The salaries of bosses of Hong Kong-listed companies have been exposed. Li Xiang ranks first, surpassing Liu Qiangdong.
List of Directors' Salaries of Hong Kong Listed Companies Released, Li Xiang Ranks First, Liu Qiangdong Ranks Fourth
The salaries of corporate executives have always been the focus of external discussions.
Recently, according to the latest data released by the website Webb - site, in 2024, a total of 31 directors of Hong Kong - listed companies received an annual remuneration of over 100 million Hong Kong dollars.
Among them, Li Xiang, the founder, chairman and CEO of Li Auto, ranked first with a total remuneration of nearly 680 million Hong Kong dollars; Li Jie, the founder and chairman of J&T Express, ranked third with about 519 million Hong Kong dollars; Liu Qiangdong, the founder of JD Group, ranked fourth with about 449 million Hong Kong dollars.
Image source: Webb-site
In addition, the directors who made it into the top ten also include Shan Yigang, the co - founder and executive director of Ke.com, Chen Rui, the chairman and CEO of Bilibili (09626.HK), Han Run, the chief financial officer of JS Global Lifestyle, and Ho Yau - lung, the chairman and CEO of Melco International Development (00200.HK).
However, according to Li Auto's 2024 annual report, Li Xiang's actual salary composition in 2024 was as follows: a salary, allowance and in - kind benefits of 2.665 million yuan, a pension plan contribution of 160,000 yuan, and a share - based payment compensation expense of 636 million yuan, totaling 639 million yuan.
Image source: Li Auto's 2024 annual report (Unit: RMB thousand)
That is to say, "the statement of 639 million yuan is inaccurate." Li Xiang's total salary in 2024 was actually 2.66 million yuan.
The 639 million yuan salary disclosed in the previous annual report included an 18 - million - share reward corresponding to the company's annual sales of 500,000 vehicles, which is an expense that the company must record according to the regulations of US - listed companies (US accounting standards), not Li Xiang's actual salary income.
If Li Xiang wants to get this 18 - million - share reward, in addition to achieving the sales target set by the company, he also needs to pay an additional 29.26 US dollars per ADS (1 US ADS = 2 Class A common shares in Hong Kong stocks, that is, a 1:2 corresponding relationship, and the current market price is about 25 US dollars per ADS).
As of now, Li Xiang has not paid the cash consideration, so he has not actually obtained any stocks or stock returns.
In other words, there is a gap between the ideal and the reality. Li Xiang has not actually received this high - amount "salary".
When it comes to equity incentives, it is actually not uncommon in the new energy industry.
Currently, the new energy vehicle industry generally adopts the model of "low basic salary + high equity incentive", which not only controls the company's cash - flow pressure but also ties the interests of executives to the long - term development of the company.
The most well - known example of an "equity incentive plan" is Tesla.
In 2018, Tesla set a compensation plan worth more than 50 billion US dollars for Elon Musk, requiring him to increase Tesla's market value from about 60 billion US dollars to 650 billion US dollars within 10 years. Elon Musk lived up to expectations and completed this goal ahead of schedule.
However, this compensation plan was rejected by the Delaware court, and it is still under appeal. The board of directors has given Musk a temporary equity as compensation.
Recently, Tesla's board of directors has offered Musk a jaw - dropping "sky - high salary" of 1 trillion US dollars.
Image source: YouTube
Of course, it is not easy to get this money.
Elon Musk not only needs to increase Tesla's market value from about 1 trillion US dollars to 8.5 trillion US dollars, an eight - fold increase; but also needs to deliver a cumulative total of 20 million electric vehicles (currently about 1.8 million), manufacture and sell 1 million Optimus robots (currently only a few hundred are reported to have been shipped), and have 1 million self - driving taxis in operation.
What's even more extreme is that if Tesla's market value fails to cross the 2 - trillion - US - dollar threshold within 10 years, Musk won't get a single cent.
Therefore, there is a relatively large difference between the book salaries and actual incomes of some corporate executives. So, although the above ranking has a certain reference value, it may not be very rigorous. Just take it as a bit of fun.
After all, as long as an executive can make the enterprise grow, it doesn't matter if they get a little more. If someone is really "unworthy of their salary", the market and shareholders will cast their votes.
