Superman never lost his power.
Text/Chinese businessman Tao Lia an Xiaoman
The hottest stock in the world this year is video conferencing giant Zoom, whose stock price has rocketed up. In zoom's list of important shareholders, there is a familiar name: Li Ka-shing.
In fact, Li Chaoren, who has been dubbed the "King of Real Estate", has already built a high-tech industrial network that enters the heavens and the earth, which is his hidden wealth map and the mysterious garden in his huge commercial power.
【3G before dawn】
On August 20, 2000, the night in Hong Kong was sweltering and unbearable.
In the room, Li Ka-shing paced back and forth, the dim light shining on his sweaty forehead, and he had been walking like this for three hours.
Three hours ago, the 14-day, 172-round bid for a German 3G license won the competition with a huge amount of money, including Li Ka-shing.
However, the success of the bid did not make Li Ka-shing feel the slightest excitement. He declined the congratulatory invitation from his colleagues and shut himself in his room.
After pondering for a long time, he walked briskly to the telephone and gave a startling instruction to his agent in Germany:
Exit the bidding group!
As soon as the news came out, the stock price of Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa (hereinafter referred to as "Hehuang") fell rapidly by 3.8%. The industry was shocked to drop their jaws, everyone did not understand, selling Orange made so much money, obviously ready to do a big job, why suddenly quit?
Some speculate that the choice to abandon the German 3G license is because it is too expensive. Of course, it's not so expensive that even Li Ka-shing can't afford it.
At that time, the international financial media questioned it, believing that this decision would completely deprive him of the opportunity to become an international telecommunications giant. The New York Times of the United States even sighed and asked:
Has Superman lost his power?
In 1989, Li Ka-shing acquired a British telecommunications services company for HK$8.4 billion, but the business did not develop well.
A year later, the company closed the business. He Huang repackaged the telecommunications business, renamed the company "Orange", and launched the GSM mobile phone service.
In 1996, Orange was successfully listed in the UK and Cashed out HK$4.1 billion with Huang, and three years later, Li Ka-shing sold a 4.2% stake in Orange and cashed out HK$5 billion again.
At this point, Li Ka-shing's investment costs in Orange have been zeroed.
But Orange's users continue to grow, quickly becoming the third largest telecommunications provider in the UK, and its market value has also risen. At that time, the technology Internet bubble was surging, but Li Ka-shing was not eager to cash out, but was ready to reap the benefits of the fisherman.
Soon, the German "Mannesmann" and the British "Vodafone" began to compete with the sandpiper.
Both companies have close market shares and both want to compete for the throne of Europe's number one. The UK market is a key highland, and Orange suddenly becomes hot. Li Ka-shing even let out a wind voice:
Whoever can buy Orange can overwhelm the opponent.
In 1999, two companies that killed the red eye began bidding for Orange, and the purchase price continued to soar. As a result, Mannesmann acquired Orange for HK$113 billion in cash and shares, and Huang earned a net profit of 118 billion from the middle blood.
But the story isn't over yet.
Half a year later, in February 2000, Vodafone, who had lost orange on its doorstep, could not swallow this breath and smashed $185 billion to buy Mannesman directly.
This made The Mannesmann stock in Li Ka-shing's hand turn into tens of billions of real gold.
In just a few years, a transaction, Li Ka-shing turned the originally troubled and limited-scale business into a super transaction with a profit of up to 168 billion Hong Kong dollars, and let everyone know the power of superman.
The mystery of Hehuang's withdrawal from Germany was soon revealed.
Just one month after exiting the deal, global technology stocks burst into a bubble, telecom stock prices plummeted, and rivals spent a lot of money to buy German 3G licenses devalued sharply.
Li Ka-shing, who voluntarily withdrew, was unscathed.
Some people expect that if Li Ka-shing had insisted on bidding, the net profit of HK$168 billion would have been discounted by 1/3.
【From 3G to 5G】
After the bubble burst and gold was everywhere, Li Ka-shing began a new march.
In 2000, Hehuang acquired five 3G licenses in the UK for £4.4 billion; reached a strategic cooperation agreement with Japan's NTT DoCoMo and Dutch Telecom to jointly operate the UK's 3G mobile network; and spent £3.6 billion to purchase a telecommunications operating license for its UK "3 UK".
For a time, Hehuang exhausted 2G, switched to 3G, and spent 25 billion US dollars successively to obtain 3G licenses in more than 10 countries and regions such as the United Kingdom, Finland, Italy, and Sweden.
But in the era when everyone was holding a Nokia and playing snake, 3G was too early and the market was too small. He Huang paid a high price in order to get the license, so that the 3G business continued to lose money for the next 8 years.
