|  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 Cheung Kong Group includes nine listed
companies with a combined market capitalization of approximately
HK$631 billion (US$80.9 billion). Hutchison Whampoa Limited is
a Fortune Global 500 company.
After his birth in 1928 in Chiu Chow, a coastal city in the southeastern part of China, Mr. Li and his family fled to Hong Kong to avoid the perils of war when he was 12. Shortly thereafter, his father suffered from tuberculosis and passed away in Hong Kong. Shouldering the responsibility of the family, Mr. Li left school before age 15 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 an equitable society can
only be achieved if each and every individual is ready and willing
to do his or her part. In 1980, Mr. Li set up a charitable foundation
with a mission to enhance the impact of its philanthropy through
two strategic objectives: to nurture a culture of giving and to
foster creativity, constructive engagement, and sustainability
through supporting capacity empowerment focused projects. To date,
the Li Ka Shing Foundation and other private charitable Foundations
established by Mr. Li have supported numerous charitable activities
with grants, sponsorships and commitments of HK$10.7 billion
(US$1.37 billion).
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 approximately
6,500 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, 2009 |
