A strong woman who helped Li Ka-shing regain the richest man in Hong Kong.

Li Ka-shing made a lot of money from many investments, all thanks to her.

Brief introduction of businessmen in China

Li Ka-shing, 92, made a windfall last year: after Zoom, an American video communication company he invested in, went public in 2003, its share price soared, which brought it an appreciation of nearly $654.38 billion.

65.438+000 billion US dollars, equivalent to a quarter of Li Ka-shing's total wealth. In other words, Li Ka-shing, who has been in business for more than 70 years, has earned more than a quarter of his life.

This investment was realized with his confidante for nearly 25 years. In addition to this investment, Li Ka-shing has made many unknown investments, and she is also behind it.

20/kloc-in September of 0/5, after an article "Don't let Li Ka-shing get away" was published, Li Ka-shing became the target of public criticism.

During the period, she not only broke the practice of not accepting media interviews, but also took the initiative to see the media and revealed many things.

For example, Li Ka-shing didn't respond to the overall situation at first, and revealed that Li Ka-shing was facing serious health challenges at that time, and he went to the United States for surgery after responding. "Although the doctor promised that the operation was all right, he (Li Ka-shing) was 87 years old. At the moment before entering the operating room,' all kinds of tastes' were in his mind. If there is any accident, is (Li Ka-shing) wronged?' "

She admitted that she had been with Li Ka-shing all the time, and told a detail emotionally: while preparing for surgery with a tube inserted, Li Ka-shing suddenly sat up straight, pointing to a son present and solemnly said, "I tell you, more than 80% of my foundation's projects should focus on Greater China, and no one can change my decision, even if I have something."

In fact, this is not the first time that Zhou Kaixuan has stood up for Li Ka-shing. As early as 20 13, when the news about Li Ka-shing's withdrawal from the mainland continued to ferment, Zhou Kaixuan assumed the important role of crisis public relations. For example, I arranged for Li Ka-shing to be interviewed by mainland media, and I always accompanied and assisted during the interview.

Behind Very Sweet is the special relationship between Li Ka-shing and Zhou Kaixuan. This special relationship can be traced back to more than 20 years ago in Hong Kong media reports.

In 2006, The Wall Street Journal named Zhou Kaixuan as "Top Ten Women in Asian Business".

For 20 years, she has been regarded as "the woman behind Superman". Even though she is a famous technology investor, the founder of charity fund, she is also a frequent visitor on the list of the richest women.

From the outside world, the Wall Street Journal gave her a more objective evaluation than The Woman Behind Superman.

Zhou Kaixuan was born in 196 1 and studied at the Outstanding Women's College, one of the top universities in Hong Kong. According to classmates, Zhou Kaixuan seldom mentioned her family, except that she lives with her grandmother.

Zhou Kaixuan's performance was not first-rate, but he showed his talent for dancing with long sleeves. Some students recalled that she was very famous in middle school. She is not only proficient in hockey, swimming, drama, etc. He was elected president of the student union and became the idol of many senior sisters.

During the summer vacation after graduating from high school, she worked as an intern DJ in Radio Television Hong Kong, nicknamed "Zhou Dolphin", and her tutor evaluated her as "smart and good at English". After the internship, she invited her radio colleagues to a private club in Hong Kong as a thank-you banquet with a membership fee of 250,000 yuan, and signed the bill after dinner, which was quite heroic.

No one knows how Zhou Kaixuan joined this club, but she knew how to build a network at an early age, which showed her high social talent.

After graduating from high school, Zhou Kaixuan went to Australia to study and studied at the University of New South Wales. During this period, Zhou Kaixuan developed a very independent personality, independent of others in everything, and even deliberately kept his distance.

1986, Zhou Kaixuan learned to do business for the first time. He went to Xi 'an to discuss the terracotta warriors and horses exhibition with his British boss, and it took only two weeks to reach a deal for 30 exhibits. With the permission of the company, she also customized a batch of souvenirs of terracotta warriors and horses in Tianjin, escorted them to London, and sold them at a price dozens of times higher than the original price, "making the first big money".

In the late 1980s, Zhou Kaixuan introduced herself to director Tsui Hark's wife, Shi Nansheng. Heather admired Zhou Kaixuan's shrewdness, and they soon became good friends.

With the help of Shi Nansheng, he entered the upper social circle of Hong Kong, and met not only businessmen from Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, but also Tung Chee-hwa's cousin Zhang, then chairman. Later, the two of them set up two companies, Victoria Harbour and Victoria Law, specializing in mainland business.

