Born in 1928 in Chaozhou, Guangdong Province, where his father was an elementary school principal, the family fled to Hong Kong in 1940 to escape the oppression of the Japanese invaders. Two years later, his father died of illness. In order to support his mother and three siblings, Li was forced to drop out of school to earn a living.
Starting out, Li worked as a salesman for a toy manufacturing company. Despite his busy work schedule, Li Ka-shing, who was not in school, still spent his spare time going to night school to study and refresh his culture. As a result of hard work and learning, smart and capable, less than 20 years old, he was promoted to general manager of the plastic toy factory. Two years later, Li Ka-shing seize the opportunity, with the usual frugal savings of 7,000 U.S. dollars to start their own plastic factory, he named it "Cheung Kong Plastic Factory".
In 1958, Li Ka-shing began to invest in the real estate market. His unique vision and shrewd development strategy made "Cheung Kong" quickly became a major real estate development and investment in Hong Kong's industrial companies. When Cheung Kong went public in 1972, its shares were oversubscribed 65 times. By the end of the 1970s, he was already ahead of his peers.
Lee became the first Chinese to buy a British firm when Cheung Kong bought Hutchison Whampoa in 1979, and the first Chinese to buy a British firm in 1984. In 1984, Mr. Li Ka-shing acquired a controlling stake in the Hongkong Electric Company. Mr. Li is currently the Chairman of the Board and Managing Director of Cheung Kong Holdings Limited and Chairman of the Board of Hutchison Whampoa Limited. In December 1995, the market capitalization of the three listed companies of the Cheung Kong Group totaled more than US$42 billion.
Li Ka-shing to open business school in Beijing
Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing's Li Ka-shing Foundation will open a business school in Beijing's prime Wangfujing Street that may be the most expensive in Asia, with an estimated tuition of 240,000 yuan a year, which will be formally inaugurated in September this year.
The higher education institution, called Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB), is divided into two parts, with the first batch of Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) ****150 students to be enrolled in September this year, and the other MBA program to be enrolled in March next year, with classes to be held in Shenzhen. "A spokesman for the Li Ka-shing Foundation said yesterday that details of the school's establishment would be announced later. He said Li had made donations to numerous educational organizations and medical projects on the mainland over the years, and believed that no one would consider these donations to be for profit.
CKGSB is the first privately-run MBA program on the mainland, and its first dean, Xiang Bing, former director of the EMBA training center at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management, said the school is a personal donation, so it is not subject to the terms of the percentage of foreign ownership or the requirement that it cannot make a profit. As to whether the qualifications are recognized on the mainland, Xiang Bing said the business administration courses attach importance to standards and strengths, and there is no need to dwell on the question of whether the degrees are recognized.
Li Ka-shing's assets up 10% as Asia's richest man
This year, Li Ka-shing, chairman of Hong Kong's Cheung Kong Holdings, beat Masayoshi Son, president of Japan's Software Bank, to take back the top spot, with a total asset of US$12.6 billion, an increase of US$1.3 billion from last year, and ranking 18th globally, up three spots from last year.
Li was born in 1928 in Chaozhou, Guangdong province, and his hometown was invaded by the Japanese when he was 11 years old. His father had to leave his hometown and live in Hong Kong with his family. Li Ka-shing in Hong Kong only two years of schooling, his father died of illness, the family fell into difficulties, in order to provide for his mother, two brothers and a sister, at the age of 13 years old, he resolutely took up the burden of the youngest head of the family, dropped out of school to work, and stepped into a variety of society.
Starting out, Li worked for a toy? making company as a salesman. Although the work is busy, but the school dropout Li Ka-shing still use the spare time to night school to study, remedial culture. As a result of his diligence and shrewdness, he was promoted to the top in his 20s. At the age of less than 20, he was promoted to general manager of a plastic toy factory. Two years later, Li Ka-shing seized the opportunity to use the usual frugal savings of 7,000 U.S. dollars to start their own plastic factory, he named it 'Cheung Kong Plastic Factory'. Speaking of the hardships of the start-up, Li Ka-shing has a lot of feelings, full of passion: 'When the Cheung Kong Plastic Factory was only producing some ordinary plastic toys and household goods, through the export of foreign banks to Europe and the United States. In the first 10 years, to work seven days a week, at least 16 hours a day, but also at night for self-study, coupled with the lack of manpower in the factory, they have to do both the purchase of goods, orders, etc., and often sleep deprivation, the morning must be two alarm clocks in order to wake up, so that every day can be said to be the saddest moments.
