Lee Man Tat - The fierce battle for thrones and the revival of the world's largest oyster empire

Lee Man-tat was born in 1929, he is known as "the king of oyster sauce" because he is the chairman of the Chinese condiment manufacturer Lee Kum Kee Group.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Mr. Lee Man-tat has a fortune of $17.6 billion, making him the 63rd richest person in the world. In 2019, Mr. Lee was ranked by Forbes as the 3rd richest person in Hong Kong.

The War of Kings

Lee Kum Kee Company was founded in 1888 by his grandfather Lee Kum-sheung. This company continues to be preserved and developed by the descendants of Lee Kum Sheung. In 1902, the company headquarters was moved to Macau but then moved to Hong Kong in 1932.

The late Chairman Lee Man Tat was the one who controlled this empire for the past 50 years. The Lee family is also extremely powerful in Hong Kong, Macau and southern China thanks to a long-standing business in the culinary field. However, along with that aura were the internal struggles within the family. In 1972, Lee Man Tat's father was sued by two siblings to claim ownership of the corporation. In 1986, history repeated itself again when Lee Man Tat himself was sued by his younger brother to take control of Lee Kum Kee.

Towards the end of the 1990s, Sammy Lee, the youngest of five children of Lee Man Tat, sued his father in a battle to retain a production company that the father and son invested in. To solve the situation, Lee Man Tat spent a large amount of money in exchange for family unity and maintaining the affection of the Lee family. This made him heavily indebted, but in return, Lee Man Tat still controlled 100% of the shares of Lee Kum Kee.

The Lee family has invested billions of dollars in real estate in Hong Kong, mainland China and London-England. Although Sammy did not disclose specific numbers, according to many estimates, Lee Kum Kee earned about 6 -7 billion USD in revenue and more than 600 million USD in annual profit thanks to other investment segments.

Lee Kum Kee is one of the rare nepotism groups in China that has existed for more than 130 years and is still growing. It is all thanks to the successful and decisive battles, without lengthy delays dragging down the company's operations like many other empires. In order to continue to maintain Lee Kum Kee's activities, especially when Lee Man Tat has 5 children and many aunts and uncles who are also looking at the company's assets, this group has implemented a representative council system. decided in 2002 with 7 main members: husband and wife Lee Man Tat and 5 children. "When we meet as family members, we don't talk about business. When we talk about business, we don't care about family ties," said the youngest son, Sammy.

Of course, things are still not smooth when the only daughter of Lee Man Tat's 5 children wants more because she can't participate in running the company directly. According to the Lee family tradition as well as in Asia, it is the son who inherits and participates in the management of the inheritance left by his father. So the brothers decided to share a part of their fortune with her to unify the family and maintain Lee Kum Kee's board of directors.

"If the Board of Directors is maintained, the Lee family will not have to suffer internal struggles. Although the ownership ratio of the company is divided equally, the family members have no trust in each other. They have no mutual trust. A lot of families have broken down because we can't find a common voice. Our family needs to avoid the same mistakes in the past. If we do nothing, history will repeat itself. This is a lesson. which I have learned from so many other family breakdowns," the youngest son Sammy said of his family's council.

According to Sammy, thanks to the above board system, Lee Kum Kee can not only maintain for another 130 years, but even the next 1,000 years.

Back to "behind the scenes"

In fact, the current Lee family is not as calm as many people see it. In 1999, the youngest son Sammy had an extremely bitter conflict of interest with his father Lee Man Tat. Both father and son invested in building a Chinese herbal medicine company at Sammy's suggestion in 1992. The investment was huge and Sammy thought they would make a profit.

Ironically, Sammy prefers the herbal business to the dipping sauce business and he wants to sell his stake in Lee Kun Kee to pursue his own career, which is something his father Lee Man Tat never wanted. .

For two years from 1999, Sammy was mostly absent from family meetings and events because of conflicts with his father and only returned in late 2000. "I thought it through. I was wrong. Family should always take precedence over self," admits youngest son Sammy, suggesting a period of five years so he can completely switch from the herbal business back to back. family work.

About 3 years ago, the late chairman Lee Man Tat no longer participated too much in the executive work, but 5 children and 14 grandchildren were the key figures in the management of the company. They form a council to vote on major issues, from charitable contributions to business development investments. In July 2021, billionaire Lee Man-tat died at the age of 91 at his home.

During the 15 years since 2002, the Lee family has had 59 council meetings. Sammy herself and her siblings had to go to Harvard to attend training courses for maintaining business empires for generations. In the world today, there is only 1 business family in Japan and 2 in France that have been maintained for more than 1,000 years and the Lee family is also having this ambition. Even the Lee family is planning to add more strangers to the board of directors to attract talent as well as maintain and develop Lee Kum Kee's business.

It can be said that the internal battle at Lee Kum Kee gave this corporation a difficult time, but thanks to a definitive settlement and maintaining unity, the Lee family still maintained the traditional business that their father had. He left. Currently, Lee Kum Kee's main business is not only around oyster sauce, but also expands into many other fields, from real estate, healthcare to venture investment.

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