The beneficiary refers to the substance and the substance, the flesh and the bone. A name is like skin and fur, image and reputation. People who value profit often lose their reputation. Those who blindly have a good name or even sell their reputation in order to multiply their careers are often negative, affecting their reputation and personality.
In the past 100 years of life and a long business career, Li Ka-shing, who can "gain fame and fortune" and stand in a turning place with the spirit of "profit-seeking", is likely to become the only successful person among the descendants of Chaoshang in modern times.
It is interesting to follow the traces of Li Ka-shing's behavior and observe his "grass snake gray line" in the overall planning of career and life major decisions.
The following questions are the "dead holes" of life that Li Ka-shing has arranged, but many influential figures have not been able to cross.
If you are the richest man in a party, or you have a successful career, how to arrange the inheritance of family wealth, the future foothold of your children, and the long-term layout of resources and connections?
This is a problem that many people who have reached middle age and have achieved success in their careers cannot avoid.
If there is no answer to this question, then what is the point of working hard for decades but ending up in a generation, or even leading the way for three or five years?
If there is a replicable answer to this question, why did the lifelong efforts of the founders of those trillion, 100 billion, and 10 billion enterprises go forward and fall apart?
Are there any professional operations to help people, especially Chinese businessmen, get out of the "dead loop" that follows them in their careers and lives?
While the business giants are struggling to find answers to these questions, the players of "Animal Farm" are also experiencing the brutal "washing" of hormone-driven survival competition in the jungle world. In the increasingly involuted jungle area, they noticed the main creative team of the Three Caves of the Cunning Rabbit, as well as the wisdom and legend of the grassland foxes.
Why do they navigate between the unknown future and the real interests, and always return with a full load? Or get out of the way before disaster strikes?
This is a driving force and significance for reviewing and reviewing the life of Li Ka-shing, the former Hong Kong superman and Asia's richest man, in terms of survival wisdom and wealth.
The mystery of the "Golden Triangle".
On March 16, 2018, the 90-year-old Li Ka-shing announced his retirement in May of that year, and his 54-year-old eldest son Li Zeju officially entered the power center of the Changhe department.
On June 29 of the same year, Li Ka-shing attended the 2018 Graduation Ceremony and Award Ceremony of Shantou University. After the meeting, he resigned as honorary chairman of the board of trustees of Shantou University and handed over the baton to his second son Li Zekai.
Now, after 6 years, Li Ka-shing has retired, but his influence on the rivers and lakes is still there.
Here's the first important piece of information worth remembering for readers:
As early as 1983, Li Ka-shing allowed his eldest son and second son, Li Zekai, to become Canadian citizens. It is said that this move eased the pressure on the government due to anti-Chinese sentiment at that time in the HK$3.2 billion acquisition of a 52% stake in Canada's Husky Petroleum Company by the Lee father and son three years later, and further cleared the way for the Lee Group's overseas expansion.
It can be seen that institutional and cultural identity are related to the growth and decline of businessmen's net worth and capital in the development of localization.
On the issue of nationality for their lives, the Li brothers did not choose the United Kingdom, the United States and some European countries with which the Li family had deeper ties, but both positioned themselves in Canada, echoing the place where their father was rooted through the Pacific Ocean. This is the first set of mathematical and graphical relationships: an intriguing golden triangle.
In the mathematical and physical worlds, triangles are considered to be the most stable structures. Archimedes, an ancient Chinese mathematician and the derivator of Helen's formula, discovered a way to find the total area of a triangle by the length of three sides.
This golden triangle, which originates from the world of mathematics and physics, appears and disappears in Li Ka-shing's story.
In the process of major decision-making on family wealth inheritance and division, foreign investment, and even Li Ka-shing's personal emotional relationship, you can see the mysterious figure of this golden triangle.
Although Li Ka-shing has officially retired, his influence in the global business community and his prestige in the family business have not "retired".
Li Ka-shing once solemnly said that he also has a "third son" - the "Li Ka-shing Foundation".
He likened the Foundation to his third son, declaring that his future epitaph would be inscribed with eight words: "Build the Self, Pursue Selflessness."
