore, and later at Stephen’s College in Hong Kong. After their studies, they returned to Singapore to help in their father’s business. Chong Kuo married a daughter of Tan Kah Kee. The other son was Chong Min.
Daughters: Six daughters, three married at the time of his death; Mrs Oei Tjong Tiong, Mrs See Bong Him and Mrs Tan Tuck Hoe. The others were Mui Gek, Lek Gek and Seok Gek.

Awards
For his services and efforts in promoting Chinese industries abroad, the Peking (today Beijing) Government awarded him the 2nd Class Order of Chiaho Decoration (Excellent Crop).

Death
He had been unwell, and was on a holiday trip. He was heading home from China, when he died in Shanghai, on 2 March 1936, at the comparatively young age of 57. His embalmed body was to have been brought back to Singapore by his eldest son, Lim Ching Kuo, but the Nanking (today Nanjing) Government expressed their desire to give Lim Nee Soon a State funeral, and have him buried in Nanking, near the mausoleum of his old friend Dr Sun Yat Sen.

Political and revolutionary activities
Lim Nee Soon has always been recognized by all Chinese as one of the best friends of great revolutionary leader, Dr Sun Yat Sen , whom he befriended and helped with funds to set the revolutionary forces on the uprising against the Manchu feudal rule in China. The Manchurians ruled China for 267 years during the Qing dynasty, until the revolution led by Dr. Sun Yat Sen overthrew the Manchus and brought about the birth of the Republic of China on 1 January, 1912.

In 1904, Lim Nee Soon contributed $50,000 to found the revolutionary newspaper, the T’oo Nan Daily (Thoe Lam Jit Poh). In early 1905, Dr Sun Yat Sen stumbled upon the Thoe Lam Jit Poh 1905 Almanac, superscribed with a motto urging Chinese nationals ‘to relieve themselves of Manchuria’s control in China’. It was produced by Singapore Chinese sympathizers, Tan Chor Nam (b. 1884, Singapore - d. 1971, Singapore), Teo Eng Hock (b. 1871 Singapore - d. 1958, Singapore) and his nephew Lim Nee Soon. He wanted to meet them. On 6 April 1906, at Wang Ching Yuan House (the former name of Sun Yat Sen Villa), Dr Sun started a political party, the first Singapore branch of the T’ung Meng Hui (Chinese Revolutionary League), with co-founders Tan Chor Nam as chairman, Teo Eng Hock , and his nephew Lim Nee Soon, Hsu Tzu Lin, as office bearers. Their main activities were to create awareness of the revolution and garner support from the overseas Chinese people, collect funds to help fight the cause, and assemble volunteers to join in the uprisings. In the fall of 1907, they produced the short-lived newspaper, the Chong Shing Yit Pao (Chong Shing Daily) with Nee Soon as its manager. It failed due to people’s concern of showing open support for the revolution, as they feared arrest on their return home to China. On 15 December 1911, Dr Sun Yat Sen made his last visit to Singapore, and Nee Soon was among the local leaders, who entertained Dr Sun and his entourage. After Lim Nee Soon’s death, his son Lim Chong Pang, related much of this story in the Sunday Times of how Nee Soon had played a part in the birth of the Republic of China. The T’ung Meng Hui was reorganized as the Kuomintang, and its Singapore branch in 1912 had Dr Lim Boon Keng and Lim Nee Soon among the first office-bearers.

Nee Soon Village, Nee Soon Road, Bah Soon Pah Road were named after him.

Today
In line with the education and use of Mandarin as the official Chinese Language, much of Singapore’s names in Chinese dialects were translated to Pinyin, so the ‘Nee Soon’ place names became Yishun! A statue of Lim Nee Soon stands in his honour, at Yishun Town Park.

Author
Vernon Cornelius-Takahama, 2001

References
Low, C. C. (1994). Sun Yat-Sen: Pictorial stories of “father of China” (pp. 8, 68-69, 80-88, 237-248). Singapore: Canfonian.
(Call no.: R 951.041092 LOW)

Song, O. S. (1984). One hundred years’ history of the Chinese in Singapore (pp. 34, 364, 473, 516-517, 536). Singapore: Oxford University Press.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 SON)

Turnbull, C. M. (1989). A History of Singapore: 1819-1988 (pp. 108, 109-112, 132-133). Singapore: Oxford University Press.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 TUR)

Wakin, E. (1997). Asian Independence Leaders. In, Facts on file (pp. 13-16). New York: Facts on File News Service.
(Call no.: R 950.40922 WAK)

The encyclopedia of the Chinese overseas (p. 205). (1998). Singapore: Landmark Books & Archipelago Press: Chinese Heritage Center.
(Call no.: RSING 304.80951 ENC)

A History of Singapore (pp.69-70). (1996). Singapore: Oxford University Press 1996.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 HIS)

A pictorial history of Nee Soon Community (p. 43). (1987). [Singapore]: The grassroots organisations of Nee Soon Constituency: National Archives: Oral History Department.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 PIC)

Who’s who in Malaya 1939 (p. 92). (1939). Singapore: Fishers Ltd & Mass Printers.
(Call no.: RCLOS 920.0595 WHO)

Who’s who in Malaya, 1925: A biographical record of prominent members of Malaya’s community (p. 120) [Microfilm: NL 6705]. (1925). Singapore: Fishers Ltd.
(Call no.: RCLOS 920.0595 WHO)

Who’s who in Malaya, 1918: A biographical record of prominent members of Malaya’s community [Microfilm: NL 5829]. (1918). Singapore: Dorset & Co.
(Call no.: RCLOS 920.9595 WHO)

MediaCorp Radio Singapore. ( 2004). Did you know? Retrieved January 7, 2004, from newsradio.mediacorpradio.com/did_you_know.htm


Further Readings
Tyers, R. K. (1976). Singapore, then & now (pp. 459-462). Singapore: University Education Press.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 TYE)

Lim Nee Soon To Be Buried in Nanking. (1936, April 12). The Sunday Times, p. 1.

Source: http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_526_2005-01-07.html

Ma Huateng, male, Han nationality, is a native of Chaoyang, Guangdong province. He was born in 1971 and is a graduate of the Computer Science Department of Shenzhen University.

Ma has spent his entire career in computing. He joined Runxun Communications Development Co. Ltd. in 1993. He later joined Tencent Computer System Co., Ltd. In 999, Tencent developed an Internet-based instant communication tool independently, i.e. (Tencent Instant Messenger, short form is TIM or Tencent QQ). After three years of development, the Tencent user group has become the largest registered user group on the Internet. Tencent QQ has become the largest instant communication service network. 

Wong Kwong Yu, (Chinese: 黄光裕), also often called Huang Guangyu in mainland China, is the Chairman of Gome Group, which is the largest consumer electronics retailer in China. He had a net worth of US$1.7 billion as of 2005, according to Forbes Magazine’s world’s richest people ranking. [1] In 2005, the richest man in China according to Time magazine.[2]

In 2006, he was forced by regulations to sell off 25% of Gome Group, as listed in Hong Kong, making his net worth US$2.5 billion, according to some sources. His amibitious goals include “making Gome one of the 500 largest companies in the world by 2008″.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huang_Guang_Yu

Early Years

Born in Hong Kong, he holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Structural Engineering from Stanford.

Victor Li was kidnapped in 1996 by notorious gangster “Big Spender” Cheung Chi Keung, and released after a reported ransom of HK$1 billion was paid.^[1]

Business career

Li currently holds the following positions:

• Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited
• Chairman of Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Limited
• Chairman of CK Life Sciences Int’l., (Holdings) Inc.
• Deputy Chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Limited
• Executive Director of Hongkong Electric Holdings Limited
• Co-Chairman of Husky Energy Inc.
• Director of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited

Other Positions

Victor Li serves as a member of the Standing Committee of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of the People’s Republic of China. He is also a member of the Executive Committtee of the Commission on Strategic Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Canadian Connection

Li immigrated to Canada and spent time with investment bank Wood Gundy Incorporated, a company later acquired by CIBC (a major Canadian bank). He is the Co-Chairman of Canadian-based Husky Energy.

