Richard Li Tzar-kai is a Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist. The founder and chairman of the private investment group
Pacific Century Group
Pacific Century Group (PCG), chaired by Richard Li, is an Asia-based private investment group founded in 1993 with interests in technology, media and telecommunications, financial services, infrastructure, property and other investments. It oper ...
(PCG),
Li started his career in the 1990s with the founding of
STAR TV Star TV may refer to:
* E! (Canadian TV channel) (formerly Star!), a Canadian entertainment news channel
* Las Estrellas (Spanish for The Stars), the Mexican television network
* Estrella TV (Spanish for Star TV), the American Spanish-language net ...
, a pan-Asian television network.
After founding PCG in 1993,
he went on to establish
PCCW
PCCW Limited (formerly known as Pacific Century CyberWorks Limited) is a Hong Kong-based information and communications technology (ICT) company.
The company is the majority owner of telecommunications company HKT Limited, and also holds a maj ...
and
HKT Trust.
In 2010,
PCG acquired the asset management business of
AIG Investments and renamed it to
PineBridge Investments
PineBridge Investments (also known as PineBridge) is an American asset management firm. It was previously the asset management division of American International Group (AIG) known as AIG Investments before being sold to the Pacific Century Group ...
.
In 2013, PCG founded
FWD Group
FWD Group is a multinational insurance company based in Hong Kong. Founded in 2013 as the insurance arm of Pacific Century Group, FWD Group sells life and medical insurance, general insurance and employee benefits in Asia. The company had USD$50. ...
.
Richard Li currently serves as chairman of PCG,
PCCW Ltd. and HKT Limited. He is also on the boards of companies including Pinebridge Investments.
''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' listed his net worth in 2020 at $4.5 billion, ranking him 20th on its list of the richest businesspeople in Hong Kong.
Early life and education
Born in 1966 in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
,
Richard Li Tzar-kai is the son of businessman
Li Ka-Shing
Sir Ka-shing Li (; born 13 June 1928) is a Hong Kong billionaire business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. As of June 2019, Li is the 31st richest person in the world, with an estimated net wealth of US$33.4 billion. He is the senior ad ...
.
Li and his older brother
Victor
The name Victor or Viktor may refer to:
* Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname
Arts and entertainment
Film
* ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film
* ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...
spent their childhoods in Hong Kong, where Li attended
St. Paul's Co-educational College. He left Hong Kong at age thirteen to be educated at
Menlo School
Menlo School, also referred to as Menlo, is a private college preparatory school in Atherton, California, United States, across the street from Menlo Park. Menlo comprises a middle school, grades 6–8, with approximately 230 students, an ...
in
Atherton, California
Atherton () is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, San Mateo County, California, United States. Its population was 7,188 as of 2020.
Atherton is known for its wealth; in 1990 and 2019, Athe ...
. In high school, he worked at McDonald's and as a caddy at the local golf course.
He studied
computer engineering
Computer engineering (CoE or CpE) is a branch of electrical engineering and computer science that integrates several fields of computer science and electronic engineering required to develop computer hardware and software. Computer engineers ...
at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
until 1987.
Citing personal reasons, he withdrew from university after three years.
Career
Founding PCG
For the first three years of his career, Li managed funds at an investment bank in
Toronto, Canada
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor ...
,
acquiring
Canadian citizenship
Canadian nationality law details the conditions in which a person is a national of Canada. With few exceptions, almost all individuals born in the country are automatically citizens at birth. Foreign nationals may naturalize after living in Ca ...
in the 1980s.
In 1990 he began working in the fund-management department at
Hutchison Whampoa
Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL) was an investment holding company based in Hong Kong. It was a Fortune Global 500 company and one of the largest companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. HWL was an international corporation with a dive ...
in Hong Kong.
At Hutchison Whampoa, he was an
executive director
Executive director is commonly the title of the chief executive officer of a non-profit organization, government agency or international organization.
The title is widely used in North American and European not-for-profit organizations, though ...
from 1992 until 1993 and deputy chairman from 1993 until 2000.
In 1990 Li began building his own company,
STAR TV Star TV may refer to:
* E! (Canadian TV channel) (formerly Star!), a Canadian entertainment news channel
* Las Estrellas (Spanish for The Stars), the Mexican television network
* Estrella TV (Spanish for Star TV), the American Spanish-language net ...