Hong Kong's "top ten emperors of wage earners" six to Li Ka-shing
Hong Kong's "top ten emperors of wage earners" 2000 annual salary totaled up to 460 million Hong Kong dollars (the same below), an average of more than 20 million yuan a year. Among them, Hong Kong's richest man Li Ka-shing's subordinates accounted for six, and ranked first and second Fok Kin Ning and Yuan Tianfan, income more than 100 million yuan, in the economic downturn, can still enjoy the rich and famous, worthy of the emperor of the wage earners. Zhou Hu Mufang; and Frank Luk, finance director of Hutchison Whampoa, executive director of CKI, executive director of HEC, non-executive director of CKI and chairman of Tom.com.
The other four kings of wage earners are Ho Lik-kan, who abruptly resigned as managing director of cell phone provider Sunday in mid-December last year, earning $29 million a year; Pang Chak-lun, executive chairman of First Pacific, whose business is mainly in Indonesia and the Philippines, earning $24 million a year; Lam Ko-yin, vice-chairman of Henderson Land, vice-chairman of Henderson Development, executive director of Henderson China, and a non-executive director of the Hong Kong and China Gas Co. earns $22.5 million a year; and John Pang, chairman of HSBC Holdings, earns $18.03 million a year.
Fok Kin Ning, who tops the list of top wage earners, is also managing director of Hutchison Whampoa, vice-chairman of Hongkong Electric, vice-chairman of Cheung Kong Infrastructure, and executive director of Cheung Kong Holdings, with a total income of HK$135 million.
In 1999, Hutchison Whampoa "sold Orange" (Orange) made 100 billion dollars, Managing Director Fok Kin Ning was awarded 210 million yuan honorarium during the period, no one objected to it. 2000 telecom stock bubble burst, Fok Kin Ning successfully after the success of the directors were awarded another 120 million yuan honorarium, and reigning Hong Kong's first emperor of the workforce, the more visible the power of the Taipan. The company's business is a very important part of the company's success," he said.
Ho Wong, following the sale of telecommunications business Orange in 1999 to earn 118 billion yuan, the sale of Mannesmann in 2000 to earn another 50 billion yuan, the same year the sale of Voicestream to earn another 30 billion yuan, and then 50 billion yuan to win the third generation of cell phone (3G) license in the United Kingdom, triggering the global telecom companies to compete for the third-generation cell phone (3G) license boom, and then in Germany, the third generation of cell phone (3G) license In Germany, Hutchison withdrew from the bidding for the third-generation cell phone (3G) licenses, crushing the bubble with one hand.
Hutchison accused of being a "big trader"
Hutchison made a profit of nearly 200 billion yuan in a series of miraculous deals, but has been accused by foreign media of being a "big trader". Fok strongly denied: "We buy assets, send people to do, when the capital value is mature sell, according to the tax law, this is the realization of capital assets (capital assets of the realization), not trading (trading)."
While the company's reputation as a billionaire kingpin was preserved for the time being in 2000, the global economy worsened in 2001, and it will have to wait for Hutchison's annual report to see whether Fok will be subjected to a pay cut in the coming year. However, during the period, Hutchison twice acquired Priceline and Globe Telecom, both of which are in distress, and also expanded its business to Beijing real estate, which has a bright outlook. Fok Tai Pan's performance is still heroic.
PCCW, while a nightmare for thousands of shareholders, was a dream come true for its management. PCCW vice-chairman Yuen Tin Fan, who came in second place with an annual income of $100 million, sold 8 million shares of PCCW at about $14 a share on the day after the official merger of PCCW and Hong Kong Telecom, in the form of warrants, for a profit of more than $100 million. Less than a month later, Yuan Tianfan purchased the former Belgian consul's residence for about $180 million.
But while Yuen was living out his personal dream, PCCW's market value had evaporated by more than $400 billion from its peak, and its management was under pressure. PCCW Development recently announced that director Yuen Tin Fan had also dropped his stake from 0.9 percent to 0.83 percent, cashing out $5 million, raising speculation of a change in status?
McGrath, one of Li's right-hand men, is a vice-chairman of Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited and is mainly responsible for management within the group and real estate management. He is seldom seen in public and earns $78.5 million a year.
