Albert Yeung

Albert Yeung (Yeung Sau-shing, Chinese: 楊受成), born in 1943 with ancestry in Chaozhou, Guangdong, China, is a Hong Kong business magnate. He is now the Chairman of Emperor Group.

Early years
Albert Yeung was born in Hong Kong in 1943 and traces his root to Chiu Chow, Guangdong Province, China. His father, Mr Yeung Shing, opened a watch shop named 'Shing On Kee Watch Shop' in 1942, setting the business foundation. In the 1960s his father lent him 200,000 yuan to start his watch business. In 1964, he opened his own watch shop, 'Observatory Watch & Jewelery' on Nathan Road, Kowloon.

Two years after he opened his first shop, he obtained the distribution rights of Rolex and Omega watches and expanded his business to jewellery in 1966 and later on to other ventures.

Financial Services
Provision of financial services is the principal business of the Group. Emperor Financial Capital Group has branches outnumbering all other competitors in the industry and a business presence expanded to Macau and South East Asia. Its subsidiaries include Emperor International Exchange (Hong Kong) Company Limited, which specializes in forex trading, and Emperor Bullion Investments (Asia) Limited, which provides bullion and precious metal trading services. The Group first went beyond Hong Kong with the establishment of Emperor International (Macau) Limited in 1990. Emperor Capital Group is engaged in security and future brokerage business. Scope of service of its two subsidiaries, Emperor Securities Limited and Emperor Futures Limited, includes a full range of listed stocks, bonds, funds, futures, options and derivative products traded both in Hong Kong and overseas. Emperor Wealth Management Limited, another subsidiary, was founded to offer one-stop financial planning services. Professional advisory services on a full range of corporate finance exercises and general money lending services are also available. Emperor Capital Group Limited () has been listed on the main board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong since April 2007.

Property
Property investment is one of the core businesses of the Group. Coordinating with the Group’s diversified development strategies, Emperor International Holdings Limited (sehk|163) invests in, develops and manages a wide range of property development projects, including large-scale integrated complexes, office buildings, shopping malls, residential blocks, industrial buildings and hotels in Hong Kong, Macau and other major cities in China. As of February 2011, the total value of Emperor Group's properties in China, Hong Kong, Macau and overseas has reached HK$ 20 billion. In Hong Kong, the Group has become the second largest landlord of ground-floor shop spaces on Russell Street in Causeway Bay where retail rents have risen to become the second highest in the world, ranking only below that of Fifth Avenue in New York. Rentals from these prime properties are expected to provide a stable stream of income for years to come.

In the 1970s, Albert Yeung moved into the real estate business with as many as 20 simultaneous projects. He confronted difficulties with the Good World Group and ran up debts of 320 million yuan, which he struggled to repay. On Mar 22, 2011, the firm announced its 2010 annual results, reporting revenue of approximately HK$4,095 million, an increase of 52.5%.

Entertainment & Films
Emperor Entertainment Group was established in 1999. Its major businesses include production and distribution of local and foreign records, music publishing, talent management and concert production. The company is also engaged in theater, film and TV production, multimedia and merchandise licensing, retail and other businesses. It maintains a close partnership with the international actor Jackie Chan by means of a joint venture JCE Movies Limited. Emperor Entertainment Group (China) and SFS Emperor Limited are subsidiaries in China.

Hospitality
Emperor Group owns two hotels at present: Grand Emperor Hotel located in Macau, offering leisure and entertainment services, Emperor (Happy Valley) Hotel. Grand Emperor Hotel (Macau) is managed by Emperor Entertainment Hotel Limited (sehk|296).

Publishing & Printing
Emperor group's New Media Group Holdings Limited (sehk|708) is principally engaged in magazine publishing and distribution as well as in providing a marketing platform through advertising spaces to clients. It publishes five magazines every week: Oriental Sunday, Weekend Weekly, New Monday, Fashion & Beauty and Economic Digest.

The group also publishes the Hong Kong Daily News, a comprehensive Chinese newspaper with a long history, and runs a printing company, Hong Kong Daily Offset Printing Company Limited. In 1979, Ulferts started the production and sales of its proprietary mattress products under the name of 'Ulfenbo'. In 2003, Ulferts launched a new brand @Home, offering chic, high quality furniture to suit the distinctive customer needs.In 2010, Ulferts further extended its custom made furniture and furnishing design services to individual households with a new brand 'U.Design'.

Food & Restaurants
Emperor group owns some catering brands of different genres, including dragon-i, Suishaya Japanese Restaurant, misocool, MAZTER, TAZMANIA BALLROOM, G. Sushi.

Family background
Yeung has two sons and three daughters. His eldest son, Gilbert Yeung, manages dragon-i, busy suzie and tasmania ballroom whereas his second son, Alex Yeung, serves the Group as Corporate Executive. His eldest daughter, Cindy Yeung, is in charge of Emperor Watch and Jewellery while his second daughter, Daisy Yeung, oversees Emperor Capital Group.
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| || “The World's Billionaires (#1075)”- Forbes
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| || “The Most Caring Individual Donor Award - 'China Charity Award” - PRC's Ministry of Civil Affairs
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| || Elected as “Top 10 Philanthropists 2012”.
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| || Included in the “China’s charity Chart 2012”
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| 2011|| “Hong Kong's 40 Richest list” - Forbes
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| || Elected as “Top 10 Philanthropists 2011”.
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| || Included in the “China’s charity Chart 2011”
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| || “The Most Caring Individual Donor Award - 'China Charity Award” - PRC's Ministry of Civil Affairs
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| 2010|| Elected as “Top 10 Philanthropists 2010”
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| || Included in the “China’s charity Chart 2010”
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| || The Most Caring Individual Donor Award - 'China Charity Award ' - PRC's Ministry of Civil Affairs
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| || Elected “Top 10 Philanthropists 2009”
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| || Included again in “China’s Charity Chart 2009” - China Association of Social Workers
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| || Honored “The 60 Most Influential Philanthropists in China’s Charity Development” - China’s Charity Chart Office, among the 5 Hong Kong based philanthropists
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| 2008|| 'The World Chinese Charity Award', United World Chinese Association
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| || “The Most Caring Individual Donor Award - 'China Charity Award” - PRC's Ministry of Civil Affairs
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| || 'Honorary Professor' - Guangdong University of Finance
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| || 'Director', 'Honorary President', Shanghai Institute of Visual Art, Fudan University - The Emperor School of Performing Arts
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| 2006|| “Life Honorary President” - Asian Basketball Association To recognize Beijing Olympic gold medalists' contributions to sports development in China, he also awarded 12.6 million dollars to the 63 athletes.

