Cheng Yu-tung GBM (; 8 August 1925 – 29 September 2016) was a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

billionaire with extensive property investment, development and service businesses, hotels, infrastructure, jewellery retailing and transportation interests in Hong Kong,

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

, United States, Australia and other areas. He was considered to be Hong Kong's third richest man at the time of his death.

Early life

Cheng was born in rural

Shunde District Shunde (Shun Tak in Cantonese) is a district of the city of Foshan, Guangdong province, located in the Pearl River Delta. It had a population of 2,464,784 as of the 2010 census. Once a traditional agricultural county, it has become one of the mo ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

, the son of a tailor, and fled to

in 1940, ahead of the advancing Japanese occupation force. The goldsmith owner of the Chow Tai Fook store there took him on as an apprentice and he eventually married the boss's daughter. They moved to Hong Kong in 1946 and opened the company's first store there.

Business career

He founded and owned Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, a conglomerate which operates the Sheraton Marina hotel and controls the publicly listed property developer New World group, which Cheng founded in 1970. Cheng's wealth originated from his jewellery business, Chow Tai Fook. Cheng's grandson, Adrian Cheng Chi-kong, is set to inherit part of

Chow Tai Fook Chow Tai Fook group is a Hong Kong–based, privately-owned conglomerate with holdings in the jewellery, property development, hotel, department store, transportation, energy, telecommunications, port, casino, and other businesses. Despite th ...

and the Hong Kong-listed New World group, active in property and infrastructure. He also had interests in Shun Tak Holdings, and Macau casino operator Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau, owned by

Stanley Ho Stanley Ho Hung-sun (; 25 November 192126 May 2020) was a Hong Kong and Macau billionaire businessman. He was the founder and chairman of SJM Holdings, which owns nineteen casinos in Macau including the Grand Lisboa. Ho was nicknamed variou ...

. In July 1972, Cheng and Ho bought the title to the Jumbo Floating Restaurant after it was burned down. The restaurant boat was rebuilt for HK$30 million and began operation in 1976. Cheng was a one-time real-estate investment partner of

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. Shortly before his death, Forbes listed him 58th wealthiest in the world and 3rd in Hong Kong with US$16.6 billion, and was at one time listed by Bloomberg as high as 34th.Hong Kong billionaire tycoon Cheng Yu-tung dies aged 91
Coconuts, 30 September 2016 Cheng also served on the board of

Hang Seng Bank Hang Seng Bank Limited () is a Hong Kong–based banking and financial services company with headquarters in Central, Hong Kong. It is one of Hong Kong's leading public companies in terms of market capitalisation and is part of the HSBC Grou ...

, Hong Kong's third-largest bank. He represented the Kingdom of

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

in Hong Kong, serving as the honorary consul for the country.

Personal life

In 1943, Cheng married Chow Tsui-ying, the daughter of Chow Chi-yuen. In 1946, Cheng and his family moved to Hong Kong. Cheng had four children, Henry Cheng, Peter Cheng, Amy Cheng, and Lai-ha Cheng. Cheng's eldest son Henry Cheng (b.1946) is chairman of

New World Development New World Development Company Limited (NWD) is a Hong Kong–based company focused on property, hotels, infrastructure and services and department stores. It was established on 29 May 1970 by Cheng Yu-tung. The company is publicly listed on t ...

and related businesses.

Death

Cheng died on September 26, 2016, in Hong Kong, after a 2012 brain haemorrhage had left him bedridden.

References

External links