BEST-KNOWN COMPANIES
Mr Richard Li's partnership with Mr Thiel stems from a casual meeting in Hong Kong in 2015, the people said. Mr Thiel was touring China, where his book Zero to One sold well, and connected with well-known entrepreneurs including Mr Richard Li, the people said. Amid months of anti-Beijing protests last year, Mr Richard Li was weeks behind some other tycoons, including his father, in issuing a personal statement calling for the resumption of social order.
"I don't think there is anything wrong with being rebellious if it contributes to society," Mr Richard Li said of breaking away from his father in a 2018 fireside chat at the University of Hong Kong.During the dot-com bubble, Mr Richard Li's Pacific Century CyberWorks, now PCCW Ltd, became the largest Internet company in Asia outside Japan by market value.