At that time, Hong Kong's real estate market was booming and there was a great demand for cement. Mainland cement manufacturers want to enter Hong Kong. After carefully studying the market demand, according to the cement price difference between the two places and the cost of ship purchase, Zhou Kaixuan set a price higher than the expected price of more than US$ 6,543,800+,and finally the transaction was successful.

This transaction enabled Zhou Kaixuan to gain the recognition of Tung Chee-hwa. 1989, Tung Chee-hwa said to Zhou Kaixuan, "Your business is still too small. It is better to choose some good projects, and we will work together for common development. "

From 65438 to 0992, Hong Kong real estate developers turned their investment focus to the mainland, and Beijing real estate industry heated up sharply. Under the investment boom, OOCL with general financial resources also wants a piece of the action. At that time, Zhou Kaixuan, who didn't even know the "plot ratio", was sent to Beijing to look for projects.

Dong 'an Square at the northern end of Wangfujing was first taken by Sun Hung Kai, which has the most investment value and strong financial strength.

Zhou Kaixuan, with high commercial sensitivity, realized that even if they could find an excellent project according to the existing rules, they could not afford it because of limited funds. At that time, the sections on both sides of Chang 'an Avenue, which was only 2 minutes away from Wangfujing, were still unattended.

So he said to Zhang, "We are looking for a piece of land with investment value in Beijing. If Mr. Dong doesn't do it, we will do it ourselves. We will invest half and then decide what to do. "

1August, 992, two people targeted the six-story building of children's cinema. After discussion, the other party informed that the whole East Chang 'an Avenue and Wangfujing area belong to unified planning, and to develop a children's cinema, it is necessary to develop the whole area around 10000 square meters.

Zhou Kaixuan did not hesitate, and immediately promised to come down. After some research, she also signed all the 6,543,800 square meters between Wangfujing and Dongdan's "Golden Street" and "Silver Street".

The project was completed in the name of Dongshi Group Orient Overseas Company and named "Oriental Plaza". As soon as the project was settled, it caused a sensation in Hong Kong. Tung Chee-hwa personally came forward and invited a number of real estate developers to cooperate, including Li Ka-shing, the number one figure in the Hong Kong real estate industry.

1993 September 12, Li Ka-shing was invited to meet with the manager of Victoria Harbour Company at Wangfujing Hotel. Li Ka-shing was surprised to find that the manager who talked with him about a $654.38+billion project was actually a 32-year-old woman.

After some introduction, Li Ka-shing carefully looked at Zhou Kaixuan: "Who will be responsible for the relocation of 1.2 million square meters?" Zhou Kaixuan said, "I'll take care of it." Li Ka-shing added: "It is not easy to level the land and a series of construction procedures." Zhou Kaixuan said with a smile, "Don't worry, Mr. Li, I will give you the' preparatory land' with complete procedures. All you need to do is start building. "

Seeing that Zhou Kaixuan was so frank, Li Ka-shing also went straight to the point: "What about the commission you asked for?" Zhou Kaixuan said, "Is 2.5% of the total investment ok?" Knowing that the profit of this project may be 100% or even more, Li Ka-shing immediately shook hands with Zhou Kaixuan: "That's settled!"

They only talked for five minutes and finalized the largest real estate development project in Beijing since the founding of the People's Republic of China. In the end, the total investment of Oriental Plaza reached US$ 2 billion, and Zhou Kaixuan received 2.5% consulting fee, about HK$ 400 million. She took out half of the cash and the other half invested in Oriental Plaza for a long time.

In the following years, the Oriental Plaza in the sensitive area was repeatedly challenged in the construction process, but it was settled by Zhou Kaixuan.

Because of the Oriental Plaza project, Li Ka-shing is impressed by her business planning ability, but their real intersection is in the Internet field.

After the project, Tung Chee-hwa intended to promote Zhou Kaixuan as the company director, but she gave up voluntarily. At that time, Zhou Kaixuan, who was deeply tired, realized that real estate projects were not his interest, and turned to look for the next brand-new field.

From 65438 to 0995, Zhou Kaixuan learned to use e-mail, but at that time she didn't think the Internet was a business opportunity, but she was optimistic about another field of IT industry-information system software.

1In July, 1996, Zhou Kaixuan invested and established Alexus. A year later, she founded eLink, an electronic customs declaration company, at the Shenzhen port owned by Alexus.

