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Stanley Ho
Stanley Ho Hung-sun (Chinese: 何鴻燊; 25 November 1921 – 26 May 2020) was a Hong Kong and Macau billionaire businessman. He was the founder and chairman of SJM Holdings, which owns nineteen casinos in Macau including the Grand Lisboa.
Ho was nicknamed variously Godfather and King of Gambling, reflecting the government-granted monopoly he held on the Macau gambling industry for 40 years. His wealth was divided among his daughter, Pansy Ho ($5.3 billion) who owns MGM Macau, fourth wife Angela Leong ($4.1 billion) who is managing director of SJM Holdings, and son Lawrence Ho ($2.6 billion) who owns City of Dreams.
Ho was the founder and chairman of Shun Tak Holdings, through which he owned many businesses including entertainment, tourism, shipping, real estate, banking, and air transport. It is estimated that his businesses employ almost one-fourth of the workforce of Macau. Apart from Hong Kong and Macau, he also invested in mainland China, Portugal, North Korea where he operated a casino, Vietnam, the Philippines, Mozambique, Indonesia and East Timor.
His opinions and statements on Hong Kong's real estate and commercial development had considerable sway on the market. In his later years, he had been involved in litigation with his sister, Winnie Ho, concerning the ownership of the Macau casino. Having suffered a stroke in July 2009, followed by a long period of recovery, Ho began steps in late 2010 to devolve his grip on his financial empire to his various wives and children. Ho died on 26 May 2020 at the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital.
Born in Hong Kong during British colonial rule, he was of Chinese, Dutch-Jewish and English ancestry. On his paternal side, Ho was descended from his great-grandfather, Charles Henry Maurice Bosman, who was of Dutch Jewish ancestry, and his Chinese mistress Sze Tai (施娣), a local Bao'an (present-day Shenzhen and Hong Kong) woman. His grandfather was Ho Fook (何福), brother of the merchant Sir Robert Ho Tung, his grandmother was Lucy Rothwell and his father was Ho Sai-kwong (何世光). His maternal grandfather was another first-generation Eurasian, Stephen Hall (Sin Tak Fan, 冼德芬), the son of British businessman Stephen Prentis Hall.. His mother was Flora Hall (Sin, 冼興雲)
Ho studied at Queen's College, Hong Kong, at which he attended Class D - the lowest class level in the then Hong Kong Class System - owing to unsatisfactory academic results. However, he later received a scholarship to the University of Hong Kong. He became the first student from Class D to be granted a university scholarship. His university studies were cut short by the outbreak of World War II in 1942. Following the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, Ho moved to Macau.
Ho began clerical work at a Japanese-owned import-export firm in Macau. He made his first fortune smuggling luxury goods and food across the Chinese border from Macau during World War II. In 1943 he set up a kerosene company and established a construction company with his money.
Ho, along with partners including Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok, Macau gambler Yip Hon and his brother-in-law Teddy Yip, bid for Macau franchises. By bidding high and promising to promote tourism and to develop infrastructure, they won the public tender for Macau's gaming monopoly license in 1961, for US$410,000, of which US$51,000 was provided by Henry Fok. defeating the long-time Macau casino barons, the Fu family, by MOP 17,000. In 1961 the company was renamed Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau, S.A.R.L. (STDM).
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Stanley Ho
Stanley Ho Hung-sun (Chinese: 何鴻燊; 25 November 1921 – 26 May 2020) was a Hong Kong and Macau billionaire businessman. He was the founder and chairman of SJM Holdings, which owns nineteen casinos in Macau including the Grand Lisboa.
Ho was nicknamed variously Godfather and King of Gambling, reflecting the government-granted monopoly he held on the Macau gambling industry for 40 years. His wealth was divided among his daughter, Pansy Ho ($5.3 billion) who owns MGM Macau, fourth wife Angela Leong ($4.1 billion) who is managing director of SJM Holdings, and son Lawrence Ho ($2.6 billion) who owns City of Dreams.
Ho was the founder and chairman of Shun Tak Holdings, through which he owned many businesses including entertainment, tourism, shipping, real estate, banking, and air transport. It is estimated that his businesses employ almost one-fourth of the workforce of Macau. Apart from Hong Kong and Macau, he also invested in mainland China, Portugal, North Korea where he operated a casino, Vietnam, the Philippines, Mozambique, Indonesia and East Timor.
His opinions and statements on Hong Kong's real estate and commercial development had considerable sway on the market. In his later years, he had been involved in litigation with his sister, Winnie Ho, concerning the ownership of the Macau casino. Having suffered a stroke in July 2009, followed by a long period of recovery, Ho began steps in late 2010 to devolve his grip on his financial empire to his various wives and children. Ho died on 26 May 2020 at the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital.
Born in Hong Kong during British colonial rule, he was of Chinese, Dutch-Jewish and English ancestry. On his paternal side, Ho was descended from his great-grandfather, Charles Henry Maurice Bosman, who was of Dutch Jewish ancestry, and his Chinese mistress Sze Tai (施娣), a local Bao'an (present-day Shenzhen and Hong Kong) woman. His grandfather was Ho Fook (何福), brother of the merchant Sir Robert Ho Tung, his grandmother was Lucy Rothwell and his father was Ho Sai-kwong (何世光). His maternal grandfather was another first-generation Eurasian, Stephen Hall (Sin Tak Fan, 冼德芬), the son of British businessman Stephen Prentis Hall.. His mother was Flora Hall (Sin, 冼興雲)
Ho studied at Queen's College, Hong Kong, at which he attended Class D - the lowest class level in the then Hong Kong Class System - owing to unsatisfactory academic results. However, he later received a scholarship to the University of Hong Kong. He became the first student from Class D to be granted a university scholarship. His university studies were cut short by the outbreak of World War II in 1942. Following the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, Ho moved to Macau.
Ho began clerical work at a Japanese-owned import-export firm in Macau. He made his first fortune smuggling luxury goods and food across the Chinese border from Macau during World War II. In 1943 he set up a kerosene company and established a construction company with his money.
Ho, along with partners including Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok, Macau gambler Yip Hon and his brother-in-law Teddy Yip, bid for Macau franchises. By bidding high and promising to promote tourism and to develop infrastructure, they won the public tender for Macau's gaming monopoly license in 1961, for US$410,000, of which US$51,000 was provided by Henry Fok. defeating the long-time Macau casino barons, the Fu family, by MOP 17,000. In 1961 the company was renamed Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau, S.A.R.L. (STDM).
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