Li Ka-shing also shared his experience of "epiphany". One night many years ago, he tossed and turned, and finally it dawned on him that he regarded the Foundation as his third son. He said that only in this way will he love him wholeheartedly, divide his property, so that the fund can obtain the necessary resources, implement all public welfare projects, and continue his wish forever.
According to public information, since its establishment in 1980, the Li Ka-shing Foundation has never raised funds from outside, and its funds all come from Li Ka-shing's own donations, and so far it has donated nearly 15 billion Hong Kong dollars. In Chinese mainland donations, Li Ka-shing refused to name all buildings after him. He also clarified the principle of the use of the foundation's donations: at least 80% of the donations will go to the Greater China region, and no more than 20% of overseas donations.
However, among the Li Ka Shing Foundation's donations to Canada, Singapore and other overseas regions, there are many buildings named after him.
This is a typical "28 principle", and together with the decision-making body, the Li Ka Shing Foundation, it is also a golden triangle of philanthropy.
The inheritance concept of the "three sons" and the distribution of donations also form a golden triangle relationship around Li Ka-shing himself. Just like the nobles of Li Ka-shing's family and business, his cousin and wife Zhuang Yueming, and his confidante Zhou Kaixuan, who met after the age of 60, it is also an interesting emotional golden triangle.
Zhou Kaixuan is 33 years younger than Li Ka-shing. Does this number have some meaning? Why does the number "3" always appear frequently in many of Li Ka-shing's stories? Leave it to those who have insight to continue to study.
How to respond to "tall hats"
In Li Ka-shing's long business career, there are many halos and honors from the political, business and academic circles of Europe and the United States. These "high hats" inevitably have some potential "investment attraction" expectations attached to them, but Li Ka-shing's response shows his usual calmness, prudence and rationality.
Li Ka-shing's major actions are always very different from ordinary people's popular ideas and habits, but they usually reap unexpected results.
Just like the most valuable sentence in his "success motto", which is related to his decision-making habits: when deciding on something, it will be carefully studied in advance, and when the decision is made, it will be courageous to move forward.
So, keep in mind the second important piece of information about Li Ka-shing: the traces of Li Ka-shing's actions are more valuable than his words.
As a representative of the tide merchants, Li Jiachao's behavior style also has the distinctive characteristics of this group. On December 1, 1995, Li Ka-shing was elected as the honorary chairman of the conference by the "International Teochew Group Friendship Association" (Hong Kong).
Let's start with a look at the accolades from Europe and how they relate to the growth of Li Ka-shing's personal wealth.
The first type of honor, which mainly provides emotional value in terms of social status, usually comes from the traditional power systems such as the "kingdom" and government departments that have continued to this day in some European countries.
In 1981, Li Ka-shing was appointed a Justice of the Peace and was elected as a Man of the Year in Hong Kong.
Since then, Li Ka-shing has won the following honorable titles:
In 1986, he was knighted by the King of Belgium; On February 6 of the same year, Hong Kong's Hong Kong Economic Journal selected the top ten consortia in Hong Kong, and the market value of four listed companies in the Cheung Kong Department reached HK$34.3 billion, ranking first.
On 1 January 1989, he was awarded the title of Lord Barth (CBE Honour) by the Queen of England.
2000年，获得比利时国The Commander in the Leopold Order（利奥波德）勋衔、英帝国KBE爵级司令勋章。
At a time when mainstream European countries have awarded prestigious status labels such as the title of Li Ka-shing, France lacks the resources of hereditary nobility in this regard due to the complete overthrow of the imperial system. But this is not difficult for the passionate and romantic French.
In January 2005, French President Jacques Chirac awarded Li Ka-shing the "Commander of the Legion of Honor". Prior to that, in 1999, Li Ka-shing had become the 10th richest man in Asia on Forbes' list of the world's richest people.
While mainstream European countries are vying to give Li Ka-shing a "high hat", the social institutions of the United States are not far behind, among which the most active are financial media organizations such as Forbes and scientific research and academic institutions such as universities, the spiritual home of mainstream social elites.
According to public information, since 1999, Li Ka-shing has been selected by Forbes magazine as the "richest man in Asia", the Macom Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award (issued by Forbes Group), the "world's most influential richest man", and the "richest man in China" in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014.
