Li Ka-shing
has
lived up to his sobriquet of Superman by increasing his net worth by nearly 160
per cent to US$12.4 billion (HK$96.72 billion) last year to become the world's
19th richest person, Forbes magazine estimates.
Li, 75, who also carries the title of the
richest person in Asia, returned to the top 20 of the Forbes annual list
of the world's US-dollar billionaires after slipping to 28th place last year,
when his net worth was US$7.8 billion.
This year Li ranked just ahead of the Kwok
brothers - Walter, Thomas and Raymond - of Sun Hung Kai Properties who weighed
in with a collective US$11.4 billion.
In addition to Li and the Kwoks, 12 other
Hong Kong billionaires were listed. By comparison, Russia reported 25
billionaires, the third highest concentration outside the United States and
Germany. Most of the new Russian wealth was founded on oil.
Forbes noted
that Li's empire, centred on flagships Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong
(Holdings), ``spans 40 countries and accounts for 11.5 per cent of Hong Kong's
stock market value''. The magazine said it used February 6 share prices and
exchange rates in its valuations.
Shares of Hutchison, the world's largest port
operator, which also runs third generation (3G) mobile phone services across the
world, rose 17.3 per cent last year.
Cheung Kong, Hong Kong's No2 property
developer by market value, rose 21.7 per cent.
Li's powerful business empire also includes
four other listed companies: Hongkong Electric, Cheung Kong Infrastructure, and
Growth Enterprise Market-listed CK Life Science International and the Tom Group.
His youngest son, PCCW chairman Richard
Li,
also made it on to the list with net worth of US$1.1 billion, ranking 514th.
Other local billionaires include Esprit
Holdings chairman Michael Ying, who cracked the list for the first time, ranking
310th with net worth of US$1.8 billion.
Esprit was the best performing Hang Seng
Index constituent stock last year, jumping 96.6 per cent.
Citic Pacific chairman Larry Yung is the only
mainland billionaire listed by Forbes. His net worth is estimated at
US$1.1 billion.
Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates
remained the world's richest man with net worth of US$46.6 billion, followed by
value investor Warren Buffett with US$42.9 billion.
Forbes estimates
that last year the wealth of the world's 587 billionaires swelled by US$500
billion to US$1.9 trillion - more than the GDP of China.
- by Jonathan Tam Hong
Kong Standard
28 Feb 2004
Times are tough even for Hong Kong's
wealthiest, with Forbes Global's latest list of the world's
richest people showing that some have seen their worth drop by more
than half in the past four years.
The drop in the net worth of Hong Kong's
richest follows a global trend, which saw the total estimate of the
world's richest people on the list slip from US$1.73 trillion
(HK$13.49 trillion) to US$1.54 trillion, according to the magazine,
which published its 2002 list last night.
Cheung Kong (Holdings) chairman Li
Ka-shing, who also controls Hutchison Whampoa, saw his US$12.6
billion estimated worth last year shrink to US$10 billion. Li has been
the SAR's richest man since 1999.
The weak property market, still struggling
to rebound since 1998, is said to have affected a lot of developers,
including Cheung Kong.
But Li's diversified regional businesses,
including telecommunications, port development and retail sales, have
enabled him to remain at the top of the list, not just in Hong Kong,
but in the whole of Asia.
His son Richard Li, who controls Pacific
Century CyberWorks (PCCW) and its Cyberport division, has seen his
wealth slip from US$4.3 billion in 2000 to US$1.6 billion.
Richard Li, once dubbed ``whiz kid'', shot
to fame after selling Star TV, which he founded in 1991, for US$825
million to Rupert Murdoch in 1993. But his takeover of Hong Kong
Telecom from Cable & Wireless for US$28.5 billion in 2000, and
moves to refinance debts to pay back the HKT purchase loan appears to
have taken its toll.
The stock price of PCCW-HKT has plummeted
from more than $26 a share to below $2 since the purchase.
Henderson Land head Lee Shau-kee saw his
wealth dip from US$12.7 billion in 1998 to US$5.2 billion.
Chinachem chairman Nina Wang's estimated
worth of US$6 billion in 1998 dwindled to US$2.4 billion; New World's
Cheng Yu-tung's US$6 billion in 1998 was reduced to US$2 billion,
according to Forbes.
Americans still dominated the 2002 list,
with Microsoft's Bill Gates heading it on US$52.8 billion. His wealth
shrunk from its peak of US$90 billion in 1999.
With the exception of China and South Korea,
virtually every Asian economy suffered in the past year, the magazine
said.
China's richest man is ``feed king'' Liu
Yongxing, whose family, including brother Liu Yonghao, built up its
fortune from a starting capital of 1,000 yuan (HK$942) over the past
two decades. The fortune now stands at US$1 billion.
