The Honourable Sir Michael David Kadoorie, GBS (born 1941) is a business executive and philanthropist. As of March 2011, he is the 6th wealthiest person in Hong Kong, with the wealth of his family estimated to be 9.5Â billion US dollars according to Forbes' annual list of billionaires.
Family and early life
Born to a Jewish family, the son of business tycoon Lawrence Kadoorie (1899â€"1993) and his wife, Muriel Gubbay. Kadoorie was educated at Kowloon Junior School in Hong Kong as well as Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland. His family's roots in business in the Far East go back to his grandfather, a descendant of Iraqi Jews originally from Baghdad, who first settled in Shanghai in 1880. After a spell in Bombay, India, his grandfather made a fortune in Shanghai, mostly lost in 1949, and later, in Hong Kong through finance, real estate and utilities. Headquartered in Hong Kong soon after 1949, Kadoorie's father and uncle successfully expanded the family businesses into a diversified group, led by the company flagship CLP Holdings Ltd.
Kadoorie is the Chairman of CLP Holdings Ltd. which his family founded in 1890 and in which they still hold a 35% stake. The utility company provides electricity to 75% of Hong Kong as sole operator (licensed through a Scheme of Control) in Kowloon and the New Territories, and has equity interests in power plants in China, Southeast Asia, Australia and India. He is also the Chairman of the family's second largest listed group, The Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, owners and operators of the world-renowned Peninsula Hotel Group. He controls and is a director of Metrojet Ltd, Heliservices (HK) Ltd and has initiated CLP Research Institute (a subsidiary of CLP Holdings which looks into renewable energy development). He holds a number of directorships in other non-Kadoorie companies. He was a member of the Council of the University of Hong Kong and, in 2000, the Kadoorie Biological Sciences Building opened at the university.
Awards
A trustee of the Kadoorie Charitable Foundation, Michael Kadoorie was made an Officer of the Legion of Honor by the government of France and a Commander of the Order of Léopold II of Belgium. He was also awarded a knighthood, as a Knight Bachelor, in the Queen's Birthday Honours List on 11 June 2005. In 2004, the University of Hong Kong awarded him an honorary LLD.
Personal life
A photography buff, Kadoorie is also a helicopter pilot and an admirer of classic cars. He is the owner of a number of rare automobiles including a Bugatti Type 57, a 1932 Rolls-Royce Phantom II by Thrupp & Maberly, a 1934 Hispano-Suiza J12 Vanvooren Cabriolet, a 1969 Lamborghini Miura P400 S, a 1924 Vauxhall 30â€"98 Tourer, a Talbot T150 CSS Pourtout coupé (ex car of race driver Pagnibon), a Rolls-Royce Phantom III with Gurney Nutting body, and a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost.
In 1998, he spent two months recovering from serious injuries at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England after having an accident in his vintage Ferrari when the spokes in two of the rebuilt wheels tore through the tyres.
Personal life
He lives in Hong Kong with his Cuban-American wife, Betty Tamayo, known as "Lady Betty." They have three children: Natalie (born 1985), Bettina, and Philip (born 1992).
His sister Rita Laura Kadoorie is married to fellow Hong Kong billionaire Ronald McAulay.
See also
- Kadoorie family
- List of billionaires
References
