Asiaweek.com | Cover: Coming of Age | 3/10/2000 Richard Li

Asiaweek.com | Cover: Coming of Age | 3/10/2000: "MARCH 10, 2000 VOL. 26 NO. 9

Coming of Age
Hong Kong's most successful Internet company wins control of telecom giant Cable & Wireless HKT. Now what?
By YULANDA CHUNG Hong Kong and ASSIF SHAMEEN Singapore


Vincent Yu/AP; Photo Illustration by Emilio Rivera III
The Winner: Richard Li Tzar-kai

For someone who has just committed to spend up to $38.1 billion in a buyout of Hong Kong's oldest telecommunications company, Richard Li Tzar-kai looks remarkably relaxed. 'Do I have to be serious all the time?' the 33-year-old bachelor asked Asiaweek a day after his 10-month-old Internet company, Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW), outmaneuvered state-controlled Singapore Telecom and media magnate Rupert Murdoch in a brief but epic battle to acquire Cable & Wireless HKT. Li (estimated net worth: $6.5 billion) also persuaded four banks, including HSBC Holdings and Bank of China, to lend him $11 billion, a record in Hong Kong. In February, he raised $1 billion in a matter of days through a PCCW share placement that was 40 times oversubscribed. "