From plastic flowers to a global conglomerate
Li Ka-shing built his fortune in stages, each one funded by the success of the last. In 1950 he opened a small factory in Hong Kong making plastic goods, which he named Cheung Kong after the Yangtze River. The business became known for plastic flowers, which were in strong demand in export markets during the 1950s, and the profits gave him the capital to look beyond manufacturing.
From the late 1950s he began buying land and buildings, and during the political unrest of 1967, when many investors fled Hong Kong and prices collapsed, he bought property at low prices. Cheung Kong became a property developer and listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 1972.
The turning point came in 1979, when Cheung Kong bought a controlling stake in Hutchison Whampoa from HSBC. It was the first time a Chinese businessman had taken control of one of the old British trading houses that dominated the Hong Kong economy. Hutchison owned docks, retail chains and other assets, and under Li it was turned into a multinational. In 1985 the group added control of Hongkong Electric. Over the following decades Li used Hong Kong cash flows to buy businesses abroad, which spread the group's risk across many countries and industries.
The CK group and its holdings
In 2015 Li reorganized his empire into two listed companies. CK Hutchison Holdings took over the operating businesses, while CK Asset Holdings (originally named Cheung Kong Property) took the property development and investment portfolio. The main parts of the group include:
- Ports: one of the largest port operators in the world, with terminals across Asia, Europe and the Americas
- Retail: A.S. Watson, which runs health and beauty chains such as Watsons, Superdrug and Kruidvat, plus a stake in the German chain Rossmann
- Telecommunications: mobile networks under the Three brand in Europe and Asia
- Infrastructure: CK Infrastructure and Power Assets, with utility, energy and transport assets in the United Kingdom, Australia and elsewhere
- Property: residential and commercial developments in Hong Kong, mainland China and overseas
Li also made personal technology investments through Horizons Ventures, which backed Facebook, Spotify, Skype and other companies at an early stage. Earlier, the group profited from mobile telecoms when it sold the British network Orange to Mannesmann in 1999. In 2025 CK Hutchison announced plans to sell most of its overseas ports business to a consortium, a proposal that drew political attention in several countries.
Childhood in wartime and first jobs
Li Ka-shing was born in 1928 in Chaozhou, in Guangdong province, China. His father was a school teacher. In 1940, during the Japanese invasion of China, the family fled to Hong Kong, where they relied on relatives for support. His father died of tuberculosis a few years later, and Li left school as a teenager to support his mother and siblings.
He worked long hours, first in a watch strap business and then as a salesman for a plastics trading company, where he learned how the export trade worked and rose quickly. With his savings and loans from family and friends, he set up his own factory in 1950 at the age of 22.
Li married Chong Yuet-ming, a cousin, in 1963. She died in 1990. Their two sons both went into business: Victor Li took over as chairman of the CK group when his father retired in 2018, and Richard Li built his own telecom and media interests, including PCCW. After retiring, Li Ka-shing stayed on as a senior adviser to the group.
Foundation work and public standing
Li established the Li Ka Shing Foundation in 1980 and has described it as his third son, saying he intends a large part of his assets to go to it. One of its earliest and largest commitments was Shantou University in Guangdong, which he helped found in 1981 and has funded for decades, including its medical school.
The foundation has supported medical care, hospices and education across Hong Kong and mainland China, and has given to universities abroad. Gifts have gone to the University of Hong Kong, the University of California, Berkeley, Stanford, the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, among others, often for medical research. He also co-founded the Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology with the Technion in Israel.
For decades Li was one of the most influential business figures in Hong Kong, and his frugal personal habits, including a simple watch and plain suits, became part of his public image. His investments shifted toward Europe in the 2010s, which commentators read as a cautious stance on Hong Kong and the mainland. He has retained a high public profile through occasional statements and appearances.