A second-generation female heir takes over a business worth 90 billion.
A new female CEO has emerged. Recently, "Shangri-La Asia," the listed entity of the Shangri-La Group in Hong Kong and Singapore, announced that Ms. Kok Wai Koon has been appointed as the company's Chief Executive Officer, and the appointment will take effect on August 1st.
Born in Malaysia and raised in Hong Kong, China, Ms. Kok Wai Koon is the daughter of Robert Kuok of the Kuok family. When it comes to the Kuok family, few people are unaware - China World Trade Center, Shangri-La Hotels, and Golden Dragon Fish are all industries of the Kuok family. The financial report shows that as of December 31, 2024, the total assets of the Shangri-La Group were approximately $13.498 billion (equivalent to about 96 billion RMB).
(Official website of the Shangri-La Group)
Similar to the growth stories of most second - generation business successors, Ms. Kok Wai Koon went overseas to study when she was young. After returning with her studies completed, she joined the family business. In 2017, she replaced her brother as the Executive Director and Chairman of the Shangri - La Group. After years of experience, she finally took full charge of the $9 billion in assets of the Shangri - La Group under the family.
She becomes the CEO and takes full charge of $9 billion
Ms. Kok Wai Koon is 47 years old this year. Her father named her Wai Koon, which means Smart and Bright in English, implying that she is the apple of her father's eye.
When talking about her father, Ms. Kok Wai Koon once recalled: "My father is a person with high self - requirements. His life is very regular, and this high - standard requirement naturally extends to our education." Influenced by her parents' words and deeds, Ms. Kok Wai Koon was admitted to Harvard University for further studies and obtained a bachelor's degree in East Asian Studies.
After graduation, Ms. Kok Wai Koon first joined an investment bank to gain experience. It wasn't until 2003 that she returned to the family business and joined the South China Morning Post. Initially, Ms. Kok Wai Koon started from an ordinary position. After one year, she became an executive director of the company and was later promoted to Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
Until 2016, Alibaba Group acquired the South China Morning Post from the Kuok family. Ms. Kok Wai Koon was then called back by her father to the Shangri - La Group, which is one of the most important business maps of the Kuok family. Therefore, this is also regarded by the outside world as the beginning of Ms. Kok Wai Koon's entry into the successor team.
The outside world is no stranger to the Shangri - La Hotels. In 1971, Robert Kuok built and opened the first luxury hotel of the Shangri - La Group in Singapore. Over the decades, Shangri - La gradually established footholds in the capitals and major cities of various countries, extending from Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hong Kong, China, and Fiji to the Chinese mainland. The group currently owns, operates, and manages more than 100 hotels, including four major brands: Shangri - La Hotels and Resorts, Kerry Hotels, JEN by Shangri - La, and Traders Hotels.
As Robert Kuok grew older, discussions about the successor of the Kuok family have increased over the years. Initially, Robert Kuok appointed his second son, Kuok Khoon Yew, as the Chairman of the Shangri - La Group. However, during Kuok Khoon Yew's management of the group, there was a period of losses. Robert Kuok had to remove him from the position of Chairman and replace him with his eldest son, Kuok Khoon Cheng. In 2013, Kuok Khoon Cheng became the Chairman of Shangri - La, but he voluntarily stepped down in less than four years. Finally, Ms. Kok Wai Koon replaced her brothers and became the Executive Director and Chairman of the company.
After taking office, she accelerated the digital transformation of the group, launched the Shangri - La mobile application, reached a strategic cooperation with Tencent, and deployed smart hotel solutions. At the same time, she led the group to launch a dual - brand strategy and introduced a new brand line, Shangri - La Signatures. The first hotel, Hangzhou Shui Zhixinju, was officially unveiled in May this year.
It is worth mentioning that Ms. Kok Wai Koon rarely accepts media interviews but is very active on the Xiaohongshu platform. In the videos she shares, she deeply binds her personal IP with the corporate image. She can handle tasks such as waiting on tables and cleaning and has a thorough understanding of the grass - roots business. She is truly the spokesperson for Shangri - La.