Despite the serious losses, Li Ka-shing is full of confidence in 3G:
3G technology is not a gamble, its selling point is to combine the convenience of mobile phones with the internet. Mobile phones and the Internet are two revolutionary consumer technologies in human history, and 3G will certainly be successful in integrating them.
Under the insistence of Li Ka-shing, he huang 3G strategy does not change, through mobile phone subsidies and development of distributors and other ways to continue to invest.
In 2005, Hehuang Investment's "3" (3G business brand) accounted for 5% and 8% of the market in the United Kingdom and Italy, respectively.
Subsequently, Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Telecom expanded its territory for 3G in nine major market regions, including Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
In March 2011, Hehuang Shuangxi came to the door: the 3G business finally recorded profitability and increased dividends for the first time. This has been 10 years since Li Ka-shing laid out 3G.
That year, 83-year-old Li Ka-shing said that 3G is no longer a burden, and in the future, we can rely on internal growth to make the 3G business continue to be profitable.
But his eyes have long been on 4G.
As early as 3 years before the 3G business became profitable, Hehuang's subsidiary won the 15-year 4G license issued by Sweden. The following year, Hehuang began to promote 4G LTE technology.
That is to say, he huang 3G business has not yet been profitable, Li Ka-shing began to lay out 4G.
In 2011, Hehuang signed contracts with ZTE and Huawei to deploy 4G networks in Sweden and Denmark.
Times are progressing rapidly, and Superman has never been half a step behind.
Since then, Li Ka-shing has continued to expand the territory of the communication empire.
Since 2014, he has successively acquired Irish Telecom, O2, the second largest operator in the United Kingdom, and Wind Tre, an Italian telecommunications company, to build a communication kingdom throughout Europe.
Today, Li Ka-shing's communications footprint encompasses Europe, Australia, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, providing communication services to more than 100 million customers.
In 2019, 5G fell into Li Ka-shing's vision again.
Through "3 UK", Huawei was able to sign a 5G agreement of 2 billion pounds in the UK; six months later, it signed a 10-year agreement with italian operator "Fastweb"...
Schopenhauer said that people live very slowly before they are forty years old, and after forty years old, they live quickly.
Li Ka-shing's life has never been limited by age.
In 1993, li Ka-shing was 65 years old, still fiercely enterprising, stepping into the surging high-risk technology industry of telecommunications. The year he decided to do 3G, he was over seventy years old, and it took another 20 years to move towards 5G.
For 20 years, Li Ka-shing seems to be younger and more fashionable than he has been for most of his past life.
【Science and technology ecosystem, from Silicon Valley to Israel】
Wang Sicong said that after seeing so many beautiful things, he still can't hide from the charm of The Razer.
Li Ka-shing did not escape the charm of Razer. In May 2017, 89-year-old Li Ka-shing made a splash in the industry by betting more than $50 million on razer, a game equipment company.
A few days later, he sat in front of the computer with great interest, watched the final battle between Ke Jie and AlphaGo Go, and met with the two founders of AlphaGo developers, DeepMind.
During the meeting, Li asked a lot of questions about artificial intelligence, and when the founder answered them, he listened attentively, meticulously took notes, heard the highlights, and even stood up excitedly.
DeepMind, one of Li Ka-shing's successful investments in artificial intelligence, was eventually acquired by Google.
In addition to DeepMind, At that time, Li Ka-shing also invested in at least 5 emerging companies with core technologies in the field of artificial intelligence.
In this new field that is about to change the world, the 90-year-old Li Ka-shing is more sensitive and interested than the post-90s generation.
After the 21st century, Li Ka-shing's investment in the layout of 3G-5G communication technology can be called a magnificent means.
But his extensive investment in more innovative and forward-looking technologies came after the establishment of Victoria Harbour Investment (HV). Under the leadership of Hongyan confidant and partner Zhou Kaixuan, Victoria Harbour began to make a comprehensive march into the field of innovation.
In the early stages, Victoria Harbour made a difference: Skype, an instant messaging app in 2005, Facebook, a social network in 2007, Spotify, a music platform, and Siri, a smart voice assistant in 2009, a news software in 2012, Andy.
Later, Skype was acquired by eBay for $2.5 billion; Spotify returned more than 15 times; Siri was acquired by Apple; $300,000 for Summly, and finally Yahoo spent $30 million to win...
Facebook is one of Li Ka-shing's most rewarding technology investments.
In December 2007, it took Li Ka-shing just five minutes to buy a 0.8 percent stake in Facebook for $120 million. In 2012, the stake was returned at least 5 times.
Since then, Li Ka-shing has invested additionally, investing a total of $450 million in Facebook. Today, Facebook's market capitalization has exceeded $500 billion.
These remarkable achievements have made Victoria Harbour famous.