, a pan-Asian satellite-television network that streamed
American television
Television is one of the major mass media outlets in the United States. , household ownership of television sets in the country is 96.7%, with approximately 114,200,000 American households owning at least one television set as of August 2013. ...
. According to ''
Wired
''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...
'' magazine, the service "triggered a vast cultural shift, injecting a massive dose of Western popular entertainment into... more than 50 countries
y 2005" STAR TV proved lucrative, and in 1993 and 1995 Li sold the network to
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
for a total of
USD
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
$950.5 million.
Using the funds raised from the sale of STAR TV, in 1993 Li founded
Pacific Century Group
Pacific Century Group (PCG), chaired by Richard Li, is an Asia-based private investment group founded in 1993 with interests in technology, media and telecommunications, financial services, infrastructure, property and other investments. It oper ...
(PCG), an Asia-based investment group
with Li serving as CEO and chairman.
Li subsequently oversaw PCG's investments in real estate,
financial services, technology, and media & telecommunications.
He was an executive director at
Hongkong Electric Holdings from 1993 until 2000,
and chairman of
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
-based
Pacific Century Regional Developments Limited
Pacific Century Regional Developments Limited is a Singapore-based company owned by Hong Kong's Richard Li, son of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka Shing.
Operation
Services
PCRD Limited focus is a telecommunications services provider, as well as s ...
starting in 1994,
a role he still held in 2020.
PCCW and HKT Trust
In 1996, Li established
Pacific Century CyberWorks
PCCW Limited (formerly known as Pacific Century CyberWorks Limited) is a Hong Kong-based information and communications technology (ICT) company.
The company is the majority owner of telecommunications company HKT Limited, and also holds a ma ...
(PCCW).
Serving as the company's chairman starting in 1999,
he remained chairman when the company changed its name to PCCW Ltd. in 2002.
In his early financial dealings with PCCW, his Canadian citizenship allowed him to bid on companies such as
Air Canada
Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada by the size and passengers carried. Air Canada maintains its headquarters in the borough of Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and ...
and
Bell Canada Enterprises
BCE Inc., formerly Bell Canada Enterprises Inc., is a publicly traded Canadian holding company for Bell Canada, which includes telecommunications providers and various mass media assets under its subsidiary Bell Media Inc. Founded through a cor ...
without running afoul of restrictions on foreign ownership.
PCCW acquired
Cable & Wireless HKT for US$38 billion in 2000, in "what was then Asia's largest corporate takeover." The acquisition made PCCW the largest fixed-lined network and wireless operator in Hong Kong.
Li joined the board of the
Bank of East Asia
The Bank of East Asia Limited, often abbreviated to BEA, is a Hong Kong banking and financial services company, headquartered in Central, Hong Kong. It is currently the largest independent local Hong Kong bank, and one of two remaining family ...
in 2001, retaining the role until 2017.
In 2004 he created the property company PCPD, or Pacific Century Premium Developments, as a spinoff from PCCW,
and was chairman of PCPD from 2004 until 2019.
As chairman of both PCCW
and PCCW's executive committee,
in 2011 Li was involved in the spinoff and
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
of PCCW's telecommunications assets on the
Hong Kong Stock Exchange
The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. As of the end of 2020, it has 2,538 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of HK$47 trillion. It is repor ...
. With the spinoff named
HKT Trust,
the listing plan was approved by the exchange in June 2011
[Nisha Gopalan and Polly Huy]
"PCCW Seeks Listing for TrustPCCW Seeks Listing for Trust"
''Wall Street Journal'', 1 September 2011 and PCCW shareholders
on October 12, 2011,
allowing for the creation of Hong Kong's first publicly traded business trust.
The IPO ultimately raised around $1.2 billion.
with PCCW maintaining a majority interest in both HKT Trust and HKT Limited.
In November 2011,
Li became chairman of HKT Trust, HKT Limited, and HKT's executive committee.
With Li as chairman, in December 2013 HKT agreed to acquire
CSL CSL as an abbreviation may stand for:
Places
* Coordinated Science Laboratory, at the University of Illinois
* Liège Space Center (Centre spatial de Liège), at the University of Liege in Belgium
* Central Science Laboratory, a former UK DEFRA ...
