Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing is still funding an empire from his (semi-)retirement.
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.There 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
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Bob Fu's relationship with China has gone through phases. First, he thought money would solve his problems there; then he joined protesters at Tiananmen Square, thinking the politics could change. In the end, he determined, only God could save China, and he's been fighting for religious freedom in China ever since he resettled in Texas. With his nonprofit, ChinaAid, prospering like never before, he says the U.S. is finally catching on.