98-Year-Old Li Ka-shing Is Alive, and His Company Wants You to Know
On October 15, a rumor spread across Chinese social media that Li Ka-shing, the 98-year-old billionaire known as “Superman” in Hong Kong business circles, had died. Within hours, his flagship company CK Hutchison Holding issued a flat two-sentence denial: absolutely no such thing. The statement was short, but the reaction around it was not.
For global readers who may not know the name: Li Ka-shing built one of Asia’s largest business empires from a plastic-flower factory he started in 1950. CK Hutchison spans ports, retail chains, infrastructure, telecoms and energy across more than 50 countries. He formally retired as chairman in 2018, handing the group to his elder son, Victor Li, but he remains chairman of the Li Ka Shing Foundation and a fixture in Hong Kong’s public imagination. Few private citizens in Asia generate death rumors as reliably as he does.
This is not the first time. Rumors about his health have circulated repeatedly over the past decade, each time met with a similar company denial. What makes this round notable is the speed and reach of the spread. The claim moved from niche chat groups to mainstream feeds within hours, carried by screenshots rather than any news outlet. CK Hutchison’s denial was equally fast, suggesting the company treats these episodes as a routine risk to manage rather than a surprise.
Why does it matter? Li’s personal brand is unusually entangled with the companies he controls. In Hong Kong, where the group operates supermarkets, pharmacies and mobile networks used daily by millions, his name carries a symbolic weight beyond shareholding. A sudden rumor about his death can move sentiment in local markets and unsettle employees and customers, even when the underlying business is unaffected. Companies with founder-centric identities — Tesla comes to mind — face the same pattern: the person and the firm are hard to separate.
There is a quieter lifestyle angle here too. In Chinese-speaking communities, longevity is treated with a mix of admiration and superstition. Li is frequently cited in feng shui commentaries, retirement-planning articles and business-school case studies that dwell on his age, his frugality and his habit of wearing a modest watch. When a man becomes a symbol of endurance, rumors about his end become a kind of cultural event, not just a corporate-communications problem.
For now, the facts are simple. Li Ka-shing is 98 and, according to his company, alive. The rumor has no named source, no evidence and no follow-up. CK Hutchison has said nothing further, and there is no indication of any change in the group’s leadership or operations.
The episode is a reminder of how quickly unverified claims travel through Chinese social platforms, and how carefully large family-controlled conglomerates manage their founders’ public image. It is also a small, strange window into how a very private man in his late nineties remains, whether he wants to or not, one of the most talked-about figures in Asia.