2020-02-01 Forbes Asia

37

H

O

N

G

(^) K
O
N
G
’S
(^5)
0
(^) R
IC
H
E
S
T
TH
EO
W
AR
GO
/G
ET
TY
IM
AG
ES

1. LEE SHAU KEE
   $30.4 BILLION
   HENDERSON LAND DEVELOPMENT
   AGE: 92


2. LI KA-SHING
   $29.4 BILLION
   CK HUTCHISON,
   CK ASSET HOLDINGS
   AGE: 91


3. HENRY CHENG & FAMILY
   $20.7 BILLION
   CHOW TAI FOOK,
   NEW WORLD DEVELOPMENT
   AGE: 73


4. JOSEPH LAU
   $16.9 BILLION
   CHINESE ESTATES HOLDINGS
   AGE: 68


5. LUI CHE WOO
   $15.4 BILLION
   GALAXY ENTERTAINMENT GROUP
   AGE: 90


6. LEE MAN TAT
   $15.2 BILLION
   LKK GROUP
   AGE: 90


7. KWONG SIU-HING
   $13.7 BILLION
   SUN HUNG KAI PROPERTIES
   AGE: 90


8. PETER WOO
   $11.6 BILLION
   WHEELOCK & CO.
   AGE: 73

HONG KONG’S

50 RICHEST

CHANGE IN WEALTH KEY: UP DOWN UNCHANGED NEW TO THE LIST RETURNEE

Joseph Tsai says his purchase last year of

NBA’s Brooklyn Nets—along with their

home arena—is meant to capitalize on the

growing worldwide appeal of basketball.

“Basketball is a global sport because it is

easily accessible and its urban street culture

is appealing to young people. Fans from all

over the world, from China to Southeast

Asia to Europe to the U.S., form a deep

bond over this cultural phenomenon, led by

the NBA and its stars,” Tsai, 56, says in an

email through an Alibaba spokesman.

Tsai is Alibaba’s second-largest indi-

vidual shareholder after Jack Ma, with

a 1.7% stake that accounts for the ma-

jority of his $11.5 billion fortune. As

Alibaba’s shares jumped last year, Tsai’s

net worth climbed by one-fifth. Tsai

joined Alibaba in 1999 as its first chief

financial officer. Tsai, who is also a Ca-

nadian citizen, has served as Alibaba’s

chief operating officer and a founding

board member.

In September, Tsai completed the

purchase of the Brooklyn Nets and the

Barclays Center, where the team plays

home games, from Russian billionaire

Mikhail Prokhorov, in a deal totalling

$3.3 billion. Earlier in the year he

added women’s basketball team New

York Liberty to his sports portfolio. He

remains an investor in Major League

Soccer team Los Angeles FC and also

owns the San Diego Seals, which plays

in the National Lacrosse League.

Tsai and his wife Clara are also active

philanthropists, through individual ef-

forts and their Joe and Clara Tsai Foun-

dation, based in California. Tsai, who

holds bachelor’s degrees in economics

and Asian studies from Yale, donated

$30 million to Yale Law School in 2016

in honor of his father, fellow Yale Law grad

Paul Tsai, to support the law school’s China

Center. He followed this with another, un-

disclosed sum in 2017 to finance construc-

tion of Yale’s Tsai Center for Innovative

Thinking, which is due to open later this

year. Wife Clara also helps run the foun-

dation, and is also involved in a variety of

causes, including the Reform Alliance,

which she helped found with rapper Jay-Z

and others to help reform the U.S. criminal

justice system. —Ambika Behal

Clara Wu Tsai and Joseph Tsai

Head in the Game

JOSEPH TSAI