Since then, from 2019 to 2023, Li Ka-shing's name will still frequently appear on the "Forbes Global Rich List" and "Forbes Global Billionaires List" released by Forbes, as well as various annual rich lists such as "Forbes China Global Chinese Elite TOP100" and "Forbes Asia Charity Hero List".
Among them, on February 22, 2023 local time in the United States, Forbes magazine released the 2023 Hong Kong, China Rich List, Li Ka-shing once again became the richest man in Hong Kong, China, and his net worth increased by $3 billion from 2022 to $39 billion.
Among the many social institutions that have bestowed honors and honors on Li Ka-shing, research institutions such as universities and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that have a far-reaching influence on the American elite cannot be ignored.
如2010年，李嘉诚获得了由美国斯坦福大学颁发的Robert H. Alway Lifetime Achievement Award（Robert H.终身成就奖）。
In 2011, he received the Carnegie Philanthropy Award (from the Carnegie Foundation) and the Berkeley Medal (from the University of California, Berkeley).
Overseas investment layout dark triangle
Li Ka-shing, who has equal honors, did not blur the boundary between politics and business. He has always been relatively soberly maintaining this sense of equidistant boundaries, which is likely to become one of the business wisdom he left to the Li family consortium.
This sense of boundary is vividly reflected in Lee's major investment behavior, which controls everything within the logical framework of commercial returns.
As mentioned earlier, in some merchant groups, a social title such as "Earl", which symbolizes the power of old Europe, is enough to make a businessman who has struggled for most of his life lose his mind, which is indeed incredible. Although mankind has relegated feudal dynasties and their servitude to the corner of history, they greatly admire the sentimental value provided by the legacy of the aristocratic hierarchy.
However, in the face of various distinguished positions from royal families, dignitaries, authoritative academic and research institutions, Li Ka-shing's deeds do not overlap with him outside of commercial logic.
For example, from the perspective of time and geographical distribution, Li Ka-shing's overseas investments are mainly concentrated in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland in the north of the United Kingdom.
This is another thought-provoking set of dark triangles of time and geography.
Among them, the United States has not been able to become one of the investment centers of the Li family's trillion-dollar asset system, which is particularly puzzling.
Li Zeju and Li Zekai brothers studied at Stanford University in the United States. Li Zeju received a master's degree in civil engineering and a doctorate in law from the university, while Li Zekai started his own business before graduating from the school.
According to the normal operation of the Chinese merchant family, the most likely follow-up is that the Li brothers, after being familiar with the operating mechanism of the local elite society and making extensive contacts, will naturally emigrate, and use it as an important place for investment. However, Li Ka-shing chose to let the two brothers become Canadian citizens, and made Canada one of the earliest investment regions of the Li family.
Canada does not have the royal resources, nor does it have the influence to rival the international status of the United States, Britain, France, etc., and the honor it can give Li Ka-shing is relatively limited - basically concentrated in the academic field.
For example, in June 1989, Li Ka-shing was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Calgary, Canada.
In 2000, he was awarded the Order of the Commander in the Leopold Order of the Kingdom of Belgium and the KBE Commander of the Order of the British Empire. The University of Manitoba in Canada followed suit with the award of the International Outstanding Entrepreneur of the Year Award to Li Ka-shing.
This title is tantamount to repeating a fact that has already happened, which can be said to be funny, and may also help Li Ka-shing gain recognition from the local society, but it is of little practical significance compared to the distinguished status and title of other countries he has previously obtained.
However, since the 80s of the 20th century, Canada has become an important investment destination for the Li Ka-shing family. One of the most iconic projects was the acquisition of a 52% stake in Canada's Husky Petroleum Company for HK$3.2 billion in 1986.
Another investment was in 1987, when Li Ka-shing, together with two Chinese consortium leaders, Lee Shau Kee and Cheng Yu-tung, successfully won the development rights of the former site of the 1986 World Expo in Vancouver.
Who can keep Li Ka-shing
Around 2015, some domestic media said, don't let Li Ka-shing run.
Around 2020, some media said that Li Jiacheng began to be "forced" to divest from the UK.
The reality is that Li Ka-shing's buying and selling in the UK has increased significantly in just a few years.
