Text: Yu Yi
On January 25, 2022, 2021 GDP data for 31 provinces and regions has been released. Guangdong and Jiangsu broke through the 11.6 trillion yuan mark. Shandong broke through the 8 trillion yuan mark, and Zhejiang broke through the 70,000 mark. Henan, Sichuan and Hubei exceeded the 500 million yuan mark. Fujian, Hunan, Shanghai, Anhui, Hebei and Beijing exceeded the 4 trillion yuan mark.
There are no provinces and regions of 3-4 trillion yuan. Shaanxi, Jiangxi, Chongqing, Liaoning, Yunnan, Guangxi, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia exceeded the 2 trillion yuan mark. Guizhou, Xinjiang, Tianjin, Heilongjiang, Jilin and Gansu exceeded the 1 trillion yuan mark. Hainan, Ningxia, Qinghai and Tibet are all less than one trillion yuan. Xinjiang announced more than 1.6 trillion yuan, and Tibet announced more than 200 billion yuan.
After entering the 21st century, China's economic development is very rapid, which is obvious to all. From the Hurun rich list, we can see the speed of China's economic development, in the past two decades, the personal price on the rich list has basically increased by dozens of times, and the increase is still very obvious.
In 2000, the top of the Hurun rich list was only 15.5 billion yuan, and the value of about 2 billion yuan also occupied a place in the top 10 of the Hurun rich list. 20 years later, Zhong Shui, the founder of Nongfu Spring, was a latecomer, worth 550 billion yuan. This also shows that after 20 years, the richest man's value has increased by 35 times, and 2 billion yuan is no longer eligible for selection.
So, how many assets does China's richest man have? For example, Li Ka-shing's public value is about 200 billion yuan, and the actual value is nearly one trillion yuan, is this statement true? Professionals give their opinions.
As early as the beginning of Ma Yun and Ma Huateng, Li Ka Shing has become one of the leaders in the global business community, starting with real estate li Ka Shing becoming the richest man in Asia for 15 consecutive years. It wasn't until 2015 that the position was replaced by someone else. Later, with the development of China's Internet and the rise of e-commerce platforms, Li Ka-shing's ranking in the list also plummeted.
On this year's rich list, Li Ka-shing's net worth is only more than 200 billion yuan, and he can't even rank in the top ten. So why is Li Ka-shing's strength far more than that? You know, compared with some of the rich people in Hong Kong, the value of the mainland rich seems to be less stable, or the risk is higher, and there are many debt relationships behind their success.
Especially real estate enterprises, Evergrande is a well-known high-debt enterprise in China, some time ago, Evergrande's capital chain is in jeopardy. Xu Jiayin, who was once China's richest man, was worth more than 200 billion yuan directly under the influence of the debt crisis. In addition to real estate companies, many Internet companies in the mainland are actually the same.
They rely on the rapid rise of capital and the rise of enterprises, and the value of founders is soaring. But the reality is that these companies are saddled with huge debts behind them, and it is easy to have some big problems in the capital chain. However, Hong Kong's rich generally do not have this phenomenon, and pay more attention to solid and stable value, so everyone may underestimate the real Li Ka-shing.
Unlike other wealthy people, Li Ka-shing was born in 1928 and is now 93 years old, which is still relatively rare, and when he was young, China was in the war phase. Later, he began to travel to Hong Kong, which also made his legendary life. Li Ka-shing had a flexible mind, and at that time, there were indeed many opportunities to get rich, and by the end of the war, he already had a certain amount of wealth.
Later, he resolutely entered the real estate market, acquired land and old buildings at low prices, sold at the commanding heights of house prices, and used the price difference to buy a large amount of land to build buildings, and for more than a decade, Li Ka-shing's building area reached 6.3 million square feet, and he could earn 4 million Hong Kong dollars a year by collecting rent alone.
In 1978, he took control of the British consortium Hutchison Whampoa worth more than HK$5 billion by acquiring shares at a low price for more than HK$600 million Cheung Kong Industrial, a business miracle of "little snake swallowing elephants", which established him as the godfather of Hong Kong entrepreneurs. Under his leadership, Hutchison Whampoa restructured to become the world's largest container port operator, with 52 ports in 26 countries.
Since 2012, Li Ka-shing has sold assets from the mainland and Hong Kong, taking away up to 250 billion in cash as an investment in the UK. However, Li Ka-shing did not say that he would run. At the previous annual meeting of Changshi Company, Li Zekai also said that he had never given up the mainland market, and frankly, Changshi had more than 50 real estate projects in the mainland, involving more than 20 cities.
At the same time, Changshi also has many port assets and retail assets such as Watsons in the mainland. However, UK assets account for the majority. According to official data, Li Ka-shing invested nearly HK$1,000 billion in the UK, and now 30% of the UK's communication system, 30% of the power grid, 28% of the passenger railway and 25% of the natural gas are in the hands of Li Ka-shing, which is equivalent to buying half of the UK.
In addition, in 1986, Li Ka-shing also invested in Canada as a shareholder in the Royal Bank of Canada, and later bought a 52% stake in Husky Energy and now holds 27% of the shares, the company's oil and gas production ranks third in Canada. It is also the second largest oil refiner in Canada, and Li Ka-shing's father and son later changed their nationality to Canada.
In addition to industry, he also pays great attention to the high-tech field, investing in more than 60 high-tech companies such as Facebook, Siri, AlphaGo developers - Deep Mind and so on. With Facebook alone, Li Ka-shing's investment returns can be more than 50 times. In addition to his keen investment vision, Li Ka-shing has always adhered to the concept of low debt management.
Compared with many Chinese super "negative rich" who borrow money to do business, Li Ka-shing has maintained extremely low liabilities, and the liabilities of Changhe Group, which has assets of more than 100 billion, are only more than 140 billion. Compared with the "fat" of the mainland rich, Li Ka-shing's assets are real. According to foreign media estimates, Li Ka-shing's assets are as high as more than 900 billion, and the figure of more than 200 billion yuan on the rich list is just the tip of the iceberg we see.
Looking at Li Ka-shing's development history, we will find that he is different from ordinary people in some investments, but he is also very cautious and careful in some investments. Many domestic enterprises adopt a high-leverage development model, resulting in enterprises carrying a large amount of debt in the process of development. Li Ka Shing's business has been avoiding such problems in the process of development, which is one of the reasons why Li Ka Shing's business can continue to develop.
epilogue
Li Ka-shing is still relatively good at controlling the wind upwards, so he can maintain his current height. Is his worth really only more than 200 billion? As things stand, I'm afraid that's much more than that. The company's fixed assets under his name have exceeded 1 trillion yuan, the company's debt is relatively low, about 140 billion, plus his own value of more than 900 billion, Li Ka-shing is the richest man in China.
What do you think about that?