Rong Yiren & family was last year's
China's wealthiest at US$1.3 billion. Rong's son, Larry Yung, is
chairman of Hong Kong-based conglomerate Citic Pacific, a 28-per
cent-owned subsidiary of state-owned China International Trust and
Investment Corp.
There are 497 billionaires from 43 countries
in the Forbes list. The US leads with 243 billionaires, down
from 272 last year. - by Michael Wong
iMail 1 March 2002
The ranking of the world's richest people as
estimated by Forbes magazine, listed by country. Listings include
rank, name, age where known, wealth in billions of dollars and source
of the money. A number of billionaires share the same rank because
Forbes reported their wealth as being identical with each other. All
figures are in U.S. dollars.
HONG KONG
23. Li
Ka-shing, 73, $10.0, diversified (global conglomerate)
24. Kwok, Walter,
Thomas and Raymond, $9.2, real estatestate
51. Lee Shau
Kee, 74, $5.2, real estate
118. Kadoorie, Michael and family, 61, $3.1, diversified
168. Wang,
Nina, $2.4, real estate
168. Wang, Patrick, 51, $2.4, micromotors
208. Cheng Yu-tung, 76, $2.0, real estate
277.
Li,
Richard, 35, $1.6, telecom
293. Chen Din Hwa, 79, $1.5, real estate
413. Ho,
Stanley, 80, $1.1, gaming
445. Fok,
Henry, 78, $1.0, gaming
445. Woo, Peter
and family, 56, $1.0, real estate
TAIWAN
68. Tsai Wan-lin and family, 77, $4.6, insurance
112. Wang, Y.C., 85, $3.3, chemicals
157. Gou, Terry, $2.5, technology
208. Koo Chen-fu and family, 85, $2.0, banking
258. Lam, Barry, 52, $1.7, laptops
SINGAPORE
118. Ng Teng Fong and family, 73, $3.1, real estate
138. Lee Seng Wee and family, 77, $2.9, banking
151. Khoo
Teck Puat, 85, $2.7, banking
208. Kwek Leng Beng and family, 61, $2.0, hotels
378. Wee Cho
Yaw, 73, $1.2, banking
INDONESIA
234. Halim, Rachman and family, 54, $1.8, tobacco
MALAYSIA
84. Kuok, Robert, 79, $4.1, agriculture
208. Lim Goh Tong, 84, $2.0, gaming
258. Quek Leng Chan and family, 61, $1.7, banking
351. Krishnan, Ananda, 63, $1.3, telecom
445. Yeoh Tiong Lay and family, 72, $1.0, construction
THAILAND
351. Chearavanont, Dhanin and family, 62, $1.3, agriculture
445. Thaksin Shinawatra
and family, 52, $1.0, telecom
PHILIPPINES
258. Tan, Lucio, 67, $1.7, tobacco
293. Sy, Henry and family, 77, $1.5, malls
413. Ty, George and family, 69, $1.1, banking
445. Zobel de Ayala, Jaime A and family, 42, $1.0, diversified
JAPAN
29. Saji, Nobutada and family, 56, $8.6, beverages
51. Takei, Yasuo and family, 72, $5.2, consumer finance
97. Kinoshita, Kyosuke and family, 61, $3.8, consumer finance
105. Iwasaki, Fukuzo, 77, $3.5, real estate
106. Mori, Akira, 65, $3.4, real estate
118. Itoyama, Eitaro, 59, $3.1, golf courses
138. Fukuda, Yoshitaka and family, 54, $2.9, consumer finance
138. Ito, Masatoshi, 77, $2.9, retail
157. Tsutsumi, Yoshiaki, 67, $2.5, real estate
180. Yamauchi, Hiroshi, 74, $2.3, Nintendo
234. Busujima, Kunio, 62, $1.8, gaming
234. Jinnai, Ryoichi, 75, $1.8, consumer finance
277. Funai, Tetsuro, 75, $1.6, VCRs
277. Idemitsu, Shosuke, 74, $1.6, oil
277. Takizaki, Takemitsu, 56, $1.6, sensors
277. Yoshida, Tadahiro, 55, $1.6, zippers
293. Morita, Hideo and family, 50, $1.5, Sony
293. Son,
Masayoshi, 44, $1.5, Softbank
327. Okada, Kazuo, 59, $1.4, gaming
351. Mabuchi, Kenichi and family, 69, $1.3, micromotors
378. Fujita, Den and family, 76, $1.2, McDonald's Japan
413. Ogihara, Ikuo, 47, $1.1, pharmaceuticals
445. Fukutake, Soichiro and family, 56, $1.0, education
445. Otsuka, Akihiko and family, 64, $1.0, pharmaceuticals
445. Yanai, Tadashi, 53, $1.0, retail
SOUTH KOREA
157. Lee Kun Hee and family, 60, $2.5, Samsung
225. Shin Kyuk-ho, 79, $1.9, candy
- Associated Press 2002
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