Therefore, observing Li Ka-shing's major investment choices in the international geopolitical game is one of the important windows to understand the actual layout of the dark triangle of his overseas investment.
Lee's timing of his investment in the UK is a sample of a controversial one.
From the point of view of geopolitical interests, a democratic, united, and united Europe is not in the interests of the United States, Britain, or Russia. This hard triangle in post-World War II macro political economy has influenced and even determined the hidden microclimate of businessmen and their investment decision-making behavior in the micro field.
During the Cameron era in 2013, Britain was preparing to start Brexit mode, announcing that it wanted to build a new type of relationship with the European Union. Since then, with the continuous efforts of the Cameron and Johnson eras, the UK finally officially left the European Union on January 31, 2020.
Lee's early major investment in the UK began in 2010. On July 30 of that year, Li Ka-shing, Asia's richest man, bid for part of EDF's UK power grid business for £5.775 billion through its Cheung Kong Infrastructure, HK Electric, Li Ka-shing Foundation Limited and Li Ka-shing (Overseas) Foundation.
After 2013, as the Brexit movement in the Cameron era gradually heated up, the investment of Lee Kar-shing and his son in Ireland and the United Kingdom also entered an upgraded mode. During this period, the following significant investment activities can be seen in public reports:
On 2 August 2014, Irish media revealed that Li Ka-shing may be bidding to acquire about 100 aircraft assets owned by Awas Aviation Leasing in Ireland. AWAS is one of Ireland's many aviation leasing companies, with a fleet of around 280 aircraft and partners with nearly 100 air operators in 50 countries around the world. At that time, the company planned to spin off some of its aircraft assets, including about 100 newer aircraft, such as the Boeing 747 and Airbus 340, for a total of US$5 billion. The transaction will be Li Ka-shing's largest acquisition since 2010.
In March 2014, before the news of the acquisition of Awas Aviation Leasing in Ireland broke, Li Ka-shing had sold nearly 25% of Watson's shares to Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek for HK$44 billion. In just 8 months, Li Ka-shing has successfully cashed out more than HK$71 billion.
In 2015, the Cheung Wo Department, controlled by Li Jiacheng and his son, spent HK$12.016 billion to acquire Eversholt Raily, a British railway car leasing company. At the same time, it also acquired the British gas network National Grid for up to £11 billion. In March of the same year, Hutchison Whampoa, a subsidiary of the Li Ka-shing family, reached a definitive agreement with Telefonica, a Spanish telecommunications company, to acquire O2, the UK's second-largest mobile telecom operator, for about 10.25 billion pounds (about 95.6 billion yuan).
In August 2019, Cheung Kong Asset, a subsidiary of the Li Ka-shing family, spent 4.6 billion pounds (about 39.5 billion yuan) to wholly acquire Greene King, the largest bar group and brewery in the United Kingdom.
In July 2020, Hutchison Whampoa Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cheung Kong Asset Group, founded by Li Ka-shing, invested 1 billion pounds (about 8.832 billion yuan) in Convoys Wharf, East London, a large-scale real estate project on the banks of the River Thames in London, England, with 1 billion pounds (about 8.832 billion yuan), which was approved by the British government and started construction.
The above-mentioned investment cases and clues basically coincide with the official launch of the Brexit process and its critical period.
During the Brexit campaign, Li Ka-shing's major investments in the UK's domestic civil public sector were particularly intensive and decisive, with each of his acquisitions being a major move of more than $3 billion.
According to the Financial Times, by 2018, the Li Ka-shing family controlled 25% of the UK's electricity market, 40% of the telecommunications market, one-quarter of the freshwater supply market, and one-third of the UK's terminals and gas business.
These assets accounted for 35% of the UK's GDP (gross domestic product) in 2020, which means that Li Ka-shing almost controls the lifeblood of the British economy.
After the successful Brexit, Li Ka-shing began to sell some of his investments in the UK.
In Li Ka-shing's UK investment map, the British electricity distribution company, the telecommunications operator O2 and London's Canary Wharf form the main framework for the Li family to "buy half of the UK" – a huge golden triangle spanning power, telecommunications and maritime logistics.