New World Mobility, a subsidiary of
Telstra
Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...
, for HK$18.8 billion. The transaction was completed in early 2014.
In March 2015, PCCW Media acquired the mobile video provider
Vuclip, and launched the streaming service
Viu.
Viu was rolled out to 24 markets globally over the next two years,
and by 2017, Viu, Vuclip, and the music streaming service
MOOV had been bundled into the company PCCW OTT. That August, PCCW OT secured new investors including
Hony Capital
Hony Capital is a Chinese private equity firm, owned by Legend Holdings. Legend Holdings provided Hony, a pioneer in China's private equity industry, with its start-up capital. Hony has about US$10 billion under management. Hony also invests in o ...
,
Foxconn Ventures and
Temasek
Temasek (also spelt Temasik) is an early recorded name of a settlement on the site of modern Singapore. The name appears in early Malay and Javanese literature, and it is also recorded in Yuan and Ming Chinese documents as ''Danmaxi'' ( or ). ...
.
Li was 15th in the ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' list of Hong Kong's 50 richest people for 2017.
The same publication named him 385th in the list of the world's billionaires, with an estimated fortune of $4.3 billion.
PineBridge and FWD Group
In September 2009, Li oversaw PCG's acquisition of
AIG Investments for around $500 million,
renaming the asset management company
PineBridge Investments
PineBridge Investments (also known as PineBridge) is an American asset management firm. It was previously the asset management division of American International Group (AIG) known as AIG Investments before being sold to the Pacific Century Group ...
.
Re-entering the insurance business,
in March 2013, Li's PCG acquired the Hong Kong,
Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
and
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
insurance business of
ING Groep N.V. for $2.1 billion,
renaming it FWD Group.
With backing by
Swiss Re
Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd,
Swiss Re. Retrieved on 18 January 2011. "Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd ("Swiss Re") ...
, Li expanded FWD Group through acquisitions,
appointing
Ronald Arculli
Ronald Joseph Arculli, GBM, GBS, CVO, OBE, JP (; born 2 January 1939 in Hong Kong) is former chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, Non-official Members Convenor of the Executive Council of Hong Kong (Exco) and a senior partner at ...
as FWD chairman in October 2013.
In 2015, Li then appointed former Canadian foreign affairs minister
John Baird as a non-executive director to both FWD and PineBridge.
By 2016, Li had overseen FWD's expansion into
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, Singapore,
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
Recent developments
After Li purchased the
Hanazono resort in
Niseko, Hokkaido
Niseko ( ja, ニセコ町, , ) is a town located in Shiribeshi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. To Japanese people, Niseko principally refers to a mountain range and a municipal area. However, overseas the name has come to refer to a wider area o ...
in 2007
through his company Pacific Century Premium Developments, development was delayed by the
2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
By 2018 he had invested a total of US$930 million in the project, with an
onsen
In Japan, are the country's hot springs and the bathing facilities and traditional inns around them. As a volcanically active country, Japan has many onsens scattered throughout all of its major islands. There are approximately 25,000 hot ...
, apartments, and two hotels including a
Park Hyatt nearing completion by late 2019.
In 2018, Li was quoted stating that his insurance businesses took up "70% to 80% of his time," with Li focused on expanding FWD in the Southeast Asian markets.
In 2019, FWD had around $30 billion in assets under management.
Also in 2019, Li's HKT announced it was establishing one of the first licensed virtual banks in Hong Kong, and in 2020 launched 5G wireless services. Under Li, the insurance group bolttech was launched in early 2020.
He continued to chair Pacific Century Group in 2020,
and remained chairman of PCCW Ltd. and HKT Limited. Also on the boards of companies such as PineBridge,
Li oversees PCCW subsidiaries such as PCCW Media and the IT and
business process outsourcing
Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...
company PCCW Solutions.
As of December 2020, ''Forbes'' estimated his net worth at $4.5 billion, ranking him 20th on its
list of the richest businesspeople in Hong Kong, and 401st on its
list of the world's billionaires.
Boards and public positions
Li is currently a member of the Global Information Infrastructure Commission, the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
, and the
Center for Strategic and International Studies
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. CSIS was founded as the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Georgetown University in 1962. The center conducts polic ...
'
International Councillors Group in
Washington DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
.