In 2009, Victoria Harbour began to focus on Israel. Investment projects soared from the initial 3 to 24 in 2016.
These include: Onavo, developer of mobile apps, Ginger, spell checker tool, Shine Security for cybersecurity solutions, Nipendo, a cloud platform, Meteor-Logic, a highly accurate wind and solar power forecasting solution, Magisto, the world's leading video application, Cortica, a film search program, FeedX, which helps users reduce expenses in their investment accounts, and 100% creation. TIPA for biodegradable and biodegradable food & beverage flexible packaging solutions, rendering engine Mishor, etc.
Of course, the most well-known is the map navigation application Waze.
In 2011, Waze received $30 million in investments from Kleiner Perkins (KPCB) and Victoria Harbour. Two years later, Waze was pocketed by Google for $1.3 billion.
This year, Technion, Israel's top engineering university, received a $130 million donation from Li Ka-shing, most of which came from the Waze acquisition.
In 2015, Victoria Harbour officially became Israel's largest external investor, investing more in it than Silicon Valley.
With such a foresight and acumen for technology, Victoria Harbour is even less likely to miss the focus on artificial intelligence.
In addition to creating AlphaGo's DeepMind, Victoria Harbour has invested in "AI composer" Amper Music, "AI graphics recognition platform" Cortica, human facial expression and emotional response software Affcctiva, and cloud video conferencing company Zoom, which has doubled its returns.
The improvement of human survival and health by science and technology is also concerned by Li Ka-shing. Companies like Artificial Egg and Artificial Beef Modern Meadow, Bluedot, a medical analytics company that uses big data to study the spread of infectious diseases, and MarkOne, which provides consumers with healthy consumer goods, are all investment targets in Victoria Harbor.
Today, hydrogen fuel cells have ushered in a "new outlet". In 2017, the Yangtze River Hydrogen Power (Foshan) R&D Center and vehicle production project settled in Nanhai. It was found that the major shareholder behind it was still Li Ka-shing.
At present, victoria harbour's investment scope covers the Internet, big data, cloud computing, AI, VR, 3D printing, artificial meat and many other fields.
At the same time, every shot by Li Ka-shing in the field of science and technology will become a hot news and industrial vane.
【Subvert technology, heaven and earth people】
Companies that can get Li Ka-shing's favor must have their own superiority.
These companies usually have three major characteristics: one is that the technology is subversive; the other is that the technology can be quantified and the price is accepted by the public; and the third is to solve the urgent problems facing the world, such as LED lights, artificial eggs, artificial meat, new energy, etc., which are optimistic about Li Ka-shing, which can help solve the world's increasingly severe energy and food crisis.
In terms of investment targets, Li Ka-shing pays more attention to the time, location, and people.
In terms of time and time, high-tech companies are changing rapidly, and the timing of "buying and shipping" is very important.
Li Ka-shing said that Chinese pay attention to "selling before buying." That is to say, a transaction has not been done, you first consider how to sell in the future, what result to sell, and then according to this result, to determine when is the right time to buy.
In this regard, most of the companies that Victoria Harbour chooses to invest in are no more than 3 years old, the investment amount rarely exceeds 10 million US dollars, and they like to share the risk with other institutions.
According to a survey by the venture capital market research company CB Insights, from 2007 to the first quarter of 2014, Victoria Harbour participated in the largest number of Series A financings, reaching 19 cases; by investment amount, The B round of financing was the highest, totaling $270 million. Both are early- and medium-term investments.
Typically, it takes months of due diligence for venture capital firms to make an investment decision. But because of the degree of inability, Victoria Harbour can sometimes decide whether to invest in a week or even a few days.
Invest in Facebook and earn 5 times; invest in Spotify and earn 15 times... Similar examples are not uncommon. Victoria Harbour was able to "buy low and sell high", experiencing the fastest growth period of the company.
But it is not okay to enter too early, if you support from scratch, you are likely to encounter "PPT entrepreneurs". Only when an innovative technology company's products take shape and show great potential, and when funds are urgently needed for mass production or technological breakthroughs, can the return be excellent.
Startups like Nanoleaf and InteraXon have all received start-up capital through crowdfunding and products before Li Ka-shing's stake. Choosing this time to enter the market will quickly share the fruits of the company's growth stage.
Opting out is also important. The reason why Victoria Harbour favored innovative technologies for images, videos and texts in the early days was that these projects had the potential to be acquired by large companies.
Skype, Summly, etc., were all acquired in about a year; DeepMind invested in Victoria Harbour to be acquired by Google, and it was less than 3 years.
In terms of geography, people are wondering, why does Victoria Harbour love Israel?
Li Ka-shing's interest in Israel is no accident, and in 1997, He Huang entered the Israeli communications market and made a lot of money.