Kam Hing Lam, 54, who earns $38 million a year and is Richard Li's uncle, saw his director's fee at CKI rise about 30 percent last year from $13.5 million the year before, probably because of the ideal development of CK Life Sciences, of which he is president.
Chou Hu Mou-fang comes from a legal family, with her father Hu Shiu-chi, a legal strategist in the early days of Sun Hung Kai Properties, and her elder brother Hu Po-sing, a founder of the law firm Hu Kwan Lee & Lo. After being admitted as a practicing lawyer, she worked at Woo Kwan Lee & Lo until 1984, when she joined Hutchison Development, earning an annual income of $35 million. She was one of the key figures behind the successful completion of many of Hutchison's complex transactions.
Frances Luk, who earns $22 million a year, was one of the people behind Tom.com's transformation from a virtual Internet business into a substantial cross-strait media empire, assisting chief executive Wang Xianxian behind the scenes.
Li Ka-shing frequently out of Cheung Kong's tens of billions of dollars to attack the mainland again
Last year's results fell 60%
Despite Li Ka-shing's control of the Hong Kong-listed Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited and associated Hutchison Whampoa Limited by the Asia Weekly "International Chinese Business 500 2001" Champion and runner-up, but by the impact of the global economic downturn and the impact of the financial turmoil of the Hong Kong economy, the performance of the 2001 annual results have been greatly affected, in which the Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited made a net profit of 7.2-9.1 billion Hong Kong dollars, and Hutchison Whampoa's net profit of 12.0-8.8 billion Hong Kong dollars, respectively, compared with the same period last year, a drop of more than 60%. In the face of the impact of the deteriorating external economic environment, at the launch of the annual report, Li Ka-shing pledged to take advantage of the group's abundant cash flow and sound borrowing level, so that it can build up a firm financial strength, while obtaining very high long-term credit ratings, which will be conducive to raising funds, keeping abreast of investment opportunities and striving for the maximum benefits for shareholders.
Long Harmony has operations in 36 countries around the world, and its main businesses are still real estate and telecommunications, the two pillars of the Cheung Kong Group. The integration of the global economy has brought scale effects to Cheung Kong Holdings, but it has also exposed the business to economic storms. The main real estate properties of the Cheung Kong Group, last year from the property revenue of 1.8-9.6 billion Hong Kong dollars, compared with the same period last year, a drop of 16-3%, and the main telecommunication business of the Hutchison Yellow Company, last year's turnover of 61.4-6 billion Hong Kong dollars, but due to last year's investment in the 3G business, which is 31.2 billion Hong Kong dollars was used as the reserves of the relevant investment. Although on various occasions Li Ka-shing repeatedly emphasized that Hong Kong's economy will recover, but specifically when the recovery will begin, how the prospects, Li Ka-shing in the internal seminars also admitted that so far it is still unclear, there are many challenging issues may occur at any time. On the one hand, Li Ka-shing still continue to take its low follow-up approach, a large number of land absorption, construction of properties, to promote profitability; on the other hand, Li Ka-shing's focus shifted to the environment of the market - Europe, the United States and the Mainland, especially the Mainland market. Li Ka-shing said, it is generally believed that the economy of Europe and the United States can appear three percentage points of growth, and the mainland will have 7%, the largest increase, in terms of economic growth, there is no country can now be compared with China.
China's economy in the past 20 years of rapid growth by Li Ka-shing optimistic about China's accession to the WTO has strengthened Li Ka-shing's confidence in a public occasion, Li Ka-shing made it clear that Cheung Kong Holdings over the years on the mainland of China's investment has been quite a lot of domestic accession to the WTO will be more business opportunities. Some business areas have not been involved in the past, may be involved in the future. The most important thing is to recognize the direction and grasp the opportunity.
Tens of billions of dollars of investment in the mainland this year
If tom.com, a small boat in the mainland, is playing a high-tech concept card, then today's "Changhe carrier" is playing a more stable Li Ka-shing concept card. Years of experience in the mainland business, so that Li Ka-shing on the mainland investment environment has a more in-depth understanding of the reluctance to get involved in politics, Li Ka-shing, the use of many charitable activities to build up a high social image and excellent social status, in the same time to win the loyalty of the partners, but also to make the enterprise's government public relations has become more powerful. With such good timing and good people, the Cheung Wo family is ready to go big. At the annual report announcement meeting held in March this year, Li made it clear that the Cheung Wo family would invest tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars in the mainland this year.
