Li Ka-shing took plastic flowers and grew an empire. He established his manufacturing company, Cheung Kong, in 1950, at the age of 22. It made him, for a time, the richest man in Asia.1There are now nine individuals from China and Hong Kong ahead of Li on the Bloomberg billionaires list. Sixty-eight years later, he stepped down from a conglomerate that has helped his fortune grow to about $32 billion, according to a Bloomberg index.
His fortune, like his conglomerate, is diversified. He started buying up properties in 1958 and, according to Bloomberg, had developed one in seven private Hong Kong residences by 1979. He moved onto industries like ports, telecoms, retail, and energy, even picking up the nickname “Superman” along the way for his ever-growing tally of investing successes. Brands like the British mobile network Three grew out of his businesses. Outside of CK Hutchison, Li pursued philanthropic and investing ventures, putting billions of dollars into his eponymous foundation and backing the venture capital firm Horizons Ventures.
In March 2018, Li announced he would be stepping down as chairman from his company.2It was renamed CK Hutchison after a 2015 merger with asset Hutchison Whampoa. After nearly seven decades at the helm, Li moved into a new role called senior advisor, and his son Victor Li rose to replace him. For a Hong Kong billionaire, his assets now lie, in large part, overseas. This week, The Wire looks at the Li Ka-shing empire, including his bet on Zoom and the investments he’s made through venture capital firm Horizons Ventures.
Zooming Out
A surprise top asset is U.S.-based Zoom Video Communications. The value of the video-conferencing platform skyrocketed with the Covid-19 pandemic. Li first invested in the company through Horizons Ventures in 2013. At the time, the company was worth just $42 million; it peaked at a more than $160 billion market cap in October. Li recently transferred a Zoom stake worth roughly $2 billion to his son, Richard, and other parties, but before this week, it was his highest-valued asset.
CK Hutchison and real estate company CK Asset3CK Asset separated out of the conglomerate in a 2015 agreement, which also saw Cheung Kong Holding merge with longtime asset Hutchison Whampoa. have taken hits over the last few years. Hong Kong protests and the national security law have dampened property values on the island. Investors showed little interest when the Li family repurchased half a billion dollars’ worth of shares in the two companies in September.
As his Hong Kong companies ran into trouble, Li’s overseas returns grew. Roughly 40 percent of Li’s invested assets are now directly held in the United States or Canada. Even his Hong Kong-based holdings earn a lot of their revenue abroad. Over 80 percent of CK Hutchison’s revenue comes from outside China or Hong Kong, a share that has risen in recent years, per the company’s annual reports.
His large overseas holdings have drawn criticism from high places. A state-run newspaper lambasted him for his international deals in 2015; in response, Li pointed to the billions that he has donated within China through his foundation. More trouble came when Li called for “humanity” in dealing with Hong Kong’s protesters in 2019.4Read the 2019 Reuters investigation into Li’s relationship with the Chinese government.
See more details on his invested assets, below, in addition to the over $7 billion that he has in cash.
Going Back in Time
Li was at the top of Hong Kong’s private sector through decades of its rapidly changing structure. His successes turned Hong Kong’s relationship with Britain on its head when he took over companies like Hutchison Whampoa, a longtime British shipping and cargo company.5He attempted to take over Jardine, then Hong Kong’s most powerful British holding company, in 1980, which the company fended off.
His family has also long been involved in his business. It was announced in 2012 that his son, Victor, would take over for Li when he eventually stepped down as chairman. His other son, Richard, does not work in the CK empire but instead uses the family funds for new businesses like private investment group Pacific Century Group and satellite television service Star TV in the 1990s. Richard most recently teamed up with Peter Thiel, who invested early in Facebook and founded PayPal and Palantir Technologies, to acquire promising South Asian ventures.
Trace Li’s path to his current holdings here.
Bright Horizons
Perhaps the most dynamic part of Li’s portfolio is Horizons Ventures. Li started backing Horizons soon after its founding in 2002, and it now solely invests his personal funds. Company returns go to Li’s foundation.
Horizons has developed a reputation for financing forward-thinking technologies, and invests widely. It backed Facebook, Spotify, Siri, Skype, DeepMind, and Waze early on. Its investments include artificial intelligence startups and a surprising number of meat and dairy substitutes.6Li is “known to enjoy meatless meat,” the South China Morning Post wrote in 2019. The venture capital firm has invested in more than 250 companies, according to PitchBook Data, with funds going to countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel.
Horizons’ founders, Solina Chau and Debbie Chang, each had connections to Li before he invested in the firm.7Read the Financial Times’ profile of Solina Chau here. Chang was a director at Tom Group, an e-commerce and advertising company that Li’s companies helped establish in 1999. Chau now works as the executive director of Li’s foundation. Chang and Chau were longtime friends, and Chang facilitated Chau and Li’s first meeting. Many of the investment decisions are reportedly made by Chau.
See a selection of Horizons’ investments below.
Hannah Reale is a staff writer with The Wire. Previously, she reported for the GBH News Center for Investigative Reporting, The West Side Rag, and her college newspaper, The Wesleyan Argus. @hannahereale