Li Jiacheng'S Wealth Code: New Capitalists In The Age Of IT

Large black frame glasses, blue striped tie, dark blue suit, sparsely thin hair on the forehead.

Li Jiacheng, 83, still keeps the image of the signboard, but after all, he is no longer young. The tone of Li Jiacheng's speech is short of his youth.

This is in March 29, 2011, held in Hongkong, Changjiang industrial group (hereinafter referred to as "Changshi" 2010) performance briefing, as chairman of the board of directors Li Jiacheng, as usual, at the press conference.

The annual performance of Cheung Kong for the year ended 2010 shows that shareholders' profits should be HK $26 billion 478 million, up 35% compared to the same period last year, and another listed company, Hutchison Whampoa (hereinafter referred to as "Huang Huang"), surged 47% to HK $20 billion 38 million last year.

In the past few days, Forbes announced the list of the world's richest men. Li Jiacheng continued to reclaim the richest Chinese in the world, ranking eleventh in the world's richest list, with assets of $26 billion, an increase of 5 billion dollars over last year's 21 billion dollars, ranking 3 in advance.

The Chaoshan who followed his father to Hongkong in 1940, was forced to interrupt his studies and support his family when he was only in primary school. However, he built up a huge commercial empire with his wisdom and diligence. He frequently refreshed his wealth and social status and finally became the richest man in Hongkong today.

As an evergreen tree in the Chinese business community, Li Jiacheng's extraordinary leadership is the fundamental guarantee for his brilliant career.

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As everyone knows,

At that time, an ordering company that badly needed a large number of plastic flowers came to his company. However, the foreign businessman demanded that the guarantor signed the credit guarantee.

Li Jiacheng, who hasn't got any strength, can't find a guarantor at all. But Li Jiacheng didn't give up. He and the company designer slept all night. According to the requirements of foreign businessmen, he designed 9 samples to the foreign businessmen.

Then, Li Jiacheng sincerely told foreign businessmen, "I really can not find a solid manufacturer to guarantee me, I am very sorry."

Li Jiacheng's sincere dedication moved the wholesaler deeply. He said, "Mr. Li, I know you are most worried about the guarantor.

You don't have to worry about it. I've secured a guarantor for you. "

Li Jiacheng was stunned. Where did he find the reason for the guarantor? The wholesaler smiled and said, "this guarantor is you.

Your sincerity and credibility are the best guarantee. "

This success has made the Changjiang industrial company stand firm since then. From the late 1950s, Li Jiacheng made a large number of plastic flowers sold to the European and American markets, and the annual profits increased from three to five thousand to about 10000000 Hong Kong dollars. Until the beginning of 1960s, the plastic flower market has been booming.

Flowers don't have a hundred days of red.

At the most prosperous moment, Li Jiacheng saw the limited prospects of the industry. He must enter a more rewarding and promising industry.

Since 1950s, the average population of Hongkong has increased by 1 million people every 10 years. The housing problem is very tense.

From the rapid growth of population, limited land and rapid economic growth, Li Jiacheng predicted that land prices will rise sharply in the future, and Hongkong's real estate industry will have a bright future.

In 1958, Li Jiacheng took the initiative to invest in the real estate industry.

But at this point, the real estate industry in Hongkong has been very competitive.

At that time, in order to speed up the withdrawal of capital and promote sales, some property developers in Hongkong took the form of sales and sales of buildings and mortgages.

As a newcomer, Li Jiacheng studied Lou Hua and mortgage loans calmly.

He found that the interests of developers are closely related to banks, and the rise and fall of the real estate industry directly affects banks.

Therefore, too much reliance on banks is not necessarily a good thing.

To this end, he decided that he would rather build or not build, or sell floor flats to speed up the progress of housing construction; try not to bank mortgages, or to provide mortgage loans to users; the property is only rented.

In June 1961, Liao Chong Hing Bank's crowded bank in Hongkong confirmed the correctness of Li Jiacheng's robust strategy.

Liao Chuangxing bank was founded by Chao Ji banker Liao Baoshan. Liao is also the "king of the West Ring estate".

In order to speed up the development of real estate, Liao Baoshan almost emptied the depositors' deposits and put them into real estate development.

Then there was a run over in Hongkong. Liao Baoshan broke the capital chain and died of cerebral hemorrhage.

