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Li Ka Shing gives $1.2 bil to Canadian Charity
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| dEsidEL |
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Tycoon to create $1.2B charity
Hong Kong tycoon selling CIBC stake
Money to help less fortunate Canadians
STUART LAIDLAW
BUSINESS REPORTER
Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka Shing, who began his working life as a refugee sweeping factory floors, plans to set up Canada's second-largest charitable foundation worth up to $1.2 billion dedicated to helping the country's less fortunate.
"It is an honour to have the opportunity to establish the Li Ka Shing (Canada) Foundation in recognition of the warm welcome Canada has extended to me and to our group of companies over the years," Li said yesterday in a statement from Hong Kong.
He could not be reached for comment.
Li will raise the money by selling his long-held 4.9 per cent stake in the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. At yesterday's close of $71.17, Li's 17 million CIBC shares are worth about $1.2 billion.
The 75-year-old Li said the Toronto-based foundation will spend all of its income each year "in pursuit of charitable objectives, which include education, medical care, the relief of poverty, and cultural and religious causes."
Li's already-established Hong Kong charitable foundation will also receive money from the CIBC sale, though no details were given.
The largest foundation in Canada is the Fondation Lucie et André Chagnon of Montreal, which has $1.4 billion in assets, according to the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy. It, too, focuses on health and poverty alleviation.
Next is the Vancouver-based Vancouver Foundation with more than $516 million in assets. One of Canada's oldest charitable foundations, it distributes money to groups working in such areas as health, poverty alleviation, animal welfare and the environment.
Li swept Hong Kong factory floors and sold plastic watchbands and belts as a refugee from China before making property investments in the late 1950s that became the foundation of his fortune.
His family has invested in Canada for at least two decades. In 1987, Li and Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., the Hong Kong company he controls, bought 42 per cent of Husky Oil from Canada's Nova Corp.
His initial purchase of Husky was deemed to not be a foreign takeover because Li's son, Victor Li, took out Canadian citizenship and bought another 9 per cent to give his father control of the company.
The family bought Nova's share in 1991 and merged Husky with Renaissance Energy Ltd. in 2000.
Last year, Victor Li backed out of a $650 million deal to help Air Canada come out of bankruptcy, saying the airline's unions weren't agreeing to enough cuts.
In Hong Kong, the Li family dominates the property market, operates a major electrical utility, controls a major mobile-phone network, owns a supermarket chain and runs the biggest network of pharmacies, among other enterprises.
Li's companies are known for their hardball tactics.
After daring to publish unflattering coverage of the Li family, the English-language South China Morning Post and the Apple Daily were targeted with an advertising boycott, the Star's Martin Regg Cohn reported last year.
Several years ago, Li handed executive jobs to both Victor and his other, younger, son Richard, who was once a Toronto investment banker with Gordon Capital. Their father, however, never strayed far from running the empire he built.
Forbes magazine estimated Li to be the world's 19th richest man in 2004 with assets of $12.4 billion (U.S.).
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http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...d=1105570211409
i'm really happy he decided to do this .. this was a guy who literally went from rags to riches and decided to give back a lot of what he had gained..
just goes to show that in light of world incidents like the tsunami, there are still people out there who have not forgetten about people suffering here
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| The Highroller |
| $1.2 BILLION?! Wow! :eyes: |
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| rabbitjoker |
| and people tell me capitalism doesn't spawn charity... |
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| drgoodvibe |
| It's fantastic news, even though my company stock dropped a few points becuase of it. Bill Gates has given almost 4Billion to charity, Ted Turner gave 1 Billion did he not? To the super rich, what's a few billion here and there =]. Philanthropy needs to be encouraged. |
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| Tordan |
| Sounds good but lets hope that most of the money really does go to charitable causes and not to the people running the foundation. |
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| Fir3start3r |
| quote: | Originally posted by rabbitjoker
and people tell me capitalism doesn't spawn charity... |
Really? :wtf:
How else could people make such a notable change in the world?
I think this story is amazing! |
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| Endlesswave |
| quote: | Originally posted by rabbitjoker
and people tell me capitalism doesn't spawn charity... |
Wha? Who said that?? Grrr.
It spawns charity but it also spawns a lot of OTHER not so cool things as well.
As for the guy donating 1.2 billion, that's awesome! :D |
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| Fir3start3r |
| quote: | Originally posted by Endlesswave
Wha? Who said that?? Grrr.
It spawns charity but it also spawns a lot of OTHER not so cool things as well.
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Like a J-O-B....
J - Just
O - Over
B - Broke
:p |
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| rabbitjoker |
Note to get off topic (so please don't let this thread digress): I had a discussion with some folks the other day where their opinion was that socialism was THE option for ensuring people who slipped through the cracks where taken care of. I disagreed in saying that capitalism produced far more charity than socialism could legislate (with factual proof to support such).
This donation/foundation further proves my point. |
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| RobbyG. |
| quote: | Originally posted by rabbitjoker
and people tell me capitalism doesn't spawn charity... |
Thats because he started with NOTHING & knows the value of a buck.I really admire these "rags to riches" stories.Those (not all) who we're born with a silver spoon in their mouths tend to be the opposite (IMO). |
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| The Highroller |
| Capitalism sucks! Those damn efficient markets!:clown: |
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| Pettiscool |
wow thats a serious chunk of coin.
but wheres the rich corportations that could afford even bigger donations at? |
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