Worth11500 million, Asian sugar king, hotel king, this 97-year-old man is awesome.

Some time ago, Forbes published the 2020 Malaysia Rich List. Due to the continuous slowdown of Malaysian economy and the impact of COVID-19, the "players" on the rich list have undergone a major reshuffle.

But one, as steady as Mount Tai, is completely unaffected by the big situation and has been the richest man in Malaysia for 20 consecutive years.

He is Guo Henian, with a net worth of $65,438+01.500 million. At the age of 97, he still has a place in business.

1950, the first sugar factory in Malaysia was established, and he was known as the "Sugar King of Asia".

197 1 year, he entered the hotel industry and founded the world's first Shangri-La hotel. The name "Hotel King" is a household name.

1984, invested a huge sum of money in China and spent $530 million to establish the first international trade center in China, while Guo Henian earned $5 billion only by collecting international trade rent for one year.

1993, involving the media, film and television industry, bought Hong Kong English newspaper South China Morning Post from the British and became a world-famous "media tycoon".

……

As the richest man in Malaysia, Guo Henian has too many labels and auras.

Every label is full of gold, and behind every halo, there is a little-known bitter history.

Children from poor families take charge early, while children from rich families start their careers early.

On the eve of China's reform and opening up, many refugees and laborers chose to "go to Nanyang" for begging. Among these ordinary refugees, there is Guo, the father from Fuzhou, Fujian.

1909, his father Guo was still a teenager of 16 years old. In order to make a living, he left his hometown and came to Malaysia from Fujian, China.

At that time, his brother Guo had made small achievements in Malaysia, running a company called Dongsheng, a two-story canteen, mainly engaged in food, soybeans, sugar and other businesses.

Guo, who just arrived in Malaysia, didn't know what he was going to do, so he listened to the arrangement of his brothers and temporarily helped to be a cargo handling clerk in Dongsheng Company.

It was World War I, and the demand for spices in Malaysia was in short supply. Guo aimed at this opportunity and made his first pot of gold through rice sugar and soybean business.

1920, Guo, who achieved little, married his fellow countryman Zheng Geru. 1923 was born, with Guo Henian as the third child and two older brothers in front.

Born in a wealthy family, Guo Henian's childhood was not easy. In his autobiography, Guo Henian once described his childhood like this: "As long as I can remember, I only felt crying and heartbroken ..."

Guo and Zheng Ge are typical "strict mothers in strict father". Guo is in a turbulent era and knows the power that knowledge can bring to people. So when you start reading, in addition to the homework assigned by the teacher, you have to finish the homework assigned by Guo:

Recite five ancient poems fluently

Complete dictation of ten English texts.

Can quickly calculate binary linear equations.

……

Zheng Geru acted as Guo Henian's "tutor".

Although he is in Malaysia, Zheng Geru knows the traditional culture of China like the back of his hand.

Zheng Geru will tell his sons all kinds of legendary stories about China, from Gou Jian, the King of Yue, to Guiguzi and Sun Bin. Guo Henian, who was deeply impressed by China's traditional culture since childhood, is determined to learn from the ancients, be a hermit and keep a low profile.

Although a businessman, Guo didn't let him step into this muddy water, but hoped that he would study more, so he sent him to Raffles College for further study.

But six months after entering school, the Japanese invaded Malaysia and Singapore. At that time, it was the school year exam, and Guo Henian was preparing for the exam until two o'clock in the morning with a huge bomb.

After the exam, the school announced the suspension of classes and dismissed all students to go home. However, due to the rapid advance of the Japanese army, Guo Henian was forced to lose contact with his family.

In an interview with Dialogue on 20 15, Guo Henian recalled that period and said, "In the next three years and zero 10 months, we were forced to live under the Japanese army, during which all Malaysians and Singaporeans were in dire straits. We live like years, and the cruelty of the Japanese army is difficult to write. "

Guo Henian's family also failed to escape the clutches of the Japanese army. Sambo Guo Qinduan died unfortunately, and his cousin Guo Heqing was arrested by the Japanese army, and Dongsheng Company was forced to close down.

The burden of family business suddenly fell on Guo's shoulders.

Guo did not disappoint his family. In the early post-war period, Malaysia was short of consumer goods, and the authorities implemented commodity control.

Datuon, the official in charge of rice, had a good personal relationship with Guo, so he handed over the procurement of rice to Guo.

With this relationship, Guo monopolized the rice and flour market in Malaysia and started the famous brand of "Dongsheng Company".

Dongsheng Company has also become the bridgehead for Guo Henian and his brothers to build a huge enterprise kingdom in the future.

At this time, Guo realized that if he didn't train the next generation quickly, Guo's wealth might not last long, so he began to let his three sons enter the business field.

1947, Guo Gai100,000 ringgit started a business, went to Singapore alone, and used this100,000 ringgit as investment capital to establish Liwuke Company.

This year, he boldly applied the business knowledge he learned from his father to practice and gradually accumulated rich business experience.

1948, my father Guo died, leaving Dongsheng company with a thriving business.

Mother Zheng Geru was afraid of a bloody scene of "brothers fighting for money" among the descendants of the word "crane", so Zheng Geru suggested that the second generation of Guo family unite family assets and jointly set up a company.

