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Thursday, 22 March, 2001, 17:51 GMT
Net tycoon never got Stanford degree
![]() Hong Kong was shocked by the admission
By Damian Grammaticas in Hong Kong
The man touted by some as Asia's answer to Bill Gates has suffered the public embarrassment of having to admit he never earned a degree from a top American university, contrary to claims made by his company.
The affair has set Asia's business and technology abuzz - and has proved highly embarrassing for one of its brightest stars. It comes at a time when Mr Li has seen the fortunes of his internet company slump from the highs it reached last year. Bubble burst Just a few months ago, Mr Li, 34, could do no wrong.
The son of Hong Kong's wealthiest tycoon, he rode the internet boom and was hailed as one of the leaders of a new business generation. In the space of two years his company, Pacific Century Cyberworks, grew from nothing to one of Hong Kong's largest companies, with 4,000 employees in 18 countries. Since then it has all gone wrong. The internet bubble burst and Pacific Century's shares are worth just over 10% of what they used to be. The company had claimed Richard Li had a degree in computer engineering from Stanford University in California. Degree But company officials told the International Herald Tribune newspaper that Mr Li was not a Stanford graduate.
He says he left the university before completing his degree for personal reasons. He has instructed his company to correct all it's publicity material. If Mr Li is in need of consolation, he might find it in the fact that dropouts do succeed - Bill Gates never finished his degree at Harvard. |
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