After 68 years in business, from plastic flowers to property development and energy to telecoms and tech, Hong Kong’s richest man retired this year. But Li Ka-shing’s philanthropic endeavours endure
Tycoon is perhaps the word most commonly associated with Li Ka-shing, one of Hong Kong’s most influential and successful businessmen. But philanthropist always follows. The former chairman of CK Hutchison Holdings, who retired in May two months before turning 90 (but continues his service in the role of senior adviser), has pledged one third of his wealth to philanthropic projects.
At his company’s annual general meeting in March, where he announced his retirement as chairman to dedicate more time to philanthropy, the spry businessman said, “Looking back all these years, it’s my honour to have founded Cheung Kong and to have served society,” giving his charitable endeavours as much regard as his commercial achievements.
Giving back has always been important to Li, in part due to his humble beginnings. Born in 1928 in Chaozhou, Guangdong, Li fled with his family to Hong Kong in 1940 following the Japanese invasion. As a teenager, he found himself sweeping floors in a factory and looking after his father, who was dying of tuberculosis. Things were not easy. But Li had determination and worked his way up to make his first fortune manufacturing plastic flowers.
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From there came property, as he was forced to purchase his factory when its lease was not offered for renewal. By the 1970s Li had become one of the city’s leading property developers, and his investments didn’t end there. He took over Hutchison Whampoa in 1979, becoming the first Chinese to own one of the big British-established trading companies.
For Li, commercial success came with responsibility to society. He set up the Li Ka Shing Foundation in 1980 with the aim of driving social progress through support for education and healthcare. Today the foundation has invested more than HK$20 billion in these areas, 80 per cent of which has centred on projects within Greater China. It is reportedly the second-largest foundation led by a private individual, after the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Li’s business ventures continued to develop, reaching a point where there wasn’t a Hongkonger whose daily life didn’t involve an encounter with part of his empire. He generated electricity, sold groceries, developed skyscrapers and connected people by mobile phone, and then there were his interests in ports and infrastructure.
Today his holdings span a variety of industries and operate in more than 50 countries, and Li is looked to as the Warren Buffett of the East in terms of his business savvy. An early supporter of Facebook, Spotify, Siri and Airbnb, the bespectacled magnate has been dubbed “superman” by local media for his skill at knowing when and where to invest.