|  Mr.
Li Ka-shing is the Chairman of Cheung
Kong (Holdings) Limited and Hutchison
Whampoa Limited. Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited is the flagship
of the Cheung Kong Group, which has business operations in 54
countries around the world and employs more than about 240,000
staff. In Hong Kong alone, the Group includes eight listed
companies with a combined market capitalization of approximately
HK$624 billion (US$80 billion) as at 31 July 2010. Hutchison
Whampoa Limited is a Fortune Global 500 company.
Mr. Li was born in 1928 in Chiu Chow, a coastal city in the southeastern part of China. Mr. Li was forced to quit school when he was 12 and fled to Hong Kong with his family to avoid the perils of war. Shortly thereafter, his father suffered from tuberculosis and passed away in Hong Kong. Before he was 15, Mr. Li had to shoulder the responsibility of providing for his family and found a job in a plastics trading company, where he labored 16 hours a day.
Business Success
By 1950, his hard work, prudence, and his pursuit
of excellence enabled him to start his own company, Cheung Kong
Industries. From manufacturing plastics, Mr. 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 in 1979
and Hongkong Electric Holdings Limited in 1985.
Based in Hong Kong, the Cheung Kong Group’s businesses encompass such diverse areas as property development and investment, real estate agency and estate management, hotels, telecommunications and e-commerce, finance and investments, retail, ports and related services, energy, infrastructure projects and materials, media, and biotechnology. Mr. Li is a strong believer in synergy—the power of combined efforts. This is reflected in the naming of his company Cheung Kong (Holdings) after the Yangtze River that flows through China, a great river that aggregates countless streams and tributaries.
Mr. Li believes that anyone can serve society, but only someone with a giving heart can propel social progress. This is key to creating a positive virtuous cycle in society. Mr. Li Ka-shing established the Li Ka Shing Foundation (LKSF) in 1980 to enhance the impact of philanthropy through three strategic objectives: 1) nurture a culture of giving; 2) support education reform initiatives that encourage long-term thinking, empowerment, creativity, open-mindedness and constructive engagement with a focus on positive and sustainable change; and 3) help advance medical research and services. To date, the Foundation has granted over HK$11.3 billion (US$ 1.45 billion) to these investments.
Mr. Li also founded Shantou
University in 1981 in Shantou, China, to engineer reforms in
China’s education system. Shantou University has nine colleges,
including a medical college with five affiliated hospitals. With
students enrolling from all parts of China, the university has
7,500 undergraduate and 1,500 graduate students.
Special Recognition
In recognition of his philanthropic efforts and his contributions to society, Mr. Li has received Honorary Doctorates from the University of Cambridge, the University of Calgary in Canada, Peking University, and the University of Hong Kong, among others. Mr. Li, a Justice of the Peace, has also received the Grand Officer of the Order Vasco Nunez de Balboa from Panama, The Commander in the Leopold Order from Belgium, Knight (Commander of the Order) of the British Empire, and the Grand Bauhinia Medal of Hong Kong. In January 2005, Mr. Li received the Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur from the French Government. The Times in the United Kingdom and Ernst & Young UK jointly named Mr. Li as the Entrepreneur of the Millennium at the turn of the century.
Mr. Li has two sons. The elder son, Victor, now serves as Managing Director and Deputy Chairman of Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited, Deputy Chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Limited, and Chairman of Cheung
Kong Infrastructure Holdings Limited and CK Life Sciences International (Holdings), Inc. Mr. Li's younger son, Richard, is Chairman of PCCW, one of Asia's leading information technology and telecommunications companies.
31st May, 2010 |
