Asian Billionaire Making Billions by Launching IPOs
Sir
Ka-shing Li, is a
Hong Kong business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. According to the
Bloomberg Billionaires
Index, as of October 7,
2013 he is the richest person in
Asia, with a net worth of $28.8 billion. He is the
Chairman of the Board of
Hutchison Whampoa Limited (
HWL) and
Cheung Kong Holdings as of 2008; through them, he is the world's largest
operator of container terminals and the world's largest health and beauty retailer.
Considered one of the most powerful figures in Asia, Li was named "Asia's Most
Powerful Man, Li Ka-Ching" by Asiaweek in
2001. His companies make up 15% of the market cap of the
Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Forbes Magazine and the
Forbes family honoured
Li Ka-shing with the first ever "
Malcolm S. Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award" on
5 September 2006, in Singapore. In spite of his wealth, Li has cultivated a reputation for leading a no-frills lifestyle, and is known to wear simple black dress shoes and an inexpensive Seiko wristwatch, which is at odds with the house he owns in one of Hong Kong's most expensive precincts,
Deep Water Bay in
Hong Kong Island. Li is also regarded as one of Asia's most generous philanthropists, donating over
US $1.41 billion to date to charity and other various philanthropic causes. Li is often referred to as "
Superman" in Hong Kong because of his business prowess. Because of his wealth, he is regarded as a celebrity, and even has a wax statue in his likeness (the only non-artist to have one in Hong Kong). See: Li Ka-shing wax statue in Hong Kong.
Billionaire investor businessman
CEO Forbes luxury
Princess Monaco elite exclusive tycoon wealth
Palace house home mansion yacht supercar Monaco wealthy "big boy toys" cash usd dubai money
London Europe uk usa
America high end expensive vip preview "cash money wealth" super markets red apple new
York Greek review interview Li Ka-shing stock ipo listing offering powerful
China Chinese Hong kong super rich.
Li Ka-shing was born in
Chaozhou in
Guangdong province, China, in 1928 to
Teochew descendants. Due to his father's death, he was forced to leave school before the age of 15 and found a job in a plastics trading company where he laboured 16 hours a day. By
1950 he was able 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 expanded by acquiring
Hutchison Whampoa and
Hongkong Electric Holdings Limited in
1979 and
1985 respectively