Li Ka-shing

Li Ka-shing is a very busy man.

He started a company that made plastic flowers. He worked very hard to grow his business. Later, he bought land to build many things. He also helps many people by giving money to charity. He owns a very large foundation to help others. He is known for living a simple life. He even wears a simple watch. He is a very kind leader.

Li Ka-shing is a famous businessman from Hong Kong. He was born in 1928. His family moved to Hong Kong to escape war. After his father died, Li had to leave school at age 15. He worked very long days to support himself.

In 1950, he started his own company. He first made plastic flowers. He learned how to mix colors to make them look real. Soon, he was a top seller in Asia. Later, he moved into real estate. This means he bought land to build offices and homes.

Li also invests in new technology. His firm has put money into apps like Spotify and Zoom. He even helped fund Facebook early on.

Even with much wealth, Li lives a simple life. He often wears an inexpensive watch. He is also a great giver. He has a large foundation to help others. He has given billions of dollars to charity. In 2018, he retired. He passed his work to his son, Victor. Li now serves as a senior advisor to his companies.

Li Ka-shing is a very famous businessman from Hong Kong. He was born in 1928 in a place called Chao'an. His family had to move to Hong Kong in 1940. They were refugees fleeing the Sino-Japanese war. After his father died from an illness, Li had to leave school. He was only 15 years old at the time. He worked 16 hours every day at a plastics company. This hard work helped him learn how to run a business. He used his savings to start his own company in 1950.

His first big success came from making plastic flowers. Li learned a special way to mix colors with plastic. This made the flowers look very much like real ones. He soon became the largest supplier of these flowers in Asia. Later, he moved into real estate, which means buying land to build things. He bought land when prices were low during the 1967 riots. He believed prices would go up again in the future. His company, Cheung Kong, became a huge part of the Hong Kong economy. He even aimed to be the top property developer in the city.

Li Ka-shing does not just invest in buildings. He also puts money into many different industries. He owns parts of companies that handle energy, water, and money services. His company, AS Watson, runs over 15,000 stores in many places. These include supermarkets and beauty shops in Europe and Asia. He also owns a large part of a water company in England. His business group, CK Hutchison, builds up new companies and then sells them. This helps him make profits to use for other things. He even works with new technology through his firm, Horizons Ventures.

Technology is a big part of his modern business life. His firm has invested in many famous apps and websites. He put money into Facebook and the music service Spotify. He also helped fund Siri and the video tool Zoom. In 2011, he invested in a website called Summly. This helped its founder become the youngest person to get such an investment. He also helped bring a digital wallet called AlipayHK to Hong Kong. These investments show how he likes to support new ideas. He stays connected to the future of the digital world.

Even though he is very wealthy, Li lives a very simple life. He is known for being frugal, which means being careful with money. He often wears inexpensive watches, like a Seiko or a Citizen. He lived in the same house for many years in Deep Water Bay. Li is also a very kind philanthropist, which is a person who gives to charity. He has donated billions of dollars to help many causes. His foundation is one of the largest in the entire world. In 2018, he retired and gave his leadership roles to his son, Victor.

Sir Ka-shing Li is a prominent Hong Kong billionaire, business magnate, and philanthropist. A magnate is a person of great influence in a specific industry. He has built a massive business empire that spans many different sectors of the global economy. For many years, he served as the chairman of CK Hutchison Holdings and CK Asset Holdings. He retired from these leadership roles in May 2018. Today, he serves as a senior advisor to both of these large companies. As of March 2024, Forbes ranked him 38th among the richest people in the world. His estimated net worth at that time was $37.3 billion.

Li's journey began with significant personal challenges during his youth. He was born in 1928 in Chao'an, Guangdong Province. In 1940, his family fled to Hong Kong as refugees during the Sino-Japanese war. After his father died from tuberculosis, a serious lung disease, Li had to leave school at age 15. He began working 16 hours a day at a plastics trading company. This early experience provided him with the foundation for his future success. In 1950, he used his personal savings and borrowed funds from relatives to start Cheung Kong Industries.

His first major business breakthrough involved the manufacturing of plastic goods. Li studied trade publications and business news very closely. He discovered a way to mix colors into plastic to make it look like real flowers. This technique allowed him to supply high-quality plastic flowers at low prices. He eventually became the largest supplier of these items in Asia. This success provided the capital needed to expand into other industries. In 1972, his real estate company was officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Li became a major force in the real estate market through strategic timing. In 1958, he decided to purchase land to develop his own factory buildings. During the 1967 riots in Hong Kong, many people left the city, causing property prices to drop. Li believed this political crisis was only temporary. He bought land from fleeing residents at very low prices. He later set a goal to surpass Hongkong Land as a leading developer. His successful bid for sites near MTR stations in 1977 was a key moment in this competition.

Today, his business interests are highly diversified across many global sectors. Through CK Hutchison, he operates AS Watson, which manages over 15,000 retail stores. These include brands like Superdrug in the UK and Watsons in Asia. He also has interests in transportation, financial services, and energy. His conglomerate owns a 75% stake in Northumbrian Water in England. Additionally, he has invested in various technology startups through his firm, Horizons Ventures. This firm has provided funding for well-known names like Facebook, Spotify, and Zoom.

Li's involvement in technology has often supported young innovators. In 2011, his firm invested in Summly, a website-summarizing app. This investment made the founder, Nick D'Aloio, the youngest person to receive venture capital at age fifteen. He also participated in funding rounds for the video service Zoom and the food company Impossible Foods. In 2017, he collaborated with Jack Ma to launch AlipayHK, a digital wallet service. These moves show a consistent pattern of investing in the future of digital tools and services.

Despite his massive wealth, Li is famous for maintaining a frugal lifestyle. Frugal means being very careful and economical with money. He is known for wearing simple black dress shoes and inexpensive watches, such as those made by Seiko or Citizen. He lived in the same house for many decades in the Deep Water Bay district of Hong Kong. Beyond business, he is a major philanthropist, which is a person who gives money to help others. He has donated billions of dollars to various causes. His private foundation is the second largest in the world, following the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.