Jun 03, 2007 04:30 AM
Stanley Ho's wealth is the stuff of legend in Asia.
He first made front-page headlines in Toronto after paying $5.5 million for a home on the Bridle Path in 1987, a record price at the time. Ho also has an estate in Vancouver and owns the Sutton Place Hotels in Toronto and Vancouver.
Last year he was ranked the 84th richest person in the world by Forbes magazine, with a personal wealth of $6.5 billion (U.S.). However, it is believed that he is worth much more since much of the estimate is based only on revenue from his public companies, not his private wealth derived from a monopoly on casino gambling.
In 2002, the Chinese opened up the market to competition. Now his children are in the family business competing against their father with their own casino projects.
"Sometimes it's really hard to be at a family dinner, because we've all got different partners," says Ho's daughter Daisy. "But whether it's my brother Lawrence or my father, once you have embarked in the market, everyone is a competitor."
While Daisy and sister Pansy are building the $1.1 billion MGM Grand in a joint venture, brother Lawrence opened the $760 million Crown Macau Casino Hotel this month and is building the much larger City of Dreams casino complex.
Stanley Ho opened his own $385 million complex, the Grand Lisboa, in February across the street from his old flagship Lisboa casino. Revenues for Ho's Sociedade de Jogos de Macau were an estimated $4.8 billion in 2005, including $3.5 billion from the Lisboa, the world's highest grossing casino.
Davis Fong, business professor at the University of Macau and director of the university's Institute For Casino Gaming, says the potential battle between siblings is a unique social experiment.
"It's a good test by their father. Which child will be the most outstanding? And you couldn't have asked for a better venue."
The children also have some Canadian roots. While living in Toronto, daughter Daisy studied at the University of Toronto's Rotman school of management, where she completed her MBA.
At the time, she lived with brother Lawrence, who graduated from U of T with a commerce degree.
"The great thing about my father was that he didn't say, oh shucks, they're taking away my monopoly, he said good – let's keep fighting," says Daisy Ho. "He has an incredibly positive attitude."
Competition, says Ho, has been good for everyone. "I think it woke us up and it brought energy to the whole market. I think some of us had been in our comfort zone for too long." |
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