HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, has finally stepped down from his business empire at the age of 89, as one of the world’s most storied tycoons brings his career to a close almost 70 years after founding his first company. Li spent decades making his name in Hong Kong and around the world at the helm of a prosperous conglomerate that covered sectors from container ports to telecommunications, with his business moves setting market trends. Nicknamed “Superman” for his business acumen, Li’s companies are part of the fabric of Hong Kong life, providing everything from Internet services to supermarket chains. His decisions have the potential to affect property and utility prices for the city’s seven million residents as investors hang on his every word. Li was born in 1928 in the mainland Chinese city of Chaozhou. He and his family fled to neighboring Hong Kong during the Sino-Japanese War — Li recalled bombs being dropped on his hometown when he was in primary school in an interview with Forbes Magazine in 2012. He first started his own business in 1950 manufacturing plastic flowers, calling the company Cheung Kong after China’s Yangtze River. But after diversifying into property he saw large profits in the 1960s and in the following decades his businesses reached into many sectors of Hong Kong.