Money Matters | Li Ka-shing wants his Postal Savings Bank investment heard in Beijing
Money alone cannot explain the billionaire’s HK$10 billion bet
“Are you free after five?” Any veteran editor or assignment head would remember this clue from Li Ka-shing’s public relations officer.
When the question was asked, they would immediately send their reporters to China Building, then the headquarters of Li’s empire, to wait patiently in the lobby.
At about five o’clock, the lift would ding and there would be the richest man in Hong Kong. What a coincidence! The journalists would throw some questions his way, but it wouldn’t take long for them to figure out what the tycoon’s real agenda was.
Next day, the papers would splash with comments made by Li who happened to have “bumped into” some media people in Central. Whatever he said would become the talk of the town.
Whatever [Li Ka-shing] said would become the talk of the town
These were times when the internet didn’t rule. But the Superman of the day was already making good use of the city’s Clarke Kents to his own advantage.
