Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠) yesterday brought down the curtain on a storied career, saying he had done “the best I can.”
The 89-year-old, known affectionately in the territory as Superman for his business acumen, stepped down as chairman of his flagship company CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd (長和集團) and handed the reins to his eldest son, Victor Li (李澤鉅), after an upbeat annual general meeting.
A wartime refugee who arrived in Hong Kong from China, Li got his start in 1950 making plastic flowers and over the years built a sprawling conglomerate that has become part of the fabric of Hong Kong life, ranging from Internet services to supermarket chains.
Photo: Reuters
The tycoon yesterday greeted a large crowd of reporters with open arms and big smiles, saying: “One person’s ability cannot bring about change. It requires everyone to work together and share a dream goal.”
Asked about his proudest achievement he said: “I’ve done the best I can.”
He told reporters: “I will miss you all ... you have always been my friends.”
Li announced his retirement in the middle of March when his companies released their full-year results, finally ending mounting speculation about his plans.
A sweeping revamp of his vast empire in 2015 was seen as a sign that he was paving the way for Victor Li to take over.
After leaving the firm Li Ka-shing said he plans to focus on his charity, the Li Ka Shing Foundation, to which he has already pledged one-third of his assets. The foundation funds education and health initiatives around the world.
Li Ka-shing has an estimated fortune of more than US$33.3 billion, according to Bloomberg and Forbes.
Local media followed the tycoon closely during the day, including setting up a livestream outside his mansion and running footage of his early morning exercise routine.
“I’ll keep working, just doing different things,” a smiling Li Ka-shing said to reporters huddled around his car as he set off for the day.
He told local television network i-Cable (有線寬頻) over the telephone before his last meetings with shareholders as chairman that he was confident about his son taking over, having worked with him for decades.
Analysts said while the retirement of one of Hong Kong’s most famous characters is significant, it would not impact the performance of his companies.
“The end of the era is just something symbolic ... I don’t see any changes in terms of the management style,” Kingston Securities (金利豐證券) executive director of research Dickie Wong (黃德几) said, adding the “energetic and healthy” mogul would continue to provide guidance.
CK Hutchison controls diverse assets in more than 50 countries, and has recently counted Europe as a significant income source.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
RSS