Sir Michael David Kadoorie, GBS (born 1941) is a Hong Kong

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

businessman, and the chairman and 18% owner of

CLP Group CLP Group () and its holding company, CLP Holdings Ltd (), also known as China Light and Power Company, Limited (now CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd., ), is an electricity company in Hong Kong. Incorporated in 1901 as China Light & Power Company Syndi ...

, Hong Kong's largest electricity producer. He also owns 47% of

Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited (HSH) is the holding company of a hotel group. It is engaged in the ownership, development and management of The Peninsula Hotels; commercial and residential properties in Asia, the United States and Eur ...

Early life

Born in 1941 to a Jewish family,South China Morning Post: "Patriarchs and The Pen"
30 November 2003 the son of business tycoon Lawrence Kadoorie (1899–1993) and his wife, Muriel Gubbay, Kadoorie was educated at Kowloon Junior School in Hong Kong, as well as

Institut Le Rosey Institut Le Rosey (), commonly referred to as Le Rosey or simply Rosey, is a private boarding school in Rolle, Switzerland. Founded in 1880 by Paul-Émile Carnal on the site of the 14th-century Château du Rosey in the town of Rolle in the canto ...

in Switzerland. His family's roots in business in the Far East go back to his

grandfather Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually-reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic ...

, a descendant of Iraqi Jews originally from

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

, who first settled in Shanghai in 1880. After a spell in Bombay, British Raj India, his grandfather made a fortune in Shanghai, mostly lost in 1949, and later, in Hong Kong through finance, real estate and utilities. Headquartered in Hong Kong soon after 1949, Kadoorie's father and uncle expanded the family businesses into a diversified group, led by the company flagship CLP Holdings Ltd.

Career

Kadoorie is the chairman of CLP Holdings Ltd. which his family founded in 1890 and in which they still hold a 35% stake. The utility company provides electricity to 75% of Hong Kong as sole operator (licensed through a Scheme of Control) in Kowloon and the New Territories, and has equity interests in power plants in China, Southeast Asia, Australia and India. He is also the chairman of the family's second largest listed group, Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, owners and operators of the Peninsula Hotel Group. He controls and is a director of

Metrojet Ltd Metrojet is a Hong Kong provider of business aviation services to users in the Asia Pacific region. Established in 1997, Metrojet pioneered business aviation services in Hong Kong and provides all-inclusive aircraft management, charter, maintena ...

, Heliservices (HK) Ltd, and has initiated CLP Research Institute (a subsidiary of CLP Holdings which looks into renewable energy development). He holds a number of directorships in non-Kadoorie companies. He was a member of the Council of the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...

and, in 2000, the Kadoorie Biological Sciences Building opened at the university.

Awards

A trustee of the Kadoorie Charitable Foundation, Kadoorie was made an Officer of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

by the government of France and a Commander of the Order of Léopold II of Belgium. He was awarded a knighthood, as a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

, in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in June 2005. In 2004, the

awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Car collector

A photography buff, Kadoorie is also a helicopter pilot and a collector of classic cars. He is the owner of a number of rare automobiles, including a

Bugatti Type 57 The Bugatti Type 57 and later variants (including the famous Atlantic and Atalante) was a grand tourer car built from 1934 through 1940. It was an entirely new design created by Jean Bugatti, son of founder Ettore. A total of 710 Type 57s were ...

, a 1932

Rolls-Royce Phantom II The Rolls-Royce Phantom II was the third and last of Rolls-Royce's 40/50 hp models, replacing the New Phantom in 1929. It used an improved version of the Phantom I engine in an all-new chassis. A "Continental" version, with a short wheel ...

Thrupp & Maberly Thrupp & Maberly was a British coachbuilding business based in the West End of London, England. Coach-makers to Queen Victoria they operated for more than two centuries until 1967 when they closed while in the ownership of Rootes Group. Mr Thru ...

, a 1934

Hispano-Suiza Hispano-Suiza () is a Spanish automotive–engineering company. It was founded in 1904 by Marc Birkigt and Damian Mateu as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft en ...

J12 Vanvooren Cabriolet, a 1969 Lamborghini Miura P400 S, a 1924 Vauxhall 30–98 Tourer, a Talbot T150 CSS Pourtout coupé (ex car of race driver "Pagnibon"), a Rolls-Royce Phantom III with Gurney Nutting body, and a

Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost name refers both to a car model and one specific car from that series. Originally named the " 40/50 h.p." the chassis was first made at Royce's Manchester works, with production moving to Derby in July 1908, ...

. In 1998, he spent two months recovering from serious injuries at the John Radcliffe Hospital in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, England after an accident in his vintage

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

when the spokes in two of the rebuilt wheels tore through the tyres.

Personal life

He lives in Hong Kong with his

Cuban-American Cuban Americans ( es, cubanoestadounidenses or ''cubanoamericanos'') are Americans who trace their cultural heritage to Cuba regardless of phenotype or ethnic origin. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Cuban descent or ...

wife, Betty Tamayo, known as "Lady Betty" (died Houston, Texas, 20 June 2021). They have three children: Natalie (born 1985), Bettina, and Philip (born 1992).Peninsula owner Michael Kadoorie grooming his children as possible successors
SCMP, 30 December 2013 His sister Rita Laura Kadoorie is married to fellow Hong Kong billionaire

Ronald McAulay Ronald James McAulay (born 1935/1936) is a Hong Kong billionaire businessman. Education McAulay has a master's degree from the University of Glasgow. Career McAulay qualified as an accountant, and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Ac ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kadoorie, Michael 1941 births Living people Alumni of Institut Le Rosey Hong Kong businesspeople Hong Kong philanthropists Hong Kong Jews Hong Kong people of Iraqi-Jewish descent

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...