The country, with a population of less than 10 million and a land area of only 20,000 square kilometers, has contributed 20% of the World's Nobel Laureates, sitting on more than 6,000 scientific and technological innovation enterprises, and the number of listed companies on the NASDAQ is second only to China and the United States, and the third in the world.
Google's Waze Map, Apple's 3D face recognition... Many of the "black technologies" that people are familiar with come from Israel. In the fields of military science and technology, electronic communications, information software, medical equipment, biological engineering, agriculture, aviation and other fields, Israel is in a global leading position.
In such an innovative country, there are many projects, less competition, and cheap prices, so why not enjoy it?
As for people, Li Ka-shing feels that the birth of forward-looking technology is due to talented young people.
Among the founders of victoria harbour investments, prodigy figures abound. DeepMind's Demis Hassabis was a chess prodigy as a child; Summly's D'Aloisio, who was 15 years old when the company was founded; Ariel Garten of InteraXon, an all-rounder with both arts and sciences; and Tom Rodinger of Nanoleaf, known as a "Jobs-like" genius engineer.
One of Li Ka-shing's favorite things to do is to meet and chat with the founders of these disruptive companies to learn about their future philosophy and mission.
After meeting Li Ka-shing, they were impressed by his enthusiasm for the technology sector.
In the eyes of people, Li Ka-shing is an incredible "young man" who is still curious about the world.
【Immortal Heart】
In 2013, a reporter from Southern Weekend interviewed Li Ka-shing: You are 85 years old, how can you still invest in high-tech?
Li Ka-shing asked: 85 years old, can't you love science and technology? I was deeply interested in new technologies, which made my mood younger.
"The industrial revolution in the 18th century began in Britain; the 21st century was a scientific and technological revolution, and many industries, including national defense, agriculture, water conservancy, energy, medical care, life, telecommunications, the Internet, etc., have made breakthroughs, and the number of investment opportunities is endless."
"I love new technologies and believe that 'knowledge changes destiny'. ...... I really enjoy reading books, pursuing the latest scientific and technological knowledge, and keeping an eye on new information and developmental changes related to the industry in which I am engaged. No matter what kind of business you do, you must like it and love it, so that there will be progress. ”
Great wealth has never stopped Lee from moving forward. To this day, he still insists on getting up at 6 a.m. every day and starting the day after playing golf in the morning. In the office on the 70th floor, he will read information and books on trends and dynamics in the high-tech industry, and insist on communicating with young people at the forefront of innovation and entrepreneurship.
In their search for targets, Li Ka-shing and Victoria Harbour do not search for specific companies, but focus on identifying disruptive technologies that solve social and industry problems, and also have room for growth in China.
Cortica, with image search as the core technology, accurately matches images through AI and big data. Its founder Yehoshua Zeevi pointed out that in the future, it intends to enter the Chinese market, and has now cooperated with Qihoo 360 to provide intelligent image search, and will cooperate with three Chinese companies to develop O2O in the future.
Kaiima Bio-Agritech, a company of genetic and breeding technology, has developed high-quality varieties of vegetables and crops. The Israeli company, which was backed by Victoria Harbour, has now brought its groundbreaking, non-GMO EPTM technology to increase crop yields to China.
……
In the year of The Southern Weekly interview, Li Ka-shing returned to his hometown of Shantou and spent $130 million to promote the cooperation between Shantou University and The Technion University to establish the "Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology".
At the signing ceremony, Li Ka-shing delivered a speech:
In my lifetime, I have experienced and witnessed many "miracles" from the impossible to reality. I am convinced that many of the preconditions for reversing the situation and finding a "revolutionary solution" often sprout in the imagination of the imagination.
Technology itself is the fascinating magic wand, which can produce thousands of new choices, new ideas and new countermeasures, can bring new solutions to long-standing problems, and the real magic is hidden in the creativity of thinking!
From the age of 14 to the present, Li Ka-shing has been in business for most of the century with the theme of "transcendence": starting from surpassing the ordinary, striving to surpass the opponent, surpassing the peak after reaching the peak, and surpassing the self after realizing the self.
Superman never lost his power.
Resources:
1. Li Ka-shing Three-Hour Rescue and Huang China Computer News Li Zhiguo 2005.8
2. And Huang 3G to seek the great cause of communication"Internet Weekly" Ming Shuliang 2003.6
3. Li Ka-shing's 4G opening reflects the acceleration of LTE's global development, Yu Zujiang, Communication Information Daily, 2011.1
4. Li Ka-shing: Loneliness is his energy, Southern Weekend, Chen Xinyan, 2013.11
5. Underrated Li Ka-shing? "Qin Shuo Circle of Friends" 2019.4
End one by one
The pictures are from the Internet
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