When Li Ka-shing started to sell out, one side of the golden triangle was first dismantled: in March 2020, a consortium led by the international investment bank Macquarie Group and private equity giant KKR began talks with UK Power Networks, which is controlled by the Li Ka-shing family. At the time, the British distribution company was valued at about £126 billion, double the price at which Li Ka-shing bought it.
Some analysts pointed out that Li Ka-shing's "buying, buying, buying" in the UK in his early years and "selling, selling, selling" in 2020 made him a big profit of 147 billion pounds in 2020.
During the critical period of Brexit, the large-scale investment of the Li Ka-shing consortium has undoubtedly mitigated the negative impact of Brexit on the British economy to some extent. For this reason, the British official attaches great importance to Li Ka-shing, and the Queen of England even personally awarded him a medal.
In a turbulent Europe, Li Jiacheng accurately captured the critical window of time for the massive inflow and outflow of capital. The controversy that arose did not prevent him from reaping the expected rewards for his decisive actions that lasted for many years.
Family wealth inheritance and division
After officially retiring, Li Ka-shing is now 96 years old, but to some extent, he is still the leader of this trillion-dollar wealth map.
Li Ka-shing has two sons, three granddaughters and four grandchildren, and how to make a smooth transition between the second, third and fourth generations to achieve the inheritance of wealth and family business is an important question to test whether the Li Ka-shing consortium can achieve sustainable development.
Li Ka-shing's institutional arrangements for family wealth and inheritance were made clear as early as 2012, and his specific ideas were unexpected, but they did not cause unease among family members.
On May 25 of that year, Li Ka-shing announced his asset distribution plan after the shareholders' meeting:
40% of the shares of Cheung Kong and Hutchison Whampoa, as well as the ownership of 22 listed companies, with a total market capitalization of more than HK$850 billion, of which more than HK$290 billion in listed assets, were all vested in the eldest son Li Zeju;
In the future, the Changhe Department will be managed by Li Ka-shing himself;
The second son, Li Zekai, received financial support from Li Ka-shing for his business.
Previously, Li Ka-shing achieved control of family assets through complex trusts, and the ultimate control of his family assets was in the hands of Li Ka-shing Family Trust (Li Ka-Shing Unity Holdings Limited). The trust is held by Li Ka-shing, his eldest son Li Zeju and his second son Li Zekai each with 1/3 of the interests.
In this separation arrangement, a significant transfer of control of the family's wealth was achieved as follows:
First of all, Li Zekai transferred 1/3 of the interests in the family trust held by him to Li Zeju's name. After the completion of this transfer, Li Zeju's shareholding will increase to 2/3, while the remaining 1/3 will continue to be held by Li Ka-shing, and Li Zekai will completely withdraw.
Subsequently, on July 29, 2012, Li Ka-shing transferred 1/3 of his family trust interests to his eldest son Li Zeju. Li Ka-shing's move made Li Zeju officially take over the listed kingdom with a market value of more than 850 billion Hong Kong dollars at that time, involving 22 listed companies. Among them, in addition to the "four" flagships of Cheung Kong Industrial, Hutchison Whampoa, Cheung Kong Infrastructure, and Power Industrial, it also includes TOM Group and Huixian Industry.
After the completion of the transfer of the "separation" plan approved by the shareholders and family members of all parties, Li Ka-shing's youngest son, Li Zekai, took control of HKT Trust and PCPD through PCCW, with a book capital of HK$13.648 billion.
In addition, Li has a portfolio of valuable private investments, including AIG's Asia asset management business, which was acquired for US$500 million in 2009 and had approximately US$67 billion in assets under management at the time of the separation.
"Internal causes are the decisive factors in the change of things, and external causes act through internal causes." For a family consortium with trillions of assets, the division and stability of family wealth within its family members will affect all aspects of whether its listed company system can operate and inherit steadily.
On the surface, Lee's wealth division plan seems to be unbalanced between the eldest son and the younger son, but since 2012, it has been accepted by key people inside and outside the family, and the reasoning in the process is also intriguing.
Perhaps, from the perspective of the emotional logic of decision-making, Li Ka-shing's sentence in reply to young people's questions can better reflect his original intention of such a layout: Don't talk to me about empty morality, I am just a businessman.
Source: Chinese Businessman Magazine
Author/reporter Hou Yaochen