Richard Li Tzar-kai is a Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist. The founder and chairman of the private investment group Pacific Century Group (PCG), Li started his career in the 1990s with the founding of STAR TV, a pan-Asian television network. After founding PCG in 1993, he went on to establish PCCW and HKT Trust.
In 2010, PCG acquired the asset management business of AIG Investments and renamed it to PineBridge Investments. In 2013, PCG founded FWD Group. Richard Li currently serves as chairman of PCG, PCCW Ltd. and HKT Limited. He is also on the boards of companies including Pinebridge Investments. Forbes listed his net worth in 2020 at $4.5 billion, ranking him 20th on its list of the richest businesspeople in Hong Kong.
Early life and education
Born in 1966 in Hong Kong, Richard Li Tzar-kai is the son of businessman Li Ka-shing. Li and his older brother Victor spent their childhoods in Hong Kong, where Li attended St. Paul's Co-educational College. He left Hong Kong at age thirteen to be educated at Menlo School in Atherton, California. In high school, he worked at McDonald's and as a caddy at the local golf course. He studied computer engineering at Stanford University until 1987. Citing personal reasons, he withdrew from university after three years.
Career
Founding PCG
For the first three years of his career, Li managed funds at an investment bank in Toronto, Canada, acquiring Canadian citizenship in the 1980s. In 1990 he began working in the fund-management department at Hutchison Whampoa in Hong Kong. At Hutchison Whampoa, he was an executive director from 1992 until 1993 and deputy chairman from 1993 until 2000.
In 1990, Li began building his own company, STAR TV, a pan-Asian satellite-television network that streamed American television. According to Wired magazine, the service "triggered a vast cultural shift, injecting a massive dose of Western popular entertainment into... more than 50 countries [by 2005]." STAR TV proved lucrative, and in 1993 and 1995 Li sold the network to Rupert Murdoch for a total of USD$950.5 million.
Using the funds raised from the sale of STAR TV, in 1993 Li founded Pacific Century Group (PCG), an Asia-based investment group with Li serving as CEO and chairman. Li subsequently oversaw PCG's investments in real estate, financial services, technology, and media & telecommunications.
He was an executive director at Hongkong Electric Holdings from 1993 until 2000, and chairman of Singapore-based Pacific Century Regional Developments Limited starting in 1994, a role he still held in 2020.
PCCW and HKT Trust
In 1996, Li established Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW). Serving as the company's chairman starting in 1999, he remained chairman when the company changed its name to PCCW Ltd. in 2002.
In his early financial dealings with PCCW, his Canadian citizenship allowed him to bid on companies such as Air Canada and Bell Canada Enterprises without running afoul of restrictions on foreign ownership. PCCW acquired Cable & Wireless HKT for US$38 billion in 2000, in "what was then Asia's largest corporate takeover." The acquisition made PCCW the largest fixed-lined network and wireless operator in Hong Kong. Li joined the board of the Bank of East Asia in 2001, retaining the role until 2017.
In 2004, he created the property company PCPD, or Pacific Century Premium Developments, as a spinoff from PCCW, and was chairman of PCPD from 2004 until 2019.
As chairman of both PCCW and PCCW's executive committee, in 2011 Li was involved in the spinoff and initial public offering of PCCW's telecommunications assets on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. With the spinoff named HKT Trust, the listing plan was approved by the exchange in June 2011 and PCCW shareholders on October 12, 2011, allowing for the creation of Hong Kong's first publicly traded business trust. The IPO ultimately raised around $1.2 billion. with PCCW maintaining a majority interest in both HKT Trust and HKT Limited. In November 2011, Li became chairman of HKT Trust, HKT Limited, and HKT's executive committee.