Li Jiacheng, who has evaded many risks, has set up the image of the first class real estate developer, and has created favorable conditions for obtaining the trust of the bank and the reputation of the stock market, and continuing to expand the real estate business.

Diversify investment and control risks

In the seventieth floor conference room of Hongkong Yangtze River Center, a wooden portrait was presented to Li Jiacheng.

Mr. Li Jiacheng, a former accountant in China, had a jade scale in his hand, but because he was worried about being broken, he put it away.

This detail reflects from one side that Li Jiacheng is a man who always pays attention to risks.

Li Jiacheng's core businesses include ports, real estate, hotels, retail, energy, telecommunications and so on.

On the surface, there is a lack of connection between these businesses, but Li Jiacheng has his own logic. He wants to make his business sectors in different industrial cycles to ensure that at least one industry is at an upward stage at all times.

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He has repeatedly said that pnational investment and investment can enhance the risk aversion ability of large companies, and only diversified enterprises can successfully avoid the impact of the financial turmoil.

Financial expert Lang Xianping (micro-blog column) believes that there is a complementarity between the above industries, which can offset each other and make the final cash flow stable. This is Li Jiacheng's highest strategic guiding principle.

By complementing this industry, the industrial risk can be reduced by ten percent.

In 1977, Li Jiacheng purchased his property for the first time in Vancouver, Canada. In 1981, Li Jiacheng bought Houston commercial building in the US for HK $more than 200 million. In the same year, he spent another HK $more than 600 million to buy Hilton Toronto Hotel Canada.

In just a few years, Li Jiacheng has 28 properties owned by individuals or companies in North America.

Li Jiacheng believes that globalization is the general trend of world economy in 80s and 90s twentieth Century.

In 1986, Li Jiacheng bought the oil company of Heskey, Canada, at a time when world oil prices were low and oil shares were low, so the paction was very cost-effective.

Later, Li Jiacheng bid for the old site in World Expo to win the bid to build Canada's largest commercial center and luxury residential complex.

He took a strategy of shooting a gun for a place and making a profit, and got a building in Manhattan, New York, at a discount of HK $more than 400 million.

Transnational investment and risk sharing have been successfully realized.

Adventure is his nature.

Although taking precautions against risks at all times, it does not mean that Li Jiacheng is afraid to take risks.

For example, in the start-up stage, after the bank run in Hongkong, the British banks swallowed half of the shares of Chinese banks such as Liao Chuangxing and Hang Seng, and ran the real estate industry when the money was tight.

In 1967, the "May storm" in Hongkong triggered a wave of emigration, and the real estate market in Hongkong immediately plummeted.

In the next three years, a large number of factories in Hongkong ceased production and real estate companies closed.

But Li Jiacheng, on the basis of his judgement of Hongkong's real estate, is struggling to support. On the one hand, he will try to reduce interest expenses, not expand too much, and continue to acquire land and property abandoned by others in a low tide.

During the economic depression of Hongkong, Li Jiacheng went through 1965-1967 years of difficulty and completed a long-term plan for land purchase.

In 1968, Hongkong's economy recovered rapidly, industry and Commerce sprang up in large scale, and the demand for buildings continued to increase. Li Jiacheng's real estate business received huge returns.

Li Jiacheng's adventurous personality in a cruel shopping mall is closely related to his growth experience.

When Li Jiacheng was 12 years old, he fled to Hongkong with his father. When he was 15 years old, his father died. The young Li Jiacheng began to take care of his brother and sister and make a living on his weak shoulders.

He worked hard in Hongkong, but always asked himself to do his best.

This hard life has sharpened Li Jiacheng's will and forced him to make risky decisions at many times, which laid the character of his adventurous and daring adventures in the future.

To a large extent, this has made Li Jiacheng.

In fact, a large number of mergers and acquisitions have become the main form of Li Jiacheng's industrial expansion in the late stage of the operation of enterprises. Through large-scale mergers and acquisitions, Li Jiacheng's industry has gradually extended to real estate, telecommunications, port freight, electricity and retail services and other fields, and its business scope is global.

Summing up his experience of success in life, Li Jiacheng once said with emotion: "because businessmen in Hongkong are everywhere, if the vision is not far away, there will be no big prospect."

Business is not about buying antiques.

Li Jiacheng never liked a particular business.

In his view, business is business, only to make money.