1999, Zhou Kaixuan told Li Ka-shing that he would enter the Internet. Li Ka-shing, who started with real estate and has been adhering to the old adage "Don't be unfamiliar", believes that the information industry is quite illusory and can't be easily involved.

Zhou Kaixuan didn't want to. She found Jerry Yang, the founder of Yahoo Myth, and asked him to help convince Li Ka-shing.

Soon, Yang Zhiyuan accompanied Li Ka-shing to visit the Singapore website and attended a commemorative reception, which gave Li Ka-shing an intuitive understanding of the network cause. At the end of the reception, Yang Zhiyuan said to Li Ka-shing, "Mr. Wang's trip was not my idea, but someone else's idea."

When Zhou Kaixuan came out from behind Yang Zhiyuan, Li Ka-shing was surprised.

Combined with the situation that the Internet frenzy swept the world at that time, Li Ka-shing decided to seize the opportunity of large-scale integration of resources, inject Yi Netcom into e-commerce, merge Hutchison Whampoa and Xincheng Radio into Cheung Kong, and set up TOM Company, with Zhou Kaixuan as the second largest shareholder.

On March 1 day, 2000, TOM, who was founded only four months ago and his performance was not solid, made a high-profile landing on Hong Kong Growth Enterprise Market, and got hundreds of thousands of people queuing to subscribe, and recovered more than 500,000 forms, which was oversubscribed by nearly 625 times. Its share price quickly climbed to HK$ 15.35, and its market value exceeded HK$ 30 billion, making it a classic of capital operation.

Zhou Kaixuan, who only invested HK$ 300,000 and owns 32.29% of the company's shares, has soared to the highest value of HK$ 654.38+0.27 billion, becoming a high-profile female rich woman in Hong Kong.

But it didn't last long. After being sought after briefly, Tom's share price plummeted. Zhou Kaixuan believes that the urgent task is to find a CEO who can make the performance report look good and rebuild investors' confidence, so she acted quickly and made decisive personnel adjustments.

In July 2000, Wang Cheng, the former investment manager of the high-tech department of Goldman Sachs, joined TOM Company as CEO and made a large-scale acquisition of non-internet businesses, including all or part of the shares of more than 30 companies in Greater China such as Shanghai Meiya Online, Squaway Sports and Asia Weekly. In this way, Tom became a domestic media giant in one fell swoop, and the group's income increased by 17 times in two years.

At the same time, Tom also insisted on developing network business. By bundling with more than ten mobile phone manufacturers and launching new SMS products on a large scale, TOM became the top three SMS businesses in China in the first half of 2003.

After Tom Company, Li Ka-shing began to firmly believe in Zhou Kaixuan's vision and ability in science and technology investment. In 2006, he established Victoria Harbour Investment Group through his own fund, focusing on investing in scientific and technological innovation companies that lead the industry to change, almost all of which are managed by Zhou Kaixuan.

Since then, Victoria Harbour has launched global investment in emerging industries of science and technology, and invested in more than 80 technology companies around the world, among which famous companies include Facebook, Spotify Technology SA, Siri, Zoom and Impossible Foods Inc, an artificial meat company.

As a result, Zhou Kaixuan has become a well-known "Hong Kong female boss" in the global scientific and technological circles. She is often surrounded by assistants and bodyguards, looking for what she calls "subversive" frontiers of science and technology, and then bringing new scientific and technological ideas, enterprises and entrepreneurs to the world of Li Ka-shing, so that Li Ka-shing can keep a sense of smell and judgment on frontiers of science and technology far beyond her peers.

With the stable cash flow provided by Li Ka-shing, Victoria Harbour has a unique aura in the industry. While most investment funds are busy raising funds, Zhou Kaixuan spends all his time on projects and investment targets. According to an insider who has worked with her, sometimes after drinking a cup of coffee with investors, Zhou Kaixuan can make a decision without Li Ka-shing's signature.

Misfit said that Zhou Kaixuan made an investment decision after a 24-hour video call with him.

Backed by Li Ka-shing, Victoria Harbour investment has the nature of philanthropist for investors. We will not put pressure on investors to make profits as soon as possible, nor will we hesitate to invest in new technologies with bright prospects but unconfirmed.

For the judgment of the project, Zhou Kaixuan is completely in his own hands-"I cherish my assets". After deciding to invest, she will help in every detail, because "I am very happy to see a person succeed."

From June 5438 to February 2007, Zhou Kaixuan successfully persuaded Li Ka-shing to invest $60 million in Facebook, which was almost unprofitable at that time. By the time Facebook went public in June 5438+February 2002, Li Ka-shing's investment had quintupled.

