09:55 08.04.2013
One of the textbooks of Harvard University says about him: “As the son of a teacher in China, he began quite modestly, later a refugee, later a shop assistant. Li has shown an incomparable ability to adapt and adapt to the environment. Hard and long work, driven only by the highest level his internal organization, he has built a huge business empire which includes banks, construction organizations, real estate, plastic production, Cell Phones, satellite TV, cement production, pharmaceutical and food retail chains, hotels, urban transport, airports, energy and steel industries, ports and cargo delivery. For his energy, ability to find a way out of difficult situations and his charitable work in business circles, Li Ka-shing received the nickname "Superman".
Biography of Li-Kashing
Li Ka-shing was born in 1928 in the Guangdong province of China into a poor family of a teacher. From early childhood, the future Chinese billionaire experienced difficulties and hardships. At the age of 10, he fell ill with tuberculosis and, by some incredible miracle, was able to recover. When the boy was 12 years old, the family was forced to move to Hong Kong. They were taken in by Uncle Lee, who he said was terribly greedy and arrogant. This was one of the reasons why the teenager began to think about independence and decent earnings. In 1943, Li's father died of tuberculosis: the family did not have enough money to save him. The future entrepreneur took care of the family. At the age of 15, Li Ka-shing leaves school and goes to work first as a watch strap salesman. I must say that the future billionaire was very hardworking since childhood. Thanks to diligence and responsibility, at the age of 17 he already became the best seller, and at the age of 19 - the main manager. He soon took a job at a plastic toy factory as a toy painter and began selling metal doors. He was not afraid of a 16-hour working day, during the day he made deals, in the evening he attended evening school, and at night he studied the production process. There is information that he overtook previous leader in sales by 7 times.
Entrepreneurial activity
The money that he earned, the future billionaire of Asia set aside to open his own business. And he succeeded.
In 1949, he opened his own small plastics factory. At that time he was only 21. And literally a year later he converted his plant into a factory for the production of plastic flowers, which at that time began to gain popularity. It was this small Cheung Kong factory that became the basis of the future multi-billion dollar empire.
Simplicity, kindness and responsiveness are Li Ka-shin's main trump cards when doing business. As China's richest man says, “You should never be afraid to lose something. What appears to be a loss is actually the biggest gain.” In support of his words, one curious fact from his biography can be cited. Once an American businessman canceled his order for a large batch of plastic flowers. By all the laws of business, he had to pay a penalty, which he hastened to ask Li Ka-shing. However, the Chinese businessman refused. And just a few days later, he received an even larger order from another businessman who had heard that Lee was a very reliable and responsible partner. It turns out that the businessman, who was struck by the kindness of "Superman", began to recommend him to all his acquaintances.
In 1958, the richest man in Asia began to invest in construction and real estate. After the start of the Cultural Revolution in China, riots began, and many Hong Kongers began to leave their homes. At this point, Li Ka-shing began to buy inexpensive land and houses. He understood that sooner or later the riots would end, people would start returning, and real estate would rise in value. And I didn't guess.
Such successful deals helped turn an ordinary factory into a Cheung Kong holding, and Li Ka-shing made his first million. In 1979, he bought a 50% stake in the British company Hutchison Whampoa, which is also part of Li Ka-shing's empire. The presence of his holding is celebrated in 53 countries of the world. In addition, in the same year, he began to invest in electricity and freight. In 1985, the richest Chinese bought shares in the energy company Hongkong Electric. And one of his companies became the first analogue of mobile communications. It must be said that all the enterprises in which Li Ka-shing has ever invested turn out to be profitable.
In 1987, China's richest man bought shares in oil and gas company Hutchison Telecom, making his first appearance in Forbes magazine. In 1991, he became the main shareholder of this company.
In addition, he actively invests in digital and Internet technologies. In 2004 - in Skype, later - in Horizons and Facebook. Many analysts confirm that he has excellent entrepreneurial flair.
According to experts, his holding has built every 7 apartments in Hong Kong, his company Hutchison Port Holdings carries out about 13% of all world transportation, and Northumbrian Water provides water to more than 5 million British people. Lee's most recent major acquisitions include the purchase of Wales & West Utilities, which is responsible for ¼ of the UK's gas supply, as well as more than $1 million in investment in the largest TV platform, Stevie.