References

Considered one of the most powerful figures in Asia, Li was named “Asia’s Most Powerful Man” by Asiaweek in 2001. Forbes Magazine and the Forbes family honored Li Ka-shing with the first ever “Malcolm S. Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award” on September 5, 2006, in Singapore.^[4] In spite of his wealth, Li has a reputation for leading a no-frills lifestyle, and is known to wear simple black dress shoes and an inexpensive Seiko wristwatch. Li is also regarded as one of Asia’s most generous philanthropists, donating over $1 billion USD to date to charity and other various philanthropic causes. ^[5]

Li is often referred to as “Superman” in Hong Kong because of his business prowess. His peers in Hong Kong include Lee Shau Kee of the Henderson Land Development, New World Development’s Cheng Yu-tung, Kwok family of Sun Hung Kai Properties, and Henry Fok Ying-tung, among others.

Early life

Li Ka-shing was born in Chaozhou in the Guangdong Province, China in 1928. In 1940 the Li family fled to Hong Kong to avoid the turmoils in China.^[6] Li’s family stayed at the home of his wealthy uncle. The arrogance of Li’s uncle with his immense wealth ignited Li’s determination to make a place for himself in the world.

Li’s father died in Hong Kong. Shouldering the responsibility of looking after the livelihood of the family, Li was forced to leave school before the age of 15 and found a job in a plastics trading company where he labored 16 hours a day. By 1950, his hard work, prudence and his pursuit of excellence had enabled him to start his own company, Cheung Kong Industries. From manufacturing plastics, Li led and developed his company into a leading real estate investment company in Hong Kong that was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1972. Cheung Kong continued to expand by acquiring Hutchison Whampoa and Hongkong Electric Holdings Limited in 1979 and 1985 respectively.^[7]

Businesses

A Harvard Business School article summarizes Li’s career in the following way:

From his humble beginnings in China as a teacher’s son, a refugee, and later as a salesman, Li provides a lesson in integrity and adaptability. Through hard work, and a reputation for remaining true to his internal moral compass, he was able to build a business empire that includes: banking, construction, real estate, plastics, cellular phones, satellite television, cement production, retail outlets (pharmacies and supermarkets), hotels, domestic transportation (sky train), airports, electric power, steel production, ports, and shipping.^[8]

Li’s businesses cover almost every facet of life in Hong Kong, from electricity to telecommunications, from real estate to retail, from shipping to the Internet. The Cheung Kong Group’s market capitalization is HK$1,230 billion ($157 billion USD) as of January 2008 (This includes some double counting of the Group’s controlling stake in 12 listed companies around the world). The group operates in 55 countries and employs over 260,000 staff worldwide.

Plastics

In 1950, after learning how to operate a plant, Li founded a plastics manufacturing company in Hong Kong with funds borrowed from family and friends and contacts he cultivated as a salesman. Always anxious to strengthen his company’s position, Li read trade publications and business news religiously. Li noticed the growing wealth of the west and decided to supply the world with high quality plastic flowers at bargain prices. Li learned the sophisticated technique of mixing colour with plastics that resemble real flowers. After retooling his shop and hiring the best technicians he could find, he prepared for weeks for the plant visit of a large foreign buyer. Impressed with the quality of Li’s plant, the buyer placed a large order. A few years later, Li grew to be the largest supplier of plastic flowers in Asia and made a fortune selling them. Later on, when people ask him if he considered himself lucky, Li’s response was “No, I wasn’t lucky. I worked hard to achieve the goals I set for myself.”

Real estate

In 1958, unable to renew the lease for his company, Li was forced to purchase and develop a site by himself. Li was diligent in bidding for land; his break came during the 1960s. When the 1967 riots inspired by the Cultural Revolution on the Mainland were in full swing, many fled Hong Kong. As a result, property prices plummeted. Li, believing the political crisis would be temporary, and property prices would eventually rise, started buying parcels of land at low prices. By 1971, Li officially named his real estate development company Cheung Kong (長江實業有限公司), named after Cheung Kong, (Chang Jiang or the Yangtze River) the longest river in China. The name of Li’s company signals his philosophy that success is predicated on the contributions of countless others, as the Yangtze River is fed by countless tributaries.