"Since assuming the position of Chairman in January 2017, she has played a key leadership role in the company. She is mainly responsible for formulating the company's strategic priorities and leading the company to achieve its goals," the announcement summarized Ms. Kok Wai Koon's achievements. According to the 2024 financial report of Shangri - La, the group achieved a consolidated revenue of $2.2 billion last year, a 2.0% increase from the previous year. As of December 31, 2024, the total assets of the Shangri - La Group were approximately $13.498 billion (equivalent to about 96 billion RMB).
Now, the Shangri - La Group is undergoing a power integration - Ms. Kok Wai Koon will concurrently serve as the Chief Executive Officer of the group starting from August 1st. This position has been vacant since 2022 until Ms. Kok Wai Koon took over. The announcement explained that the merger of the positions aims to enhance the consistency and execution of the group's strategy, "ensuring that the company has a unified vision from top to bottom."
After years of experience, Ms. Kok Wai Koon finally takes full control of the $9 billion family business.
Three - generation relay to create a colossal business map
Through the Shangri - La Hotels, the vast business map of the Kuok family emerges one by one.
The key figure that has to be mentioned is Ms. Kok Wai Koon's father, Robert Kuok. With his ancestral home in Fuzhou, Robert Kuok grew up in a well - off family environment. He received his education at the well - known Johor Bahru English College and Raffles College in Singapore.
In 1947, starting with more than $30,000, Robert Kuok rented a three - story old shop on Theatre Street in Singapore and established Leck Hup Company, engaging in business, shipping brokerage, and the grocery industry. In 1949, he joined a group of cousins to establish Kuok Brothers Sdn Bhd, inheriting the traditional business of the Kuok family's Tung Shing Company and dealing in rice, flour, beans, sugar, etc. Due to his excellent business ability, Robert Kuok was appointed as the General Manager.
In the late 1950s, Robert Kuok invested all the funds of the Kuok family in the sugar - refining industry, covering all aspects of sugar production, refining, and sales. At the peak, Robert Kuok controlled 1/10 of the world's annual sugar trade volume, thus earning the title of "Sugar King of Asia."
Subsequently, using the capital accumulated in the sugar industry, Robert Kuok began to lead the family business to diversify and made diversified investments in industries such as plantation, banking, real estate, shipping, insurance, and the hotel industry. To this day, Robert Kuok's business empire spans across Asia and has a global footprint.
How powerful is the Kuok family?
According to incomplete statistics, from sugar, hotels, real estate, shipping, minerals, insurance, banks, media to grain and oil, Robert Kuok has built a vast business empire. The Kuok family led by him has controlling stakes or investments in many listed companies such as Kerry Properties, Wilmar International, Shangri - La, and logistics company KLN in countries like Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and China.
(Some enterprises under the Kuok Group)
Among them, there is an enterprise better - known than Shangri - La - Wilmar International. Its grain and oil brands such as Golden Dragon Fish and Huji appear on the dining tables of thousands of households. In October 2020, Yihai Kerry Arawana Holdings Co., Ltd., the operating entity of Golden Dragon Fish, officially landed on the Growth Enterprise Market, with a latest market value of over 160 billion RMB. The helmsman of the company is Robert Kuok's nephew, Kuok Khoon Hong. There were previous rumors that he was one of the successor candidates favored by Robert Kuok.
In addition, well - known real estate projects such as China World Trade Center in Beijing, Kerry Centre in Shanghai Jing'an, Kerry Centre Plaza in Shenzhen, and Qianhai Kerry Centre are all the works of the Kuok family.
Now, Robert Kuok's children have gradually taken over the core business of the group. His second son, Kuok Khoon Yew, serves as the Chairman of Kuok Singapore, which holds real estate assets in Singapore. In addition, the group's shipping, digital infrastructure, and marine engineering businesses are also based in Singapore. His youngest son, Kuok Khoon Wa, serves as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of listed company Kerry Properties in Hong Kong. The protagonist of this article, his daughter Ms. Kok Wai Koon, has taken over the Shangri - La Group.