A year later, he and his brothers established Guo Brothers Co., Ltd. ..

As the only one of the brothers with rich business experience, the 25-year-old was elected as the chairman and began to lead the commercial ship of the Guo enterprise.

Do things that have nothing to do with you.

Under the management of Guo Henian, Kwok Brothers Co., Ltd. got better and better, but in a few years, the tragedy happened again.

1952, Guo Henian's second brother Guo Helin joined the "Ma * * * guerrillas" and was killed by the British colonial government.

Later, Guo Henian's family was under surveillance by the authorities. In desperation, Guo Henian had to temporarily flee to the United States.

1957, Malaysia declared its independence, and the opportunity for Guo Henian came.

At that time, because Malaysia had just become independent, the consumer goods market was in a slump, especially the sugar factories.

Guo Henian also seized this opportunity and established the first Malaysian sugar factory together with the Federal Land Development Bureau.

In order to facilitate the extraction of materials by sugar factories, 1968, Guo Henian planted a large number of sugar cane, opened a sugar cane plantation and stored a large amount of raw sugar.

Two years later, Guo Henian won 80% of the shares in the Malaysian sugar industry, and established a complete "sucrose sales network" in Southeast Asia. He gained a lot and earned a lot of money, so he was named "Sugar King of Malaysia".

From 65438 to 0979, Guo Henian, with its unique business sense, bought a lot of sugar before the price of sugar rose, and then sold it at a high price, becoming the "Asian sugar king" and thus becoming a world-renowned businessman.

As a result of Guo Henian's actions, local enterprises felt that the sugar industry was profitable, and they all began to refine sugar, hoping to share a piece of the sugar industry.

Guo Henian thinks that before long, the advantages of his own sugar factory will disappear, and he can't rest easy. It is safest to let Guo's footprints spread all over the fields and stand in front of them.

In the early 1970s, the situation in Asia was generally stable and the economy developed rapidly. Guo Henian also noted that tourism will be an important development area. Hotels are one of the development tools of tourism, and the Pacific Rim region has the greatest potential to promote the growth of tourism.

So in 197 1 year, Guo Henian invested 65,438+600 million to establish Shangri-La Hotel, the most luxurious hotel in Singapore at that time.

At that time, Shangri-La Hotel was once one of the most profitable hotels in Singapore.

Guo Henian struck while the iron was hot, and then established Shangri-La Hotel in Malaysia, China, Thailand and other countries, making it a multinational luxury hotel chain.

Shangri-La Hotel has even become a landmark in China and Hongkong. At that time, in order to establish Shangri-La Hotel in Hong Kong, Guo Henian bought a piece of land in Victoria Harbour at a price of 654.38+63 billion.

After the hotel was completed, it also brought many benefits to Guo Henian.

Today, Shangri-La Hotel has become a well-known hotel chain brand at home and abroad, and Guo Henian has been dubbed as the "king of hotels".

In the next few years, Guo Henian used the accumulated capital in the sugar industry to extend its reach to banking, real estate, media and other fields.

Keenly aware, Hong Kong is an international economic, trade, financial, transportation and information center, which is crucial to the future development of Guo Enterprise Kingdom.

In addition, the governments of Singapore and Malaysia are good at competing to see who can collect more taxes from wealth creators.

"Both countries impose punitive tax rates on our profits. If you earn 1 yuan, basically you can only stay in 0.5 yuan. "

Therefore, in 1974, it was intended to shift its development focus to China and Hong Kong, and senior managers of Guo enterprises moved to Hong Kong one after another to establish Kerry Group.

Although Shangri-La Hotel has been established in Hongkong, Guo Henian thinks it is not enough.

Being rich is not the most important thing, but mastering the right to speak is the most important thing.

In the 1990s, he acquired Hong Kong English newspaper South China Morning Post and Hong Kong TVB again, entered the media industry, and became a new "media tycoon" in Hong Kong, making use of media opinions to create momentum for Guo enterprises.

After setting foot in China and Hongkong, Guo Henian has gradually developed into the mainland.

From 65438 to 0988, Kerry Group began to invest in Chinese mainland. We have invested in dozens of projects in 30 coastal and inland cities, including vegetable oil, grain processing, Shangri-La hotels, real estate and Coca-Cola drinks.

Arowana, the most famous brand of Kerry Group, has made the company's income continue to grow. In 20 19, the Arowana family made Kerry Group's income 170743 billion yuan, which was twice that of Maotai and eight times that of Haitian Ye Wei.

With the edible oil income of Arowana, Guo Henian ranked 104 in the Forbes list of global billionaires in 20 19, with a wealth value of 128 billion US dollars.

Do business with big abacus, not small abacus.

Before, there was a joke circulating on the Internet:

"Under Guo Henian's house, there are not only the Beijing International Trade Center where you go to work every day, but also the arowana cooking oil you eat every day, and the Shangri-La Hotel where you will stay on business trips."

Being able to do Guo's business to this extent can be simply explained by the name of "rich second generation".

Guo Henian once said: "Do business with courage, but do business with courage, not be a man."