One day in August 1990, the sky was cloudy in Hongkong, and the typhoon struck Li Jiacheng's new skyscraper windows.

At this time, in a hotel room in London, Huo Jianning, the managing director of Hutchison Whampoa, was preoccupied with a manuscript before him. He was engrossed in thinking about the figures above: $45 billion.

This huge sum of money is used by 6 international consortia, including Hutchison Whampoa, to compete for 6 business licenses of the third generation mobile phone (3G) of Germany.

In a moment, Huo Jianning's cell phone rang, and Li Jiacheng was calling.

The answer he gave to Huo Jianning was: retreat.

Huo Jianning then withdrew from the German auction and sold the shares held by Hutchison Whampoa in the German Telecom licence to two partners: Holland KPN NV and Japan NTT DoCoMo.

Just a year and a half ago, Li Jiacheng was still working on a plan to prepare for the auction of 3G business licenses in France, Belgium, Sweden and Switzerland.

The New York Times asked, "is Superman (Hongkong nickname for Li Jiacheng) losing power?"

Facts have proved that Li Jiacheng, through a sober analysis, has predicted that the 3G business of the third generation of communications may suffer a devastating blow to the bubble economy, and resolutely decided to withdraw from the 3G business which is still uncertain in the market prospect.

Li Jiacheng later explained: "I am very interested in the global telecommunications business, and I am always looking for new opportunities for development.

I also believe that wireless data pmission will become an important driving force for future economic development.

However, we must not bid without restriction for obtaining every 3G business license.

For example, in Germany, the cost of licences is too high and exceeds our budget. We have no choice but to quit.

It is very important to know when to quit. It is important to keep this in mind when managing any business. "

Since then, when he perceived that the telecom market of the mature international countries has reached its peak, he has decisively sold most of the assets in Europe and the United States. In June 1999, Hutchison Whampoa sold its 23% stake in the voice traffic company of the US wireless operator to Germany Telecom, earning a net profit of 9 billion dollars. At the end of 1999, Hutchison Whampoa sold 49% stake in Orange, a wireless operator in the UK, with a net profit of 22 billion US dollars.

"Don't fall in love with your business, that is, don't indulge in any business."

Li Jiacheng said.

This is a feeling of pcendence beyond commercial activities after a wealth of business experience.

For a real business leader, in his eyes, it should be a profitable business without permanent business.

Any business, if it goes through its mature stage, will decline. If it does not carry out self adjustment, it will inevitably fail with the decline of the business.

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Li Jiacheng also said on many occasions: "do not hold the mentality of buying antiques."

There is no such thing as an antique alone product, but no purchase. There are many choices in doing business, whether buying or purchasing land.

New Capitalists in the IT Era

Li Jiacheng's office is not big, but it is full of books.

The business tycoon of this primary culture greedily learned all kinds of knowledge after work.

Today, Li Jiacheng, 83, is still mentally and hearty. He has to work in his office every day.

According to Li Jiacheng's staff, he is very familiar with every detail of his business, which is closely related to his good habits and habits in decades.

Before going to bed at night, Li Jiacheng must read half an hour's new book and understand frontier thought theory and science and technology. According to his own name, he read all the books, history, philosophy, science and technology, and economics, except for novels, which is actually a habit he has maintained for decades.

Li Jiacheng recalled the past, said: "when I was young, I was modest, but in fact, I was proud of myself.

Why pride? Because when my colleagues go to play, I am seeking knowledge, and they keep themselves the same every day, and my own knowledge is growing, which can be said to be the most important in my life.

Now only a little knowledge has been acquired in the relatively leisurely time of several years after the death of my father.

Because at that time, the company's business was relatively small.

Other colleagues love to get together to play mahjong, but I am holding a book "dictionary of the sea", a teacher's textbooks for self-study, after reading the book sold and buy new books.

He said: "the world of science and technology is as deep as the sea. As Zeng Guofan said, we must have wisdom and knowledge. When you know a skill and take pride in it, you will know that it is as deep as the sea, and I have never reached the realm of deep sea. I only know that other people have been walking for decades. We are only beginning to catch up now. There are many things to learn."

The strong desire to learn made Li Jiacheng think more about the framework of his commercial empire.

Since 1999, Li Jiacheng has shown great interest in the emerging industries such as the global telecommunications industry, IT industry and biopharmaceutical industry.

