Li Ka-shing
 Li Ka-shing at Stanford University School of Medicine. Photo: EdTech Stanford University School of Medicine, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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| Net worth | $47 billion Forbes 2026 list, March 24, 2026[1] |
|---|---|
| World rank | 42nd (Forbes 2026)[1] |
| Source of wealth | Diversified (CK Hutchison, CK Asset) |
| Companies | CK Hutchison Holdings and CK Asset Holdings (chairman until 2018, now senior adviser); Li Ka Shing Foundation |
| Citizenship | Hong Kong (also Canada) |
| Born | July 29, 1928, Chaozhou, Guangdong, China |
| Known for | Hong Kong's best-known tycoon |
| Net worth figures are estimates by the source named and change every day. | |
Li Ka-shing is a Hong Kong businessman who built one of Asia's largest business empires, spanning ports, property, retail, telecoms and energy.[2] He chaired CK Hutchison Holdings and CK Asset Holdings until he retired in May 2018 and handed control to his son Victor Li.[2] On the Forbes 2026 billionaires list, a snapshot taken on March 24, 2026, he was 42nd in the world with an estimated $47 billion.[1]
Net worth
- July 2021: about $35.3 billion according to Bloomberg.[2]
- March 2026: $47 billion, 42nd on the Forbes list.[1]
How the fortune was made
Li was born in Chaozhou, Guangdong, and his family fled to Hong Kong as refugees in 1940.[2] After his father died he left school at 15 and worked 16-hour days at a plastics trading company.[2] In 1950 he started his own plastics factory with his savings and money borrowed from relatives.[2] He moved into property through Cheung Kong, and in 1979 bought a major stake in the trading group Hutchison Whampoa.[2]
Among his biggest deals, Hutchison sold its stake in the mobile operator Orange in 1999 for a profit of about $15 billion, and sold its Indian mobile business to Vodafone for $11.1 billion.[2] Through his foundation and his venture firm Horizons Ventures he also made early bets on technology, including a stake in Facebook for $120 million and an investment in Spotify.[2]
Giving
He set up the Li Ka Shing Foundation in 1980 for education, health care, medical research and poverty relief.[2] In 2005 he gave all the money from selling his CA$1.2 billion stake in the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce to his charitable foundations.[2]
Photos
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Li Ka Shing Tower at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Photo: Matthäus Wander, CC BY-SA 3.0
All photos are from Wikimedia Commons; click a photo for its full credit and license.
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Forbes, "Li Ka-shing", 2026 World's Billionaires list (snapshot of March 24, 2026), read November 3, 2026. Net worth is a Forbes estimate.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Wikipedia, "Li Ka-shing", read November 3, 2026. Billionaire Wiki's text is written in its own words; facts are checked against this article and its sources.