In the spring of 1992, Deng Xiaoping traveled to Shanghai and Guangdong and delivered many important public addresses. He said that China was implementing an open door policy and welcomed foreign investments. After Deng’s southern tour, Li’s group began to make large scale investments in the mainland. (source: China Profiles interview; 1998 Mainland Edition, Issue No. 103, p. 11 and Overseas Edition, Issue No 94, p. 11) Cheung Kong Holdings was publicly listed in 1972. During board meetings, Li stated on a number of occasions his goal of surpassing the Jardines-owned Hongkong Land as a leading developer. (source: Taiwan’s Business Weekly, December 2007, Issue 1047, p. 160-161).

Jardines was founded in 1832 by two Scottish merchants William Jardine and James Matheson. They profited greatly by selling opium to local Chinese, which they sourced cheaply from Bengal and sold at exorbitant prices. The excess cash was used to buy land, construct offices and warehouses, deal drugs, export tea, and operate as a shipping insurance agent. In 1872, Jardines withdrew from the opium trade and diversified into sugar refining, textiles, property development and tramways. By going legitimate, the company became the biggest landlord in the territory’s central business district and transformed Hong Kong into a major international business center.

The successful bid by Cheung Kong for development sites above the Central and Admiralty MTR stations in 1977 was the key to challenging Hongkong Land as the premier property developer in Hong Kong. Despite its size, Jardines decided in the 1980s to protect itself from hostile takeover by Li or other outside investors. The company implemented a cross-shareholding structure that was designed to place control in the hands of Britain’s Keswick family despite their less than 10% holdings in the group. In 1984, the company also moved its legal domicile from Hong Kong to the British colony of Bermuda in anticipation of the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997.

Ports and electricity

In 1979, Li closed a unique transaction and acquired his current flagship company Hutchison Whampoa Limited from one of today’s largest banks HSBC. The purchase created a massive conglomerate with business interests in multiple industries. The most notable branch of his business is the investment in container port facilities around the world, including in Hong Kong, China, UK, Rotterdam, Panama, Bahamas and many developing countries. All in all, his business controls 13% of all container port capacity in the world.

Retail

A subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa, the A.S. Watson Group is a leading retail operator with over 7,800 stores. Its portfolio encompasses popular retail brands in Europe such as Superdrug (UK), Marionnaud (France), Kruidvat (Benelux countries), and in Asia including health & beauty specialist Watson’s Your Personal Store, PARKnSHOP supermarkets, Great Food Hall, TASTE food galleria, gourmet boutique style fine food hall, Fortress electrical appliance stores, Watson’s Wine Cellars and Nuance-Watson airport duty free shops. ASW is also a major producer and distributor of water products and beverages in the region with Watsons Water the top selling brand in Hong Kong.

Asset trader

Hutchison Whampoa group has the reputation of being an astute asset trader. It frequently builds up new businesses and sells them off. Huge profits were obtained in the sale of its interest in Orange to Mannesmann Group in 2001, making a profit of $15.12 billion. In 2006 Li sold 20% of Hutchison’s ports business to Singapore rival PSA Corp., making a $3.12 billion profit on a $4 billion deal.^[9]

Recently Hutchison Telecommunications, nearly 50 percent owned by Hutchison Whampoa, sold a controlling stake of 67% in Hutchison Essar, a joint venture Mobile operator in India, to Vodafone for $11.1 billion. It had invested roughly $2 billion earlier.^[10]

Pyramid structure

Like many Asian conglomerates, the Li Ka-shing group is structured to retain disproportionate control without incurring the cost of owning an equivalent economic interest. This separation between control and interest is accomplished through pyramid structure, dual-class equities and cross-holdings. While such structures are rarer in the US and UK, they do exist. For instance, Google uses a dual-class structure to give its founders and insiders 10 votes for each class-B share while the general public is offered class-A shares with 1 vote each.

Awards & Honours

• Grand Bauhinia Medal
• Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• Commander, Légion d’honneur

Others

His two sons Victor Li (李澤鉅) and Richard Li (李澤楷) are also major players in the Hong Kong business scene. Victor Li works directly with his father as managing director and deputy chairman of Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited, while Richard Li is the head of PCCW, the largest telecom company in Hong Kong. They are both Canadian citizens. One of the most notable business acts by Victor Li was his deal to acquire majority shareholding of Air Canada, the largest and national airline of Canada in 2004 while the airline was under bankruptcy protection. The deal fell through after the labor unions of the airline refused to negotiate regarding their pension.

