HONG KONG - Richard Li, known as "Superboy", is the son of a Hong Kong tycoon
who is one of Asia's richest men, long known as "Superman". But will he be able
to cut the telecommunications deal of a lifetime, maybe of the century, maybe
the hottest right now in Asia, between Hong Kong and China?
Richard Tzar-kai Li, the second son of tycoon Li Ka-Shing, achieved his success
in part through the blessings of his family and in part through his own
shrewdness and hard work. He's had his ups and downs. Now he's facing his
biggest challenge.
Li is locked in an economic power play with Jiang Mianheng, the powerful scion
of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin. The younger Jiang is known as the
"prince of information technology" in China and Li is known as "Superboy", son
of "Superman". This should be interesting.
Li cut his deal-making teeth building Star TV into Asia's first satellite
broadcasting service with a loan from his father. Then in 1995, he sold Star TV
to global media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's News Corp for US$950 million and turned
his attention to the Internet.
In April 1999, he sparked a frenzied buying spree for Hong Kong technology
stocks when he announced he would turn the sleepy telecommunications-equipment
distributor Tricom Holdings into Asia's premier Internet company under the name
PCCW. The stock once recorded a 1,286 percent gain in a single day.
PCCW was formerly Pacific Century Development, an investment holdings company.
The English name of PCCW was changed from Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd to
PCCW Ltd on August 9, 2002.
It then won a contentious land deal, acquiring valuable waterfront real estate
from the Hong Kong government without going through auction bids. Many in Hong
Kong cried cronyism, as Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa virtually gave away the
land to Li's new high-tech residential and commercial venture called Cyberport.
The biggest blockbuster deal, though, was the acquisition in 2000 of Hong Kong
Telecom, formerly known as the Hong Kong Telephone Co (HKT), founded in 1925.
Initially, HKT owner Cable & Wireless entertained a bid from Singapore
Telecom, but there was much concern about a Singaporean company owning the
largest communication network in Hong Kong. With his business acumen and family
background, Li secured a $12 billion loan and offered Cable and Wireless PCCW
stock and $11 billion in bank loans.
The acquisition vaulted PCCW from a small dot-com company to one of the largest
corporations in the territory. It is now also a leading Internet service
provider, using the Netvigator brand for dialup and broadband services.
This $38.5 billion deal, Asia's largest corporate takeover as yet, won Li the
title of "Superboy". Before, his father had been dubbed Superman Li by the
media. These days Li seems to be catching up with his father. In 2002, Li was
ranked 10th in Fortune magazine's global list of richest people under 40, with
a net worth of $1.59 billion.
However, Superboy's good times did not last long. In the face of challenges
from towering debt, intense local telecommunication competition and a
struggling international joint venture, Reach, PCCW became the worst-performing
blue chip in 2002 and 2003. In 2003 the company's stock price was down 95
percent from its 2000 peak.
In 2003, Cable and Wireless finished cashing in all the stock from its 14.7
percent stake it had in PCCW. Worth $5 billion at the time of the 2000
acquisition, the stock sales eventually yielded only $1.9 billion.
As the euphoria surrounding Superboy's takeover waned and global telecom shares
tanked, shareholders' applause soon turned to boos.
In his personal life, Li is still single at the age of 38 and obviously the
most eligible bachelor in Hong Kong and one of the world's most eligible. Among
the short list of women said to be close friends, Karen Lam was the only
girlfriend Superboy publicly acknowledged. At his millennium party in 2000, Li
spent $448,000 for the bash, which he celebrated with Karen, friends,
glitterati and socialites.
But dating Li seems to be anything but easy. Karen broke up with Superboy about
five months after the lavish party. She once complained to local media that the
paparazzi put too much pressure on her romance with the billionaire and she
could not take any more invasion of privacy. Li himself also conceded in an
interview that he was not good dating material because of his extremely tight
business schedule.
Nonetheless, the public seemed much more interested in his family relations. A
biography of Richard Li, on sale in Hong Kong since last year, detailed his
road to success and relations with his father Li Ka-shing. According to the
book, Superboy was often at odds with seniors, including seasoned business
partners or family friends.
According to legend, Li squared off one day with Simon Murray, a impeccable
Englishman who was the former managing director of Hutchison Whampoa and one of
his father's trusted lieutenants. Incensed by something Murray said, Richard
grabbed him by the lapels and ranted, "Shut up!" After a stare-down, Murray
asked to be unhanded. The book alleged that Li, who once worked in his father's
company as an intern, even termed himself "the most offensive assistant".
Li described the Simon Murray story as colorful but simply not true. Refuting
the allegation of his discordant family relations, Superboy maintained that he
enjoyed good relations with family members, especially with his father, who
rendered him steadfast support along his road to business.
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