 |
Hong Kong Internet Tycoon Sets to Build His Own Empire
Emerging Hong Kong communications mogul Richard Li may not have yet overtaken his tycoon father Li Ka-shing in terms of wealth but he had been streaking ahead in terms of grabbing headlines.
The completion this week of his audacious takeover of Cable and Wireless HKT has transformed a high profile but infant Internet business Pacific Century CyberWorks into the dominant force in the Hong Kong Internet and communications world with a market capitalisation of HK$365.3 billion (US$46.8 billion).
Already the enlarged group is the fourth largest on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the 33-year-old Li said he is aiming to double the market valuation of the company.
Richard Li has been tagged by the Hong Kong press as "little Superman," referring to his father's "Superman" nickname.
Li Ka-shing has a finger in almost every Hong Kong pie through his Cheung Kong and Hutchison Whampoa conglomerates. His interests include property, utilities, container ports, supermarkets, retail electronics and gasoline stations.
Richard Li reportedly bristles when his success is attributed to his father's financial help and influence. To prove his independence and to acknowlege potential conflicts with Hutchison's telecoms business, the younger Li this week resigned from the boards of his father's companies.
He also appears outwardly to have little in common with his self-made father.
Li Ka-shing's dark suits, low-key approach and relatively frugal lifestyle mark him as a traditional Chinese businessman.
But US-educated Richard favors the informal -- casual clothes at public appearances, sometimes carrying a backpack and a mini-disc player hooked up to earphones.
Richard's path to success began in 1991, when aged just 24 he set up the satellite television Star TV network, with his father's backing. The network was sold three years later at a huge profit to media baron Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
After a stint at Star TV, Richard went into the emerging opportunities of the cyber world, setting up the Pacific Century Group to engage in developing digital media, financial services and infrastructure.
Following a takeover of a little known listed company last year, PCCW was established to provide high-speed Internet services, delivered via satellite to ground distributors.
It's first big deal was the so-called CyberPort project in partnership with the government to build a high-tech hub in Hong Kong, but the US$1.6 billion undertaking triggered a storm of protest as it was awarded without competitve bidding.
Since then, Richard Li's deal-making has continued to catch investors' attention.
Earlier this year, he was reportedly sitting on 1.3 billion dollars in paper profits from CyberWorks' investments in some 30 Internet companies, ranging from Chinese-language portal sina.com to US broadband service provider SoftNet Systems.
Li is also building new projects, ranging from Cyber-Port to production studios to create programming for his TV-based Asiawide broadband service, Network of the World (NOW).
Although the steam has gone out of Internet stocks since the heady days of early this year, there is no sign of Li slowing down his drive to be a dominating figure in cyberspace.
In This Section
|