Li Xiang, the Journey of an Idealist
As the soul figure of Li Auto, from dropping out of high school to becoming the CEO of a leading new - energy vehicle company, Li Xiang's journey has most often been described by the outside world as "a paranoid idealist".
In 1981, Li Xiang was born into an ordinary family in Shijiazhuang, Hebei. In the first year of junior high school, Li Xiang discovered his hobby: computers.
In the first year of senior high school, his parents finally agreed, and Li Xiang got his first computer, a Pentium 133 worth 8,000 yuan.
In the process of applying the knowledge in books to the computer, Li Xiang found that the editors of those newspapers and magazines might not have used computers much. He submitted his "research findings" to the media, and unexpectedly, his first article received a 500 - yuan manuscript fee and was published in full.
In his second year of senior high school, Li Xiang established his first website, named "Graphics Card Home", sharing graphics card reviews and computer assembly experiences, and it quickly became a leading website.
Soon, advertisers came to him on their own initiative. The website's advertising earned 6,000 yuan, and Li Xiang earned his "first pot of gold".
When facing the college entrance examination, Li Xiang made a decision that surprised many people: to give up going to college. His reason was that the Internet was a market with infinite growth potential. If he didn't seize the opportunity now, others would have occupied it by the time he finished four years of college. Thus, his entrepreneurial journey began.
In 2000, Li Xiang cooperated with his classmate Fan Zheng to upgrade "Graphics Card Home" to PCPOP, expanding the business scope from graphics cards to the entire IT hardware field.
Image source: Weibo
With the explosion of the Chinese personal computer market, PCPOP quickly grew into the third - largest Chinese - language IT website in China with its high - quality content. In 2005, its annual revenue was nearly 20 million yuan.
In 2005, Li Xiang found that the existing automobile websites on the market had shortcomings in terms of content quality and user experience, so there was an opportunity. He led the team to expand from IT products to the automobile field and founded Autohome.
Image source: Weibo
Obviously, with the replicable successful experience of the IT website, Autohome quickly stood out.
On December 11, 2013, Li Xiang led Autohome to successfully list on the New York Stock Exchange in the United States. Calculated at the closing price, his personal net worth exceeded 150 million US dollars.
However, the problem of equity distribution during the early - stage financing gradually emerged.
In 2015, Li Xiang resigned as the president of Autohome. The next day, "Chehejia" was established and later renamed Li Auto.
As of August 2025, Li Auto's cumulative delivery volume has exceeded 1.39 million vehicles, making it the first new - energy vehicle company to reach the one - million - vehicle delivery milestone.
In addition, on August 28, Li Auto's financial report for the second quarter of 2025 showed that the company's revenue in that quarter was 30.246 billion yuan; the net profit was 1.097 billion yuan, almost the same as the 1.1 billion yuan in the same period last year.
That is to say, Li Auto is so far one of the only two new - energy vehicle companies to achieve "turning losses into profits", the other being Leapmotor.
Image source: Weibo
Throughout his journey, Li Xiang has kept moving forward and winning continuously, truly living up to the title of "idealist", which is a homophone of his name.
The Market Has Changed, Li Xiang Yields
Li Auto, which once claimed "not to hire brand ambassadors", has hired a brand ambassador - the 25 - year - old "top - stream" Yi Yangqianxi. Moreover, this time it's not the ambassador for a single model, but for the entire brand.
Image source: Weibo
Previously, Li Xiang publicly stated: "As for celebrity endorsements, we won't do it. I firmly believe that the car owners are the best brand ambassadors."
So, why did Li Xiang suddenly break the ten - year convention?
On the one hand, a celebrity brand ambassador helps shape the brand image.
Currently, Li Auto's models, such as i6, L7, L8, L9 and MEGA, are mainly targeted at family users. But as the demand of this group is gradually saturated, Li Auto has to expand into new markets. So, how to extend the previous brand image? The answer is undoubtedly a youthful brand ambassador.
On the other hand, the recent signs of slowing growth and falling sales also remind Li Xiang that in the 2025 automobile market, it is difficult for a car company to stay aloof. Li Auto needs to actively seek some innovations to cope with the increasingly fierce market competition.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Internet Headlines", author: Song Hui, published by 36Kr with authorization.