Controversial Hong Kong tycoon tells of his rocky road
Staff Reporter 2012-12-05 08:47
Albert Yeung is the founder and chairman of Emperor Group. (File photo/CNS)
Albert Yeung, the founder and chairman of Emperor Group, one of the most powerful conglomerates in Hong Kong, is a controversial figure who has drawn praise and criticism in equal measure.
Yeung's fortune is largely self-made. He started his career by opening a watch shop in 1964 which eventually expanded into a diversified group of companies straddling the financial, property, jewelry, entertainment, hospitality, publishing, furniture and catering sectors. Emperor Group's five companies have been successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and their total market value is estimated at more than HK$16 billion (US$2.06 billion).
While Yeung's success and his struggle to reach the top are an inspiration, he has also received much criticism and experienced many ups and downs, Shanghai's First Financial Daily reports.
In an authorized biography, the 69-year-old businessman recounts time in prison, surviving a kidnapping and cheating on both of his two wives.
Yeung's early life was a far cry from the wealth he would later enjoy. "I grew up in a watch shop and learned how to do the business from my parents," he said, adding that as a boy he had seen many debt collectors appear at their shop and had visited pawn stores to get quick cash for watches in order to repay his parents' debt. His childhood greatly influenced his later life, he admitted.
Between the ages of 20 to 40, it seemed that Yeung succeeded at whatever business he turned his hand to, whether property, jewelry or financial. In the 1970s, he moved into the real estate sector with as many as 20 simultaneous projects.
In 1983, however, he ran into financial difficulties with his Good World Group and racked up debts worth HK$320 million (US$41.3 million), which he later struggled to repay. The Good World Group and his watch stores located across Hong Kong were seized by the banks.
Aged 40, Yeung had lost everything. "I was depressed. I did not know how to tell my secretary: 'I cannot afford to hire you. Your salary is too high; please find another job'," he recalled.
From that time, purely to feel a sense of security, Yeung has always carried at least HK$50,000 (US$6,450) with him, the newspaper reported.
He staged a comeback through trading in the foreign exchange market and reportedly paid back his massive debt. This fueled his interest in the financial business. "I like doing financial and securities business. It is challenging and offers high returns," he said.
After his group had diversified into its current eight business sectors by 1989, the financial and property sectors accounted for about 60%-70% of his total business turnover.
Yeung also reveals that his wife caught him having an affair with a Hong Kong actress in 1973, though he declined to reveal her identity as she is now married.
During the 1990s, Yeung set up the Albert Yeung Sau Shing Charity Foundation, which is dedicated to sporting, educational and cultural activities.