Besides business through his flagship companies Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa, Li Ka-shing also personally has extensively invested in real estate in Singapore and Canada. He was the single largest shareholder of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), the third largest bank in Canada until the sale of his share in 2005 (with all proceedings donated, see below). He is also the majority shareholder of a major energy company, Husky Energy, based in Alberta, Canada.

In January 2005, Li announced plans to sell his $1.2 billion CAD stake in the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, with all proceeds going to private charitable foundations established by Li including the Li Ka Shing Foundation in Hong Kong and the Li Ka Shing (Canada) Foundation based in Toronto, Canada.^[11]

Li has some real estate interest in Vancouver, specifically in connection with the development of the extensive urban renewal project of Yaletown.

Philanthropy

Li is also a noted philanthropist. In 2006, Li pledged to donate one-third of his fortune to charity and philanthropic projects throughout the world — a pledge estimated at over $10 billion USD.^[12]

• His 1981 donations resulted in the founding of Shantou University, near his hometown of Chaozhou.

• Li was invited by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping to become a member of the board of directors of the China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) to support the economic reform initiatives that Deng was attempting to develop. CITIC is China’s largest conglomerate and is 42 percent owned by the government of China. It serves as the chief investment arm of China’s central government and holds ministry status on the Chinese State Council. Li served only one year on CITIC’s board before resigning his directorship. For many years, he served as Vice Chairman of the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank (HSBC).

• The Li Ka Shing Library at the Singapore Management University is also named in his honor after a US$11.5 million donation in 2002 to the higher education institution.^[13]

• After the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake disaster, he reportedly pledged a total of US$3 million.

• In 2005, Li announced a HK$1 billion (US$128 million) donation to the Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong. It was renamed to Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine on January 1, 2006 which provoked controversy between the university and a few alumni of the faculty, notably Kwok Ka Ki, over the naming procedures of the university.

• Moreover, on March 9, 2007, Li Ka-shing contributed $100 million to the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in the National University of Singapore. Also, “to honour and recognise Dr Li’s support and generosity, LKY SPP will name one of its three buildings at the historic Bukit Timah Campus after him”.^[14]

• Li Ka-shing donated CAD$25 million to St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto to found the Li Ka-Shing Knowledge Institute, which will serve as a medical research and education centre in downtown Toronto. ^[15]

To date, Mr. Li has given away well over (US)$1 billion in philanthropy via his Li Ka-Shing Foundation and other private charitable Foundations ^[16]

Incidents and rumors

• Victor Li (李澤鉅) was kidnapped by the gangster Cheung Chi Keung (張子強) in 1996. Ransom was set at HK$1 billion. Li paid the ransom and Cheung fled Hong Kong. Two years later, Cheung was involved in another high-profile kidnapping of billionaire Walter Kwok. Fleeing to the mainland, Cheung was immediately arrested, accused of other crimes and executed in Guangzhou.

• The death of Li’s wife (Chong Yuet Ming 莊月明) is often spoken of as a “mystery”, although she died of heart disease. The rumors, which included suicide, were started by a gossip tabloid, Next Magazine.

• He came under strong controversy when University of Hong Kong renamed its medical school into Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine in 2005, after receiving HK$1Billion donation from him.^{[17] [18]} However, Solina Chau, Director of the Li Ka Shing Foundation, stated the University asked to use Li’s name in order to “kick-start a fund-raising program.”^[19]

See also

• The Hongs
• China Rich List
• List of billionaires

Press

• Time Asia ^[20]
• Chronicle of Philanthropy ^[21]
• Wall Street Journal ^[22]
• Financial Times (UK) ^[23]
• L’Expansion (French Press) ^[24]

References

External links

• Li Ka-shing Biography, Reference for Business
• Cheung Kong Holdings Limited
• Hutchison Whampoa Limited
• Li Ka Shing Foundation - founded by Li Ka-shing, dedicated to funding education and medical care.
• World’s Most Powerful Men
• New Ruler of the Information Superhighway

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Ka-shing