Li Shufu

Li Shufu (simplified Chinese: 李书福; traditional Chinese: 李書福; pinyin: Lǐ Shūfú; born 25 June 1963), is a Chinese billionaire business magnate and entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.

In this Chinese name, the family name is Li.
Li Shufu
李书福
Born (1963-06-25) 25 June 1963[1]
Taizhou, Zhejiang, China
NationalityChinese
EducationYanshan University
Occupation
  • Entrepreneur
Years active1986–present
Known forFounding and leading Geely
Net worthUS$19.5 billion (December 2020)[2]
Title
  • Founder and chairman of Geely
  • Chairman of Volvo Cars
Spouse(s)Wang Li (王丽)[3]
Children2

Early life

Li Shufu was born in Taizhou, Zhejiang, China on 25 June 1963. He earned a master's degree from Yanshan University.[2]

Career

Li founded Geely in November 1986, now the second largest private automobile manufacturer in China.[4]

On 28 March 2010, Geely signed a deal worth US$1.8 billion to buy Volvo Cars from American automobile manufacturer Ford Motor Company.[5] It was the largest foreign purchase by a Chinese car manufacturer. Along with $900m of working capital from Geely and a commitment to build a Volvo factory in China, Li had a target of driving sales to 600,000 by 2015 in the domestic market.[6]

In 2013, Hurun Report ranked Li the 63rd richest person in mainland China, with a net worth of US$2.6 billion.[7]

Li announced in November 2018 that he has entered into an agreement with the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp. to build a new line of supersonic bullet trains. The plan is for the trains to run using newly developed technology. Li said, "Core technology can't be bought. The more you use others' technology, the more reliant you become. We have to innovate on our own. The journey will be tough but the prospects are promising."[8]

In 2018, according to the Financial Times, Li has become Daimler's largest shareholder, with a 9.7% stake in the German automaker.[9]

In March 2020, Li is in talks with Volvo Cars to merge with Geely in his move to create China's first global automaker. Both Volvo and Geely are owned by Li's investment fund Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, but are being operated as separate entities.[10]

Football sponsorship

Geely Group sponsored China's Jia B League team Guangzhou F.C. in 2001. However, after the 2001 China Jia B League Match Fixing, at the end of the season, Li ended his involvement in football sponsorship and was quoted as saying, "We won't come back until the Chinese football environment gets better."[11]

Personal life

Li is married to Wang Li (王丽) and the family reside in Hangzhou, Zhejiang.[2]

He writes poetry.[12]

Political life

Li is an independent non-party affiliated delegate[13] to the 13th National People's Congress, serving as one of the 94 delegates selected from Zhejiang.[14]

Economic views

Li has criticized the automotive industry joint venture system in China as producing large profits for foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier 1 suppliers at the expense of innovation, quality and technology advancement by Chinese automotive OEMs. According to Li, this has led to complacency by domestic automotive OEMs by relying on profits from foreign partners through joint ventures instead of driving their own organisations to hire talent and improve, knowing they would control half of joint ventures run with profitable overseas manufacturers that generate healthy sales.[15] He has previously argued for state-owned automotive manufacturers to partner with privately-run companies.[16]

References
  1. "沃尔沃李书福专访". people.com.cn. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  2. "Forbes profile: Li Shufu". forbes.com. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  3. "What's in a Name? A Lot If It Links a Billionaire to China's Xi". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  4. Keith Bradsher (28 March 2010). "Chinese Automaker Geely to Buy Volvo: Ford Agrees to Sell Volvo to a Fast-Rising Chinese Company". www.nytimes.com. NY Times. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  5. "Volvo sale signed by Geely and Ford" (stm). BBC News. 28 March 2010. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
  6. "China's lucky man bags Volvo". The Economist. 7 August 2010. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  7. "Li Shufu - Hurun report". Hurun Report. 2013. Archived from the original on 31 December 2015.
  8. Archer, Joseph (6 November 2018). "Chinese car billionaire signs deal to build 'supersonic' trains". The Telegraph. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  9. "Is Chinese state behind Geely's Daimler swoop?". Financial Times. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  10. Boston, William (10 February 2020). "Chinese Auto Tycoon Aims to Merge Volvo and Geely". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  11. "Sports-Yearender: Bittersweet Year for Chinese Soccer League", People's Daily
  12. "Subscribe to read". Financial Times. Retrieved 18 February 2019. Cite uses generic title (help)
  13. "Geely Holding Chairman proposes reforms on Chinese automotive taxation and motorcycle regulations at annual legislative meetings | Automotive World". www.automotiveworld.com. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  14. "浙江日报". zjrb.zjol.com.cn.
  15. "Subscribe to read". Financial Times. Retrieved 18 February 2019. Cite uses generic title (help)
  16. "Subscribe to read". Financial Times. Retrieved 18 February 2019. Cite uses generic title (help)
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