Getty Images / AFP
Li Ka-shing, Victor Li, and Richard Li
Hong Kong-based Li Ka-shing is Asia’s richest man, worth more than $22 billion, with a vast empire created by investing in ports, property, telecommunications, and energy operations around the globe. The Hong Kong press calls him “Superman” for his uncanny knack for selling businesses at the top of the market—he pocketed nearly $20 billion in profits for his telecom arm and sold British cellular carrier Orange to Mannesmann at the height of the tech boom.
Though even at 79 Li shows no signs of slowing down, 43-year-old Victor Li, the eldest of two sons, holds the position of deputy chairman at his father’s two listed holding companies, Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong, and looks set to continue the dynasty. Both father and son eschew the limelight, perhaps due to a crisis in 1996, when Li reportedly paid kidnappers $125 million for Victor's release. Younger brother Richard, on the other hand, whose Hong Kong-based telecom provider PCCW competes with his father's company, at times courts the media's favor.