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$645 billion (US$82.7 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$11 billion (US$1.41 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 Oct, 2009