In 20 13 and 20 15, Zhou Kaixuan assisted Li Ka-shing to invest in Zoom, a global video communication giant. In 2020, Zoom developed in full swing, and Li Ka-shing's value-added exceeded10 billion US dollars, returning to be the richest man in Hong Kong.

People who have come into contact with Zhou Kaixuan describe her charm like this:

"Look into your eyes, listen to you, always pay attention to your feelings. Even if you speak in front of many people, she will look at you at the right time and make you feel neglected. "

In Zhou Kaixuan's mouth, the most frequently heard word is "my very good friend". These friends include Tung Chee-hwa, Li Ka-shing, a flight attendant who often flies, and a master who makes jewelry for her.

With so many "good friends", Zhou Kaixuan considers himself a "marginal person" and is most happy to get along with himself.

From an ordinary company employee to a top Hong Kong woman, Zhou Kaixuan started with her own ideas and was recognized by her own abilities. Based on these resources, she paved a broad platform. What the outside world says depends on "relationship". However, not everyone can establish such a relationship, or even if there is such a relationship, few people can reach her level.

In others' eyes, she is Li Ka-shing's "confidante", with her back against a big tree to enjoy the cool. In her own eyes, Hutchison Whampoa is a big international company, and Tom is "a relative of a rich family". Children from poor families should be ambitious.

Talking about the relationship with Li Ka-shing and Tung Chee-hwa, she said: "I am not their accessory, but a completely independent individual."

Zhou Kaixuan's business philosophy is "Don't take the relationship as a burden". Like Li Ka-shing, many people found Li Ka-shing's footprints near Zhou Kaixuan's home. After that, Zhou Kaixuan moved to a place 5 minutes' drive from Li Ka-shing Building, and they often had breakfast together.

Talking about how to get along with Li Ka-shing, Zhou Kaixuan summed it up as "smart as a fox and simple as a rabbit". She is more than 30 years younger than Li Ka-shing, but she often deliberately matures her clothes, hairstyle and makeup, just to take care of Li Ka-shing's feelings.

She will squat down in front of everyone to help Li Ka-shing tie his shoelaces, and she will also call to remind him that the person she wants to meet has a cold, so be careful of infection. She didn't mind that Li Ka-shing almost never talked about his contribution to the outside world, and even proposed to change the teaching building donated by Li Ka-shing from "Zhuangyueming Building" to "Lizhuangyueming Building" to show respect for the late Li Furen.

"In the love between men and women, the most reliable feeling is: Are you my most irreplaceable friend? This is the principle. This kind of relationship makes you not afraid of anything, so that the other party can be attached for a long time. " This seems simple, but it is actually difficult to do.

This kind of Zhou Kaixuan won the absolute trust of Li Ka-shing. She is a director of the Li Ka-shing Foundation, most of whom are from Li Ka-shing. Since the late 1990s, Li Ka-shing has attended many major events, and Zhou Kaixuan has also been there. 1990 After the death of his wife Zhuang Yueming, Zhou Kaixuan was Li Ka-shing's closest and only heterosexual friend who often appeared hand in hand.

Li Ka-shing does not exclude showing their intimate relationship in public. When traveling with Zhou Kaixuan in Rome and Xi, Li Ka-shing personally took photos of her, which attracted many tourists to stop and watch. In the meantime, the ring on Zhou Kaixuan's ring finger is quite noticeable.

Zhou Kaixuan has been the second richest woman in Hong Kong for many years. Most of the wealth comes from inheritance or divorce alimony, and nine times out of ten, Zhou Kaixuan, who has never disclosed her marital status, is particularly eye-catching.

She is used to using professional suits to dilute her female identity and never emphasizes the differences or privileges of women. She used her own language and manners to warn everyone that gender is not the fetter of success, nor should it be the key to success.

According to the media report on March 5th, 20021,Doma, a real estate technology startup invested by Victoria Harbour, recently announced that it will be listed in the United States as a special purpose acquisition company (SPOT), and its valuation is as high as $3 billion.

This also means that this mysterious garden run by Zhou Kaixuan and Li Ka-shing, who are not directors of listed companies, is still bearing fruit. Under the trend of more and more expensive technology, it is not even excluded that Li Ka-shing's wealth gained through Victoria Harbour will exceed his painstaking management and planning for more than 70 years.

Business has changed, military life, it is better to drop by. If the result is really like this, life is like a dream, and things are unpredictable.

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