In the real estate industry, following the 2001 investment of 10 billion yuan in the development of the Chaoyang District, Dongba "CBD backyard" in addition to the Cheung Wo Department and spend 300 million yuan to 900 million yuan to obtain the right to use the land of the 14th plot in the Gubei New Area 1, Shanghai. It is reported that some development projects in Shenzhen and Chengdu are under negotiation.
In terms of port network construction, Li Ka-shing regarded the mainland port business as the top priority for future investment, the Pearl River Delta is "Hutchison" mainland port business base, "Hutchison" through the expansion of the Xiamen Haicang port, the share of the Ningbo Beilun port, etc., obviously moving the front north. HWL is clearly moving its battle line northward to form a port network along the coast of China. A few days ago, plans to invest in Qingdao, a break in its port investment strategy of the original "south of Shanghai (port) to do, north of Shanghai do not do" purpose.
In the communications industry, PCCW announced a joint venture with China Telecom***, with a total investment of about 200 million yuan. The joint venture will initially focus on expanding information technology solutions in the mainland's financial sector, but it doesn't rule out a move into other industries later.
In the media industry, tom.com's subsidiary now owns a number of media businesses in Greater China, including magazines, radio stations, websites and advertising, etc. Following the successful acquisition of ATV's shares in early July, Li's media empire has become even bigger.
In terms of biotechnology, Li once said when he set up CK Life Sciences that biochemical technology would be the group's new focus in the future. A few days ago, the Yangtze River Life Science and Technology from the Yangtze River Business split out on the Hong Kong Growth Enterprise Market, immediately in the Hong Kong stock market set off a frenzy of biochemical stocks, it is reported that the Yangtze River Industry has been invested in the Yangtze River Section amounted to 4-200 million Hong Kong dollars, and at present the Yangtze River Section has been registered patents for 40 projects. By the end of the year, the project will be invested in nearly 1 billion Hong Kong dollars, and in the next few years will increase to several billion or even 10 billion Hong Kong dollars, later will also be used as a platform for acquisitions in the mainland, investment in the big move.
Li's Cheung Wo family, led by Li Ka-shing, is sitting on powerful funds and is planning calmly on the mainland, trying to seize the high ground in many industries through acquisitions and joint ventures.
Targeting traditional industries
Forward-looking, strategic investment in emerging industries is one of Li's best skills, entering the real estate industry, acquiring Hutchison, entering the port transportation industry and participating in infrastructural projects ...... The Cheung Wo Department has always grabbed the first bite of the soup and gained long-term development by being one step ahead of others. In mainland China's information industry is booming today, the Cheung Wo Department of this new strike on the mainland market, but appears to be extraordinarily prudent, in general, it seems that the direction of expansion has never been out of the traditional industry's basic business, the target is mainly locked in five areas, real estate, communications, port networks, media and biotechnology, and the global business expansion, compared with the less energy one. The difference is said to be mainly due to the fact that mainland China has so far not opened up its energy management operations to the private sector.
To a certain extent, it's not that Li Ka-shing is being conservative, but a major reason is that Cheung Wo, as one of the main players, also suffered the disaster of the bursting of the global dot-com bubble economy in 2000-2001. The Cheung Kong Holdings started to invest in the Mainland many years ago, and so far its investment in the Mainland has accumulated to more than HK$60 billion, of which the Cheung Kong Holdings has become one of the largest investors in the Mainland in Hong Kong. Despite the huge investment has created Li Ka-shing's popularity in the mainland, in the overall feel good behind, can not be ignored is that those more than 15% to 20% of the investment failure projects, which has always been a solid performance of the Cheung Kong and the Department of the system, such a high proportion of the investment failure rate is unparalleled. Cheung Wo Department attributed the failure to the reason for the venture. The early days of tom.com, PCCW and Cyberport had brought a mythic aura to the business and created legends like Richard Li, but did not really bring the group any real business benefits. After the frenzy, tom.com and PCCW remained a beautiful shell for the Cheung Kong Group led by Li Ka-shing. In between, Li has repeatedly emphasized within the business that in an era of radicalism, the most important thing is to maintain sober judgment.
In the face of the recent fever for foreign investment in the mainland, the Cheung Wo family's moves seem conservative, but are in fact overbearing, with the chosen investment sectors involving either capital construction in mainland China, such as real estate and ports, or important industries, such as communications, media and bioscience. They all offer stable and high market returns, both in terms of market impact and marketing gains.