Charity and lifestyle
In 1980, Li Ka-shing founded his own charitable foundation. It aims to support humanitarian and educational projects. In 1981, he opened Shantou University with his own funds. In 2005, he donated over $120 million to the University of Hong Kong. And at the University of Singapore, a library is even named after him, because thanks to his generous donations, it appeared.
Of course, Li Ka-shing does not give away his money to everyone. He transfers a certain percentage of his income to charity, and in the most difficult times for the people he never stands aside. So, during various natural disasters, he donated several million to the victims.
He also provides financial support to medical institutions and even the Chinese economy. He promises that he will do everything possible to keep the state's economic growth at 8% level. Many wonder why he is so worried about the fate of the state and the people. To which the “superman” always replies: “The future is made up of many components, but it is born in the hearts and minds of people. Therefore, you need to think not only about achieving your own goals, but also about the fate of all mankind.
For his achievements in the field of philanthropy, he was awarded the title of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Grand Officer of the Order of Vasco de Balboa, Commander of the Order of Leopold I. Time magazine included him in the list of "Heroes of Asia over the past 60 years." His name is on the list of the most influential people in Asia. And the wax figure of the richest man of Chinese origin flaunts in Madame Tussauds in Hong Kong.
China believes that for every dollar spent in Hong Kong, at least 5 cents goes directly into Li Ka-shing's pocket. However, despite his multi-billion dollar fortune (currently estimated at $31 billion), the richest man in East Asia lives quite modestly, dresses cheaply and wears ordinary plastic watches. He loves to read books on history and philosophy, he is constantly engaged in self-education. One of his hobbies is collecting figurines of the mystical animal "Pi Yao", he also loves golf, gardening and feng shui. He said that he even wanted to become a gardener before. Every morning he does exercises. They say that he manages to do before dinner what others do during the day. It is not surprising that at 84, Li Ka-shing is still full of strength and energy.
The richest Chinese businessman is an exemplary family man. He has two sons and 7 grandchildren. After the death of his wife in 1990, with whom he lived in a long and happy marriage for 27 years, Lee never remarried.
The richest man in Asia is modest not only in everyday life, but also in communication. Never flaunts his successes, does not spread about his personal life. And most of all he does not like it when they say that he was lucky in life. “Luck has nothing to do with it,” he insists. “Everything I have achieved is the result of hard work.” And indeed it is.
In the very big city India is worth the most expensive private building in the world - the Antilia Tower. Its construction cost $ 1 billion, this is the residence of the richest man in Asia, Mukesh Ambani. In July, he surpassed Jack Ma, founder of the Internet hypermarket Alibaba, in the Bloomberg rating by $6 billion. Ambani's fortune is $48 billion. He is 61 years old, lives with his family in Mumbai and loves Bollywood films. His own life could become the plot of an Indian melodrama, because it has an inheritance, a big quarrel with his brother, love, deceit and reconciliation.
His father, Dhiburhai Ambani, worked for many years as a secretary in a British port, was able to accumulate a small amount of capital and open his own business. He started out trading in spices and wool, and later, in 1966, founded Reliance Industries and began manufacturing textiles and other fabrics. After 11 years, the factory became so big that it was listed on the stock exchange, and in the late 70s it started producing polyester, a synthetic material that is obtained in the process of refining petroleum products.
Things continued to go uphill. In the early 80s, Mukesh Ambani, the eldest son in the family, joined his father and started working in the family company. By that time, he had graduated from university, received a degree in chemistry and began to receive an MBA from Stanford, but did not finish - he returned to India to help run the family business. An energetic young man persuaded his father to invest in the promising telecommunications market and build his own oil refinery.
Antilia Tower
In 2002, Ambani Sr. died without leaving a will. And then Mukesh's younger brother, Anil, appeared on the scene.
Anil Ambani also worked in the family business. Together with Mukesh, they carried the coffin with the body of their father. After the funeral, the eldest son became chairman of the board of directors, and Anil received the chair of vice president.
The brothers have always been very different. Mukesh - economic, secretive, conservative, early married a school teacher, whom his father looked after for him. Anil is a sociable Westerner with an open mind and an interest in new technologies. Until 1983, Anil studied at the Wharton School of Business in Pennsylvania, in 1991 he married the famous Bollywood actress Tina Munim, the bride was three years older than the groom.