He was previously the Governor of the
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...
for Information Technologies and Telecommunications,
as well as a representative of the
Hong Kong government
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government, refers to the Executive (government), executive authorities of Hong Kong Special administrative regions of China, ...
at the
APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) from 2009 to 2014.
He was praised by the
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development heads the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau of the Hong Kong Government. The Secretary is responsible for promoting commerce and the economic development of Hong Kong. The position was ...
,
Rita Lau
Rita Lau Ng Wai-lan (born 8 May 1953) is a Hong Kong former civil servant. She was appointed Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development in July 2008 after her predecessor Frederick Ma resigned due to health reasons. Coincidentally, ill-hea ...
, for "helping
oraise Hong Kong's profile in this important regional business forum".
[Press Releas]
"Appointment of Hong Kong, China's representatives to ABAC"
''Hong Kong Gov website'', 20 January 2009[Press releas]
''Hong Kong Gov website'', 23 December 2010
Li has also served as a council member of the
Chinese University of Hong Kong
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public research university in Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong, formally established in 1963 by a charter granted by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It is the territory's second-oldest university an ...
,
[Chinese University of Hong Kon]
"The Council"
Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011 but his association with the university has since ended.
[Chinese University of Hong Kon]
Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2020 He is also a full member of the Hong Kong Computer Society.
Philanthropy
In 2006, Li donated
CA$
The Canadian dollar (symbol: $; code: CAD; french: dollar canadien) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, there is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviation Can$ is often suggested by notable style g ...
1 million to the Canadian
National Arts Centre
The National Arts Centre (NAC) (french: Centre national des Arts) is a Arts centre, performing arts organisation in Ottawa, Ontario, along the Rideau Canal. It is based in the eponymous National Arts Centre (building), National Arts Centre build ...
Foundation in
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
,
which led to the establishment of the Annual Richard Li Young Artist Chair, putting young musicians each year under the mentorship of musical maestros.
Through PCCW, Li has overseen a number of relief efforts and charity programs. During the
2002–03 SARS outbreak, PCCW provided telecommunication services to patients, medical staff, and fundraisers. Li also established a story time program for children kept home to prevent infection, and call centre support for charity fundraisers and community activists. Under Li, PCCW also donated $1 million to the Business Community Relief Fund for Victims of SARS, with employees volunteering man-hours as well. Later in 2007, PCCW volunteers participated in the District Elderly Campaign, which delivers gift packages to the elderly.
After the outbreak of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, Li's PCG donated surgical masks to health care workers and NGOs in Hong Kong in February 2020.
Recognition
Li was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the
Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia in November 2011.
He has also been presented with a
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee
The year 2012 marked the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II being the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952. The only diamond jubilee celebration for any of Elizabeth's predecessors was in 1897, for the 60th an ...
medal for "outstanding business and charitable contributions to Canada."
Personal life
Li's girlfriend
Isabella Leong
Luísa Isabella Nolasco da Silva Leong Lok-yau (born 23 June 1988), better known as Isabella Leong, is a Macanese actress and former singer.
Early life
Luísa Isabella Nolasco da Silva was born on 23 June 1988, in Macao to Luís Alberto Marques ...
, a former
Hong Kong singer, gave birth to their son Ethan in April 2008,
followed by twin sons in June 2010.
Leong announced in March 2011 that the couple had amicably ended their relationship and that both would be caring for the children.
Li is a
licensed pilot in the United States and Canada,
[FA]
"FAA Registry: Airmen Certification Inquiry"
''FAA'', Updated monthly as well as a licensed
divemaster
A divemaster (DM) is a role that includes organising and leading recreational dives, particularly in a professional capacity, and is a qualification used in many parts of the world in recreational scuba diving for a diver who has supervisory respo ...
.
In 2016, Li bought his own top-level domain (.richardli) for $250,000.
References
External links
Richard Li at Pacific Century Group
{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Richard
1966 births
Living people
Bank of East Asia
Hong Kong billionaires
Hong Kong chief executives
Hong Kong emigrants to Canada
Hong Kong financial businesspeople
Hong Kong philanthropists
Naturalized citizens of Canada
Pacific Century Group
Stanford University alumni
Alumni of St. Paul's Co-educational College
People who fabricated academic degrees
Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2007–2012
Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2017–2021
Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2021–2026