Hong Kong Billionaire Demonstrates How to Successfully Plan for Succession

Fong Yun Wah, the 88-year-old billionaire ranked No. 21 onthe Forbes Hong Kong Rich List, has quietly implemented the succession of his propertyinvestment company, Hip Shing Hong, in a place where succession plans don’talways work out.

Yun Wah has handed off much of the management of the HongKong family-controlled business to his 55-year-old son, David.  Part of this successful succession was the“incremental additions of responsibility by the father to the son and carefulattention to unspoken signals between the son and father.”

When it was time for David to take care of the familybusiness, he noticed that business was good, but the company was outdated.  His father let him implement his own businessplans without talking too much about succession strategy.  The father would only correct his son if hesensed he was heading in the wrong direction.

Yun Wah was also willing to discuss what should happen uponhis death, an uneasy subject in their culture. Because of his openness, there is a rough framework for how his wealthwill be distributed as well as a framework for the management of Hip Shing Honggoing forward. 

See RussellFlannery, One Hong Kong Billionaire’sSuccession Approach: Skip the “Blah, Blah, Blah”, Forbes, May 27, 2013.