Anil was always in the public eye, talked a lot with journalists and received the title of "Businessman of the Year" from the influential Indian magazine Business India in 1998, two years earlier than his older brother. While the father was alive, the brothers worked together, but after his death, instead of successfully complementing each other, managing the company, they began to quarrel.
Anil Ambani
Mukesh is a person who strives to keep everything under personal control. This is what colleagues and partners say about him. He slowly began to remove Anil from his duties. During the life of his father, Anil was the treasurer of the company and was engaged in investments, but the board of directors under the control of his older brother deprived him of these functions, and in 2004 transferred the right to manage all finances personally to Mukesh. Then Anil wrote open letter on four pages, the essence of which was that Mukesh destroys the corporate culture and the special spirit of the company.
In general, Ambani's father really favored the eldest son more than the younger. In 1999, when Reliance Industries launched the telecom operator Reliance Infocomm, there was no photo or mention of a younger brother in the brochure dedicated to the launch of an ambitious project. Anil was probably offended - for example, he did not come to that presentation, but he did not dispute the authority of his brother. Sources close to him told India Today that the younger brother was ready to play a second role and was not going to encroach on the elder's leadership. But when they began to shift him from his position, he became indignant. Moreover, in the environment of Mukesh, there were immediately cousins and nephews who wanted to become his right and left hands.
The brothers stopped communicating, Anil's corporate phone was turned off, rumors and details of family squabbles began to leak into the press, and the company's quotes began to fall. The free market at that time traded 13.48%, 46.67% belonged to the Ambani family, the rest was in the hands of foreign investors. All this time, by the way, the brothers lived under the same roof in the 14-story Sea Breeze mansion. Special staff worked in the house, who made sure that Mukesh and Anil did not accidentally meet, for example, in the elevator.
Finally, in 2005, the mother of the quarreling heirs convinced them to split the company. Mukesh got to manage the oil refining industry and petrochemistry, as well as textile production. Anil received projects related to telecommunications and electricity. For a few more years, the brothers, by inertia, sued each other for certain projects, but in 2010 they finally parted ways - each led his part of the company in his own direction.
Mukesh continues to engage in oil production and oil refining: he built a network of gas stations and brought it to the stock exchange, sold a stake in one of the fields to the British BP. The cost of the giant Reliance Industries exceeded $100 billion.
In 2014, Mukesh became obsessed with the idea of making good internet in India accessible to everyone. He invested in new company Reliance Jio $33 million and launched a free 4G network in 2015. And a year later, he introduced the world to his own smartphone LYF - the device quickly, in just a few months, became the best-selling in India.
For me, the World Economic Forum is, first of all, a unique platform that makes it possible to meet interesting people and participate in fruitful discussions. In this capacity, Davos has never disappointed me over the past 17 years.
This year I happened to meet the richest man in Asia there. Jack Ma, a Chinese entrepreneur who owns e-commerce giant Alibaba Holding, has certainly been to Davos before. Ma was even included in the list of "Young Global Leaders". But due to the five days of turmoil and Davos' rampage, this short, thin, modest and unpretentious man, apparently, had previously simply been lost from my field of vision.
How did he become Jack?
The real name of the Chinese entrepreneur is Ma Yun. As a child, when he lived with his family in southern China, Ma was determined to learn English. To this end, almost every day he got on his bike and rode to the hotel, which was 45 minutes away, and there he led free tours for visiting tourists in exchange for the opportunity to speak at least a little English. Once a tourist suggested to him: “Let's find you pen pals in Europe if you want to learn English. Only the name needs to be chosen easier. “Jack,” another tourist added, “is the name of my father-in-law and husband. Let's call you Jack." Since then, Ma Yun has become Jack by the name of Ma!
Jack was not a diligent student. Only on the third attempt did he enter the most ordinary two-year educational institution in China. But as a specialization, he chose the teaching of English. And after studying, Ma gave English lessons in China.
He got on the cover of Forbes
Today, Jack Ma is the richest man not only in China, but throughout Asia. When Ma floated Alibaba shares on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2014, the volume of funds raised was among the largest ever. world history markets. With a fortune of $ 29.7 billion in November 2014, he became the 18th richest person in the world according to Bloomberg. Ma is the first Chinese entrepreneur to be on the cover of Forbes.