Coveting domestic securities market
As early as 2001, Li Ka-shing expressed interest in raising funds in the mainland's capital market while attending a conference in Beijing.
While there is no national policy on the listing of foreign companies in the mainland securities market, companies like Cheung Kong Holdings have been waiting and working hard. As an international enterprise, Cheung Kong Holdings is bound to be affected by the global economic recession, but if it can be listed in the country, it can at least slow down the impact of the foreign market on its business operations. On the other hand, financing through the capital market can also enhance the economic integration between the company and the mainland.
At that meeting, Li also said a listing on the Chinese mainland stock market would not only benefit mainland investors, but also help attract more foreign investment to participate in China's economic development. The Cheung Wo Department has been preparing and waiting for this. Li Ka-shing has recently announced that the Cheung Wo Department will hold a large number of shares in the Bank of China (Hong Kong), which has aroused widespread concern in the community. Some analysts believe that Li Ka-shing hopes that the Cheung Wo Department can integrate more capital with the capital of enterprises with mainland companies as their parent companies, so as to facilitate their listing in the Mainland as soon as possible in the future. Sources from the Cheung Wo Department said that it does not rule out the possibility that its subsidiaries will be listed on the mainland in the future. By Lu Yinan
Li Ka-shing frequently
China's accession to the WTO has brought new opportunities for industrialists at home and abroad. Long-sleeved Li Ka-shing, with an unusually sharp sense of the ups and downs of the market, strikes again, recently by virtue of its strong capital advantage, frequent strikes, causing widespread concern in the industry.
Following the May funding of 70 million U.S. dollars in Qingdao, "inserted" tire manufacturing industry, July 10, Hong Kong Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited and Hutchison Whampoa Limited (both hereinafter referred to as "Cheung Kong and the Department of"), Chairman Li Ka-shing said at the extraordinary general meeting of the two companies. Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders that the two companies will be through the Bank of China (Hong Kong) public offering, and hold more shares in the Bank of China (Hong Kong). Immediately thereafter, on July 12, PCCW announced a joint venture with China Telecom*** to provide information technology enterprise solutions business for the mainland financial sector. It is reported that the total investment in the joint venture will be about RMB 200 million, while PCCW will acquire the management rights of the company and will be able to include the earnings of the joint venture in PCCW's accounts. China Telecom will take a 51-5 percent stake in the joint venture, while PCCW will take 48-5 percent. Similar news about Cheung Kong will continue to come out in the second half of this year.
This series of investments by the Cheung Wo department involves a wide range of fields, geographically wide, the time period of the intensive, unprecedented, for Li Ka-shing's long-planned domination of the mainland has laid the groundwork. A few days ago, the reporter visited the Cheung Wo Department involved in the development of mainland business part of the staff, from which to understand some of the Cheung Wo Department recently in the mainland rapid "troop increase" where the inside story.
Eagle strikes again, Li Ka-shing looking for the market's best entry point
Li Ka-shing will not be underestimated, even if from another perspective, his record has a "stain", but also just less people remember it. 1980s, he invested in a Canadian oil company, the performance of the performance over the years has not been good. He invested in a Canadian oil company in the 1980s that hasn't done well in years. His first investment in Britain, Rabbit, was a failure.
Is Li really the superman of the investment world, as Asia claims?
In fact, most Asian business tycoons, no matter how powerful they are in their home countries, cannot escape a fate: a continuation of the family business. But Li Ka-shing is an exception. This is not because he controls Hong Kong's economy - he runs the world's largest port, monopolizes power lines to mainland China, enjoys a reputation as one of the top real estate developers and retailers, and holds the title of the largest cell phone operator. Rather, it is because he is the only one who can be frequently perceived by the world in his field, and even go on to influence the future of this industry globally.
There's one moment in the telecom industry that may say it all. On Aug. 9 of this year, Hutchison Whampoa, one of Li Ka-shing's two holding companies, along with a Singaporean partnership, Singapore Technologies Telemedia, scooped up Global Telecom, the recently buzzed-about U.S. fiber-optic communications company that was awaiting bankruptcy, for $250 million for a 61.5 percent stake. stake in the company. Interestingly, the actions of this famous Asian investor have drawn many comparisons to Warren Buffett in the U.S. Could it be that the heroes see eye to eye? Both want to make a killing in the unfathomable telecoms industry, but unfortunately this kind of "bottom fishing" involves risk.