1973 in April, Guo Henian received a special task.

China China Resources Company found him and told him that the country is very nervous now, and there is a large shortage of sugar and money. I hope he can help me buy 300,000 tons of sugar from the international market at a low price, and also buy some futures to arbitrage when the market fluctuates.

Although Guo Henian was already the top "sugar king" in the world at that time, it didn't sell so many goods to this country.

If you buy it outside, Guo Henian is worried that once the news becomes public, the price of sugar will rise by 20% to 25%. After all, 300,000 tons is not a small sum.

But Guo Henian agreed without hesitation. He thinks the country is in trouble. He is a part of China, so he must help.

"Of course I will help you with this, but we all have to pay close attention, think quickly and act quickly."

For the sake of safety, Guo Henian has frozen its business and devoted one or two months to solving this problem for the country.

Later, Guo Henian thought that such polysaccharide could only be bought in Brazil.

But as the "Asian sugar king", he is too conspicuous, and if he goes in person, it will definitely cause speculation.

Just two or three weeks later, there will be a large-scale international sugar conference in Geneva.

Guo Henian, who kept a low profile and seldom appeared in front of the camera, immediately decided to send someone to Brazil to buy sugar. He specially signed up for the meeting.

"I think if I meet them, they won't think I'm buying sugar." Guo Henian recalled.

In Guo Henian, I was "insincere" while promoting a change with my international counterparts. At the same time, I quickly deployed and followed up Brazil's actions. "I am nervous every day and live in fear."

One day, an English businessman took Guo Henian aside and mysteriously said to him, "Do you know? Brazil is very strange recently. Every day, two or three young Asians who have never met before come in and out of the sugar area, as if something big is going to happen. "

This surprised Guo Henian, but he replied with a surprised and serious expression: Really? If you have any other quotes or news, be sure to let me know. "

Turn around, it is in a cold sweat.

After World War I, he not only successfully solved 300,000 tons of sugar for China at a low price, but also earned 5 million dollars for China through the futures market.

1973, China's foreign exchange reserves were -8 1 billion dollars. Guo Henian won $5 million for China in one fell swoop, exceeding the country's foreign exchange reserves. This is definitely timely help.

But Guo Henian himself didn't make a penny from such a big market. On the contrary, he lost two months' business.

"If my company joins, it will definitely make money." Guo Henian said, "But I can't. Because it is disloyal to China. This may be too grand to say. My principle is, even if I promise someone an ordinary business, don't run two horses. "

Earning $5 million for China is not only a demonstration of Guo Henian's courage, but also the embodiment of Guo Henian Principles.

If you promise someone, you should go all out to do it well for them, instead of thinking about whether you can take advantage.

Through this incident, although Guo Henian lost his business for two months, Guo Henian gained the trust of China and quietly turned his attention to Chinese mainland.

From 65438 to 0974, Kerry Group, a subsidiary of Guo Brothers, established Kerry Grain and Oil China Co., Ltd. in China, and successfully opened the China market with the famous edible oil brand "Arowana".

1984, Kerry Group spent 500 million dollars to build the tallest international trade center in Beijing at that time, but this move was considered stupid by Guo Henian.

At that time, China was still recovering and the investment environment was not perfect. Putting money into the China market is equivalent to throwing a stone into the sea. It takes a lot of effort and little return.

Other businessmen have invested their money overseas and made a lot of money overseas. Some businessmen even laughed at Guo Henian and made an invisible business, waiting to lose money.

But Guo Henian didn't say anything. He devoted himself to Chinese mainland's career silently. He didn't rush for success, but slowly "waited for the wind".

Guo Henian said: "I can play the big abacus, but I can't play the small abacus, and I'm not that good."

Guo Henian's way of doing business has always been to think big, not small.

In this way, under the leadership of Guo Henian, a huge business empire was slowly established.

Guo Henian has also become a frequent visitor to the rich list, consistently ranking among the top ten richest people in China.

If you want to ask, there were so many people doing business at that time, why did Guo Henian become the richest man in Malaysia?

Perhaps it is the influence of Zheng Geru, the mother of "Captain Life" in Guo Henian.

There is an iron plate on the desk in Guo Henian's office. There is a passage on the iron plate that was once written by his mother Zheng Geru before her death.

"If children can be like me, why do you want to leave more money? If they are not as good as me, no matter how much money they have, they will not seek benefits for themselves. I hope public peace. "

Mother Zheng Geru has a profound influence on Guo Henian's way of doing business.

Influenced by his father Guo, he introduced business ethics.

"Because my father is a businessman, words like' business ethics',' honesty' and' keeping promises' are often mentioned by him, which has a subtle influence on me."

But most importantly, Guo Henian's spirit of enduring humiliation in the market for decades and his bottom line in life really decided Guo Henian's life.

In Guo Henian's autobiography, Guo Henian said: "As long as we are modest, honest, not cheating and not taking advantage of others' danger, there will be endless business in this world. Even if I have a lot of market information, I never fool around. I am a businessman who firmly believes in principles, so everyone likes me. If the profit is miscalculated, we will return it immediately and never argue. "

-End-

Author: Luo Xiaojie