He aims to create an online WTO
Today, the number of people transacting through Alibaba's web portals is 300 million. “Our goal is to provide services to two billion consumers worldwide,” says Jack Ma, “and to help ensure that at least 10 million small businesses outside of China can sell their products online.” Ma goes on to add, “We want to make Alibaba into an international platform for small businesses across the globe. If we can make it so that some small merchant in Norway can sell their products to Argentina and Argentine consumers can buy goods from Switzerland, then we will create an online WTO (World Trade Organization). The WTO that exists today is a large organization, but it is an institution of the last century ... "
Ma believes that every rejection he received at an early age made him stronger. Ma recalls how he tried to get a job at Kentucky Fried Chicken: “In total, 24 people applied to the company. 23 candidates were hired, only I was turned down.” When, after ten applications to Harvard University, Ma received another rejection, he made a promise to himself: “One day I will definitely go to Harvard and give a lecture!” And he kept his promise...
His inspiration is "Forrest Gump"
Hollywood films are one of the main sources of inspiration in Ma's life: “I love Forrest Gump. Just an ordinary guy who never gives up!”
In the largest city of India, there is the most expensive private building in the world - the Antilia Tower. Its construction cost $ 1 billion, this is the residence of the richest man in Asia, Mukesh Ambani. In July, he surpassed Jack Ma, founder of the Internet hypermarket Alibaba, in the Bloomberg rating by $6 billion. Ambani's fortune is $48 billion. He is 61 years old, lives with his family in Mumbai and loves Bollywood films. His own life could become the plot of an Indian melodrama, because it has an inheritance, a big quarrel with his brother, love, deceit and reconciliation. The life story of the richest man in Asia will be told by Day.Az with reference to secretmag.ru.
Family traditions
His father, Dhiburhai Ambani, worked for many years as a secretary in a British port, was able to accumulate a small amount of capital and open his own business. He started out trading in spices and wool, and later, in 1966, founded Reliance Industries and began manufacturing textiles and other fabrics. After 11 years, the factory became so big that it was listed on the stock exchange, and in the late 70s it started producing polyester, a synthetic material that is obtained in the process of refining petroleum products.
Things continued to go uphill. In the early 80s, Mukesh Ambani, the eldest son in the family, joined his father and started working in the family company. By that time, he had graduated from university, received a degree in chemistry and began to receive an MBA from Stanford, but did not finish - he returned to India to help run the family business. An energetic young man persuaded his father to invest in the promising telecommunications market and build his own oil refinery.
Antilia Tower
In 2002, Ambani Sr. died without leaving a will. And then Mukesh's younger brother, Anil, appeared on the scene.
strife
Anil Ambani also worked in the family business. Together with Mukesh, they carried the coffin with the body of their father. After the funeral, the eldest son became chairman of the board of directors, and Anil received the chair of vice president.
The brothers have always been very different. Mukesh - economic, secretive, conservative, early married a school teacher, whom his father looked after for him. Anil is a sociable Westerner with an open mind and an interest in new technologies. Until 1983, Anil studied at the Wharton School of Business in Pennsylvania, in 1991 he married the famous Bollywood actress Tina Munim, the bride was three years older than the groom.
Anil was always in the public eye, talked a lot with journalists and received the title of "Businessman of the Year" from the influential Indian magazine Business India in 1998, two years earlier than his older brother. While the father was alive, the brothers worked together, but after his death, instead of successfully complementing each other, managing the company, they began to quarrel.
Anil Ambani
Mukesh is a person who strives to keep everything under personal control. This is what colleagues and partners say about him. He slowly began to remove Anil from his duties. During the life of his father, Anil was the treasurer of the company and was engaged in investments, but the board of directors under the control of his older brother deprived him of these functions, and in 2004 transferred the right to manage all finances personally to Mukesh. Then Anil wrote an open letter on four pages, the essence of which was that Mukesh was destroying the corporate culture and the special spirit of the company.
In general, Ambani's father really favored the eldest son more than the younger. In 1999, when Reliance Industries launched the telecom operator Reliance Infocomm, there was no photo or mention of a younger brother in the brochure dedicated to the launch of an ambitious project. Anil was probably offended - for example, he did not come to that presentation, but he did not dispute the authority of his brother. Sources close to him told India Today that the younger brother was ready to play a second role and was not going to encroach on the elder's leadership. But when they began to shift him from his position, he became indignant. Moreover, in the environment of Mukesh, there were immediately cousins and nephews who wanted to become his right and left hands.