The more significant impact, Li Ka-shing may be implemented this fall, once and Huang began to its 3G cell phone service to the United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, Australia, Israel, Austria and Hong Kong, China, the world is going to be a shock. It is important to know that traditional European telecom companies, faced with a depressed market environment, have only stopped short of issuing 3G licenses, which have been repeatedly delayed; and investors have begun to worry about whether the technology will die before it goes into production; however, all of this is not as bad as it seems to Li, and the theory of failure is still premature.
Li's gamble on 3G cellphones has met with diametrically opposed reactions. Most of the market's non-Asian fund managers accused Li of betting too much, while emphasizing that Hutchison's stock is now down to almost half its early 2000 peak. And Standard & Poor's simply announced on Aug. 8 that they were concerned about the prospects for Hutchison and its sister company, Cheung Kong Holdings.
Nevertheless, this has done nothing to dampen the positive attitude of small and medium-sized Asian investors toward Lee. In their minds, Li can do no wrong. If Lee opens any company, even if it doesn't announce a performance plan or a list of shareholders, they'll still rush to it -- in the past July, Lee's life sciences company went public, and it was oversubscribed by a factor of 120. Obviously, if Superman Li is now "thinking" about the bright future of 3G, is there anyone who would still be skeptical?
Sensitive sense of smell
Lee, who was born in 1928, the year of the dragon, came to Hong Kong from the mainland at the age of 22 to start his first business, making and selling plastic flowers. After struggling to make his first dollar, Li decisively turned to real estate development and has never looked back. The secret of Li's fortune, however, has been controversial, especially to Western investors. In addition to correctly anticipating the policies that the Hong Kong government would adopt for the property market, Li was able to grasp people's psychological orientation towards feng shui, and thus succeeded in occupying a significant part of Hong Kong's real estate sector.
Luck, perhaps, is the best explanation for Li's success: doing the right thing at the right time. In the 1980s and 1990s, whoever owned real assets in Hong Kong had a ticket to riches, as the policy at the time was to restrict new land for real estate development. What Lee, like many real estate developers, did was continue to drive up real estate prices. When he found it more opportune to go into the container port business, he followed Hong Kong's economic boom by "carrying the goods on his shoulders". By 1997, when many other Asian giants were "falling down" as their currencies continued to depreciate, Lee was still "standing" because the Hong Kong dollar remained relatively strong.
But luck is not all for Li Ka-shing. Among Hong Kong's industrial tycoons, Li is the one who knows best when to strike overseas and when to move into new areas. No one is as adept as he is at spotting and hiring the best professional managers in the world. At the same time his investment record is unrivaled by many other Asian industrial giants. And everyone who has ****ed with him gives him a thumbs up for his keen investment sense.
Compared with Warren Buffett, known as the "Sage of Omaha," Li Ka-shing is also looking for value, but his search for value goes much further.
Buffett first crushes (reorganizes) the undervalued companies he finds and then holds the stock indefinitely.
Unlike Li Ka-shing, a typical Asian asset trader, all he does is look for the best entry points in the market, waiting patiently like a falcon for his prey to appear, and when it does, he strikes fast and furiously to capture it. Such was the case with the Globe Telecom acquisition, in which Li didn't even use his other telecom assets, making his first opening bid in January 2002, withdrawing it immediately, and then making a comeback with a new deal at 2/3 less than the previous one.
An unsuccessful strike?
Despite his "asset trader" hat, which would suit most Asian businessmen, Li is too small a man for that, because he has done more than that. Indeed, one of his famous deals has earned him a lot of praise: in September 1999, Hutchison sold Orange, a British cell phone operator, for a net profit of $14.7 billion. Behind that success, however, is the fact that he knows how to build a business, and in the case of Orange, he spent years working to integrate the company. Perhaps that's where the optimism of those who support Lee lies: that he will turn things around on 3G.
It seems that Li will not be underestimated, even if his record is "tainted" from another perspective, which few remember: in the 1980s, he invested in a Canadian oil company that hasn't performed well in years. His first investment in Britain, Rabbit, was a failure.
All in all, it's time to take a page out of Li's usual "harsh" book on "star" fund managers. "For whatever reason, they do well for a while, then use their fame to start tossing around bigger investments, until one day his performance dips like everyone else's."
So, what will be the fate of Li's 3G cellphone business, or let's wait and see.