The Jackie Chan and Albert Yeung Charity Foundation, founded by Chan and Yeung themselves, donated RMB 10 million dollars to the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the PRC as a special fund to support the relief efforts after the earthquake in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province in May 2008.

Charity Foundation

In addition to setting up “Emperor Foundation Scholarship” for seven tertiary institutions in Hong Kong, Yeung has made donations to numerous education funds in China, including the “Ministry of Justice, PRC Education Fund”, the “China University of Political Science and Law – C.U.P.L. Mr Albert Yeung Education Fund”, the 'Peking University Education Foundation' and “Xiamen Education Fund” for students with top academic achievements or underprivileged background. He also invested and donated RMB 30 million to establish “Shanghai Institute of Visual Art, Fudan University – The Emperor School of Performing Arts” to cultivate new talents in China.

Hong Kong

Yeung's charity works in Hong Kong include “Business Community Relief Fund for Victims of SARS” in 2003, “Together we care, Love for South Asia” Charity Show in 2005, “Walk for Hospice” in 2009 and “A Feast of Tastes 2010”. The beneficiaries included The Community Chest, Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, World Vision of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Red Cross, the Socitey for the Promotion of Hospice Care and St. James’ Settlement.

Mainland
In 2007, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China, Yeung contributed more than HKD 4 million to the official celebration event “Harbour Extravaganza”, a firework display and gala dinner.

He has been making donations to various foundations in China and the accumulated amount has nearly reached HKD 200 million. Some examples of his givings include “China Flood Relief Fund” in 1991, “Hubei Disaster Relief Fund” and a donation of HK$18.5 million to set up “Tung Wah Group Yeung Sing Memorial Long Stay Care Home” in 1998, the setting up of 'Jackie Chan and Albert Yeung Charity Foundation Baoding Child Care Centre' in 2004, and the establishment of “Hubei Hong Kong Emperor Elderly Care Centre” and 'Jackie Chan and Albert Yeung Charity Foundation Baoding Elderly Care Centre' in 2006, the provision of hospice service in Hubei in collaboration with the “Social Workers Across Borders” in 2007, which made him win 'The Most Influential Charity Project Nomination Award' presented by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of China in the same year, donations to victims of the snowstorm in China and Sichuan earthquake in 2008, funding to the set-up of “Albert Yeung Sau Shing Charity Foundation (Shunping) Elderly Care Centre” in 2009 and a joint project with Civil Affairs Bureau of Shunping County, Hebei. Most recent donations include funding to set up “Albert Yeung Sau Shing Charity Foundation (Xiongzhou) Elderly Care Cetnre”, a joint project with Civil Affairs Bureau of Xiongzhou County, Hebei, and supporting relief works for Qinghai earthquake and Gansu mudslide victims in 2010.

Cash prizes of over RMB 10 million in total were also granted to Chinese gold medalists of 2008 Beijing Olympics in recognition of their brilliant performance.

Court Cases

Perverting the Course of Public Justice Conviction (1979)
On 10 February 1979，Jockey Tony Cruz(告東尼), his brother and two other persons had an argument in a car park in the New Territories with Wai Kin-bong, who was knocked unconscious and hospitalised until 28 February. Wai was then Director and General Manager of Tin Tin Daily News. The paper's owner Lau Tin-chau asked Yeung, a common friend of both Cruz and Wai, to try to resolve the tension between the two. Yeung visited Wai in hospital and offered him a 'very substantial sum' of money either 'not to give evidence against Mr. Cruz or to give evidence that would not 'nail him down''. Remarkably, in circumstances where the magistrate found that Yeung had promised Wai he would 'fix the police', Cruz was never charged. Yeung was convicted of perverting the course of justice and ultimately sentenced to nine months' imprisonment.

Illegal Bookmaking Conviction (1986)
In 1986, Yeung was convicted on his own plea of operating an illegal bookmaking syndicate and fined $50,000.

Insider Dealing (1993)
After a ten-day trial, on 8 June 1998, High Court judge Mr Justice Burrell, sitting as the Chairman of the Insider Dealing Tribunal together with two members, Yeung culpable of insider dealing in shares of his listed Emperor (China Concept) Investments Ltd in October 1993. He was ordered to pay a total of HK$20,693,433 in fines and costs.

Charged with Criminal Intimidation & False Imprisonment (1994, Acquitted 1995)
Yeung was acquitted after the case against him folded when five prosecution witnesses suffered amnesia, the first of whom told Magistrate Paul Kelly he did not want to give evidence against Yeung because he was 'very frightened'.

Defamation Case against Google (2011)
On 8 August 2011, (as noted by ) the South China Morning Post reported that Yeung had filed a writ for defamation against Google in the Hong Kong High Court on the grounds that it to sites making libellous accusations against him.