Li Jiacheng has invested in Hutchison Telecom International Limited, Hutchison Port Limited and TOM Group Limited.

It has two more Changjiang life science and Technology Group Limited and TOM Online Limited listed on the gem.

Li Jiacheng's high-tech sector is still expanding.

The business leader who has worked hard for more than 70 years in the traditional industry is turning into a new capitalist in the IT era.

Waiting for another wing to take off

Cheng Dongsheng Yang Yuancheng

Li Jiacheng is good at capital operation. He is good at grasping the general trend from the macro perspective.

This strategic success has made its commercial empire a pluralistic multinational enterprise group.

It is one of the secrets of Li Jiacheng to become a superman.

When others are disappointed, "I have to be confident that when others are particularly happy, I should be a little cautious."

After the low valley is the peak, in the low tide period to low price into the market, to the peak, and then get off with high prices.

Li Jiacheng seized the opportunity of several historical fears in Hongkong, boldly bought low and sold high, and seized excess profits.

This is Li Jiacheng's accumulation of wealth and repeated victory.

In Hongkong, market participants tend to view Li Jiacheng's market as a signal and sign of big market rebound.

Over the past few decades, Li Jiacheng has focused on traditional industries, creating huge industries such as ports, real estate, telecommunications, petroleum development, biomedicine and so on. These industries all have an obvious characteristic -- heavy assets, big investment and long payoff cycle.

Of course, Li Jiacheng is aware of this, so he invested heavily in TOM.com, and entered large-scale 3G communications and other emerging industries. This investment direction is right, but Li Jiacheng's myth in traditional industries has not been extended to these new industries.

In fact, as Li Jiacheng's huge commercial empire, there is another area worth breaking through -- venture capital or PE.

Although Li Jiacheng has also set foot in a venture capital investment in recent years, the scale is very small, and has not yet become a core business of the company.

At present, there are only publicly invested investments in Facebook and European online music service provider Spotify, which are invested by Li Jiacheng's charity fund.

Throughout Li Jiacheng's whole commercial empire, there is no special institutional setup and no exclusive investment company.

From a commercial point of view, Li Jiacheng's business empire lacks a professional investment institution similar to Blackstone.

Therefore, in the Internet industry, the success of Baidu, Alibaba and other companies has little to do with Li Jiacheng.

Of course, Tencent's success is partly due to Li Jiacheng.

However, Li Jiacheng did not pform this investment into a business model, nor did it turn it into a strategic industry of its commercial empire.

Perhaps one of the reasons for this investment preference is Li Jiacheng's investment inertia, and too much attention to traditional investment and traditional fields has led to Li Jiacheng losing a lot of business opportunities.

The most direct example is Sun Zhengyi, the founder of Softbank group from Japan, which has invested heavily in the Chinese Internet industry. It has been fruitful in just 10 years.

Li Jiacheng, who is close to the mainland of China and has billions of capital and has close ties with Chinese political circles, seems to be blind to China's booming Internet and other emerging industries.

This led to a result that Sun Zhengyi's body had been as high as 70 billion dollars and was once close to the world's richest man, Bill Gate.

The Li Jiacheng family's wealth growth rate is much slower than Sun Zhengyi's.

Of course, simple wealth can not explain all the problems, but at least it can be explained that Li Jiacheng can actually do better.

If we say that in the past 10 years, China's mainland Internet economy and other emerging industries are booming, Li Jiacheng is not sure yet. If we are not ready, then Li Jiacheng can no longer ignore it.

Li Superman should set up a professional investment company as soon as possible, recruit a group of global investment elites, explore and cultivate new projects, and add another wing to Li Jiacheng's commercial empire.

Of course, this is not purely a commercial activity. Mr. Li Jiacheng always advocated the return of mainland China and the return of society to a high degree of entrepreneurial enthusiasm in the mainland of China. However, many entrepreneurs are hard pressed to get the necessary financial assistance. Under the background of many aborted potential projects, Mr. Li Jiacheng has produced special funds to support entrepreneurs in the mainland, especially those who need angel investment. It is also a great charity to repay the community and contribute to the motherland.

Perhaps, in Li Jiacheng's successor, we can see another face of the Li empire.

At that time, Li Jiacheng's success will no longer be his personal success, but the success of a large number of young entrepreneurs supported by the Li Jiacheng family.