The brothers stopped communicating, Anil's corporate phone was turned off, rumors and details of family squabbles began to leak into the press, and the company's quotes began to fall. The free market at that time traded 13.48%, 46.67% belonged to the Ambani family, the rest was in the hands of foreign investors. All this time, by the way, the brothers lived under the same roof in the 14-storey mansion "Sea Breeze". Special staff worked in the house, who made sure that Mukesh and Anil did not accidentally meet, for example, in the elevator.
Finally, in 2005, the mother of the quarreling heirs convinced them to split the company. Mukesh got to manage the oil refining industry and petrochemistry, as well as textile production. Anil received projects related to telecommunications and electricity. For a few more years, the brothers, by inertia, sued each other for certain projects, but in 2010 they finally parted ways - each led his part of the company in his own direction.
New projects of the elder Ambani
Mukesh continues to engage in oil production and oil refining: he built a network of gas stations and brought it to the stock exchange, sold a stake in one of the fields to the British BP. The cost of the giant Reliance Industries exceeded $100 billion.
In 2014, Mukesh became obsessed with the idea of making good internet in India accessible to everyone. He invested $33 million in a new company, Reliance Jio, and launched a free 4G network in 2015. And a year later he presented his own smartphone LYF to the world - the device quickly, in just a few months, became the best-selling in India.
Mukesh and Nita Ambani
In 2017, the unprecedented generosity of the billionaire dried up, the Internet became paid - Ambani initially warned that the company would serve subscribers free of charge for only seven months. By this time, more than 100 million people had connected to Mukesh's 4G network, and 72 million users paid for the company's services on the day they were asked to do so.
It is no accident that Mukesh chose the Internet as a new area of his interests. Over the past few years, he has been trying to look more modern and open to the world. He attends various sports and cultural events, sponsors talented Indians, including grants to study at Stanford (which he himself did not graduate), smiles more and does charity work with the help of his wife Nita. India's economy is changing, and Ambani does not want to fall out of the cage, remaining forever a gloomy oil oligarch. “Data is the new oil,” he says, and dreams of Jio leading the digitalization of all walks of life in India. In addition, he has a goal - to become the richest man in the world.
Forbes has published a ranking of the richest people in the world. The world list brought together 1,645 millionaires with a total fortune of $6.4 trillion versus $5.4 trillion last year. The 2014 list included 268 newcomers, including 42 female representatives. Overall, 172 women made it to the rankings, up from 138 last year.
The first in the world ranking are: Bill Gates with a fortune of $76 billion, Mexican businessman Carlos Slim - $72 billion, Amancio Ortego - $64 billion, American investor Warren Buffett - $59 billion and American business Sheldon Adelson - $38 billion.
The list includes 5 Kazakh businessmen and 2 ethnic Uzbeks:
Alisher Usmanov took 40th place with a fortune of $18.6 billion.
Source: metals, telecom, investments. In particular, he owns shares in Mail.ru Group; Megaphone; DST Global; Metalloinvest.
Age: 61
Iskander Makhmudov ranks 227th. His fortune is estimated at $6.1 billion.
Source: mining, metals, machinery. He is the founder and owner of the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC), which is engaged in the production of copper. He also owns shares in Transtoil, Transmashholdin, Zheldorremmash, Aeroexpress, Moscow Passenger Company, and Kunovice Aircraft Industries.
Age: 51
Bulat Utemuratov on the 796th place with a fortune of $ 2.2 billion.
Source: banks, investments, metals, telecom, media. B. Utemuratov is one of the largest shareholders, whose funds are managed by Verny Capital.
Age: 56
Timur Kulibaev on the 988th place with a fortune of $1.8 billion.
Source: oil, gas, transport. Timur Kulibayev, on an equal footing with his wife Dinara, owns JSC Holding Group ALMEX, which owns 68.2% of JSC Narodny savings bank Kazakhstan"
Age: 47
Dinara Kulibayeva also in 988th place with a fortune of $1.8 billion.
Source: oil, gas, transport. Dinara Kulibayeva also owns ALMEX Holding Group JSC on a parity basis with her husband Timur, which owns 68.2% of Halyk Savings Bank of Kazakhstan JSC
Age: 46
Alijan Ibragimov- 1046th place with a fortune of $ 1.7 billion.