Rarely known is that the third generation of the Kuok family has also appeared in the venture capital circle. Public information shows that Robert Kuok's grandson, Kuok Meng Hiong, founded the investment institution K3 Ventures to manage the family's wealth.
The official website shows that there are currently more than 50 projects in the investment portfolio of this family office, including star projects such as Grab, Airbnb, ByteDance, JD Logistics, and Yuanqi Forest, covering investment fields such as agriculture, consumption, education, finance, and health. Surprisingly, domestic large - scale AI models Yuezhianmian and Minimax also appear in the investment camp.
Previously, another grandson of Robert Kuok, Kuok Meng Wei, announced a bet of $10 billion to build an AI data center in Southeast Asia. "The data center is the hottest industry we've seen in decades," he said in an interview with Forbes. "The workload of artificial intelligence is driving the exponential growth of the demand for data centers."
Going back to the beginning of this business empire, at 102 years old, Robert Kuok still pays close attention to business trends. In previous reports, there was a detail that when Robert Kuok read the news that global enterprises planned to build data centers in Malaysia, he sent a message to his grandson, asking, "What's going on? Quickly tell me the latest situation."
The succession wave: second - generation women take the stage collectively
As of now, when a large number of private enterprises reach the hand - over node, more and more female faces are emerging.
It is reported that Ms. Kok Wai Koon was a college classmate of Adrian Cheng, the founder of the K11 Group, and a close friend of his sister, Adrianne Cheng. Also from a wealthy family, Adrian Cheng was once considered the third - generation successor favored by the late founder, Cheng Yu - tung. However, as Adrian Cheng announced his departure from the core management of the company last year, the succession path of the Cheng family has become increasingly uncertain.
Not long ago, New World Development announced that starting from May 2025, Cheng Kar - shun, who is 79 years old, officially stepped down from the company's Nomination Committee, and Li Lianwei took over. Adrianne Cheng, Cheng Kar - shun's daughter, officially joined the Nomination Committee. This is also regarded by the outside world as Adrianne Cheng breaking through from among her siblings and entering the succession assessment period.
Even earlier, Li Ka - shing's 90s - born granddaughter also got involved in the family business.
In June 2023, Li Sze - tak, Li Ka - shing's granddaughter, was appointed as the Manager of the Business Development Department of Cheung Kong Holdings and also participated in a $4 billion acquisition case. In the past few years, Li Sze - tak has successively joined the boards of several important family enterprises such as the Li Ka - shing Foundation. Under Li Ka - shing's arrangement, she has gradually delved deeper into the family's business map.
If we broaden the scope, we can see Meng Wanzhou of Huawei, Zong Fuli of Wahaha, Liu Chang of New Hope, Gao Haichun of Trina Solar, Chen Lei of Tongkun Group... This is a unique scene at present. With the rapid development of the Chinese economy over the past 40 years and the gradual accumulation of family wealth, the first batch of family - owned enterprises are now facing the test of inter - generational inheritance, and the "daughters of the wealthy families" are starting to take over the baton from their fathers.
Looking back ten years ago, there were very few self - made female billionaires globally, but today this number has increased several times. From 2010 to 2023, over the past decades, the proportion of Chinese family - owned enterprises choosing women as successors has increased significantly. Daughters, once regarded as the "second choice," have now become the core of the family business continuation.
Inter - generational inheritance is far from a simple transfer of wealth but a complex systematic project. Just as Zong Fuli was recently involved in an inheritance dispute, which reflects the deep - seated contradictions in the succession wave of Chinese private enterprises. Data shows that most first - generation entrepreneurs hope that their children will take over the business, but less than 30% can be successfully passed on to the second generation.
It is difficult to build a business, and it is even more difficult to maintain it. How to complete the inheritance is becoming a compulsory course for Chinese enterprises.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Investment World" (ID: pedaily2012), author: Wu Qiong, published by 36Kr with authorization.