The richest man in Hong Kong is funding an entire college class' tuition for up to 5 years — here's his incredible rags-to-riches life story

Harrison Jacobs

June 19, 2019 6:19 PM

REUTERS/Bobby Yip

Li Ka-shing was saddled with financial responsibility from a young age. After his family fled to Hong Kong from southern China during WWII, his father died of tuberculosis. He had to leave school before the age of 16 to work in a plastics factory.

Hong Kong 's wealthiest man, Li Ka-shing, announced June 16 that he would fund up to 5 years of tuition for Shantou University's incoming class.
Li is the 28th-richest person in the world and has an estimated net worth of $30.3 billion, according to Forbes .
Often called "Superman," he has an incredible "rags-to-riches" story that saw him go from being impoverished in southern China to building a conglomerate that spans across 50 countries and 323,000 employees.

Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing announced June 16 that he would fund up to 5 years of tuition for Shantou University's incoming class.

Before he retired in 2018, Li ran CK Hutchison Holdings and CK Asset Holdings, the two massive conglomerates that he built in Asia's most famous rags-to-riches story. Li now focuses on his charitable foundation, the Li Ka Shing Foundation, and has pledged one-third of his wealth to philanthropy.

While he is no longer the richest man in Asia, the 91-year-old still ranks as the 28th-richest person in the world and has a current estimated net worth of $30.3 billion .

Often called "Superman" and Asia's answer to Warren Buffet by the media, Li has an incredible and inspiring life story. He went from dropping out of school as a child to support his family to becoming the first person of Chinese origin to buy one of the British-built Hong Kong companies that dominated the city since its colonial days.

Christi Danner contributed reporting to an earlier version of this story.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider