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Blood money (Part 1 of 2)
With his investment in 3G technology bleeding red ink, Li Ka-shing makes sure he pays his lieutenants well to keep it afloat.
Is it better to work for a boss who's doing well or one who's in trouble? When it comes to Li Ka-shing, it is definitely the latter.
Blood Money (Part 2 of 2)
So Li ploughed on, putting more and more of Hutchinson's money into the venture. As of end-2007, Hutchinson had invested around US$25 billion in it, and not got a single cent in return.
Running Ranbaxy
Malvinder Mohan Singh, CEO of Ranbaxy, aims to make the company the world's fifth-largest generic drug maker by 2012.
For the moment, the most famous Sikh in the world is Manmohan Singh, prime minister of India. Soon it could be Malvinder Mohan Singh, CEO of Ranbaxy, India’s largest pharmaceuticals company.
At 35, Malvinder is young for the top job. There had been many sceptics when he was appointed CEO in January 2006, not least because his family, a major player in India’s healthcare industry, is the controlling shareholder of Ranbaxy.
Dearly departed (Part 1 of 2)
Before the global economy started to melt down, July 2 had already signalled the last day of normalcy for the 5,000 or so employees of the listed Polaris Securities, Taiwan's second-largest brokerage by market value.
That morning, many who worked in the Taipei headquarters greeted their chairman, Wayne Pai Wen-cheng, when the 55-year-old self-made multimillionaire came into the office. A half dozen or so key staff held the regular weekly meeting with Pai, who appeared "very subdued and depressed", according to one of them in a later interview. By evening, Pai would kill himself by jumping off the high bridge of a remote island resort.
Dearly departed (Part 2 of 2)
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The man whose laughter preceded him wherever he went could hardly squeeze out a smile as he went to his office. In the staff meeting, Pai "went through the motions" of listening to reports. He then stood up, took out three sealed envelopes, gave them to a trusted lieutenant, and left. Frantic efforts to contact him failed – Pai had switched off his mobile phone, something he had never done outside of a plane.
Akio Toyoda
In the office he wears the ubiquitous white button-down shirt and dark blue suit and behaves as modestly as any other salaryman. Behind the wheel he is a demon.
The other women
Angela Leong and Mona Fong share similar pasts and futures.
One is the second wife of a former movie king, Run Run Shaw. The other is the fourth wife of a former casino king, Stanley Ho. The husbands, at 100 and 86 respectively, are long past their prime. The time has come for the wives to show their stuff.Keeping it within the family
As Asia’s two richest men near their 80s, bets are on whether their prodigal sons will return to take over the family businesses.
"A stubborn son does not waste away the family fortune."
Reaching for the sky: Richard Branson and Tony Fernandes
Tony Fernandes is all set to take AirAsia to greater heights.
"Does Fernandes need Branson?" asked the Malaysian financial weekly, The Edge, in a recent edition.
The humble son-in-law
How a man's "small business" attitude keeps the flag of Suzuki's sprawling empire flying.
On 19 January 2007, Suzuki Motor Corporation was entertaining more than 700 of its sales representatives in a top hotel in Tokyo.
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