Adrian Cheng, heir to Hong Kong New World Group and founder of K11 Mall, suddenly posted on X on August 22, 2022 that he was the whale holder of hundreds of blue-chip NFT Azuki "LastKnight.ETH" ”. Since Adrian Cheng is the successor of a well-known plutocrat in Hong Kong, when he revealed his clone account, Azuki followed suit. However, the NFT market began to decline after reaching its peak in 2021, and Azuki's current floor price has dropped to 5.7 ETH.
Cheng is the eldest son and grandson of the late Hong Kong tycoon Cheng Yu-Tung. The Cheng family ranks third on the Forbes Hong Kong rich list. Cheng's father, Cheng Ka-shun, suffered a stroke in 2017. As the eldest son, Cheng becomes the first in the family. Successor. Zheng Yutong loved his eldest grandson Zheng Zhigang during his lifetime and actively trained him to take over and work in the group. New World Group is a real estate investment company and a subsidiary of Chow Tai Fook Jewelry Group. Zheng Zhigang lives up to his reputation as a noble man born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
Highly leveraged entry into the cultural and creative department store industry cost HK$72 billion
Adrian Cheng resigned as CEO of New World Group and also resigned as directors of NWS, Chow Tai Fook and New World Department Store. According to Hong Kong 01 reports, there is speculation that Cheng Zhigang's departure is related to his excessive leverage and borrowing to play in real estate when he was CEO, which led to New World's continuous losses. New World's market value fell from 92.6 billion to 20.6 billion Hong Kong dollars, directly evaporating 72 billion Hong Kong dollars. New World's stock price fell all the way from 40 yuan to 8 yuan.
Adrian Cheng, who loves contemporary art and the department store industry, has built K11 Art Mall into more than just a department store. He aims to become an Asian cultural and creative art museum that combines department stores, gourmet food and art exhibitions. Wu Minjie, the second-generation successor to Eslite Bookstore in Taiwan, transformed the bookstore into an Eslite cultural and creative department store, while Zheng Zhigang transformed the department store into an art gallery and regarded himself as a cultural and creative talent and curator.
During his tenure as CEO of New World Group, Adrian Cheng actively broke new ground. High-leverage financing plans included bidding for HK$20 billion for the Aerospace City Mall at Hong Kong International Airport, Kai Tak Sports Park near Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport, and K11 Mall. etc. After Cheng Zhigang resigned, New World shares rose slightly. Morgan Stanley analysts believe that replacing the CEO cannot stop the bleeding of New World Group. New World Group should sell K11 Mall and Kai Tak Sports Park to cash out and stabilize cash flow.
Cultural and creative talents invest in Azuki NFT and The Sandbox virtual real estate
"LastKnight.ETH", which owns 101 Azuki NFTs, is Zheng Zhigang himself. In the past, wealthy people kept a low profile, but the motives behind a series of social media manipulations were full of doubts. After the mysterious whale surfaced, the transaction volume immediately A surge of $2 million. Azuki's project team and founder have a poor reputation. As the heir to one of Hong Kong's four major families, Adrian Cheng endorses Azuki, leaving a lot of room for the outside world's imagination.
Adrian Cheng did not hesitate to spend huge sums of money to develop real estate projects, and went further to buy virtual real estate. He invested US$5 million in The Sandbox virtual land and planned to build a cultural and creative department store on it. Hong Kong’s banking industry and consortiums are speculating on real estate from the ground to the cloud. As the price of ETH drops, the values of landlords who have been speculating on virtual real estate have also fallen.
Is Hong Kong’s real estate and economy a sign of imminent bubble?
Since the global outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic at the end of 2020, Hong Kong's real estate market has plummeted by 15%. Coupled with Hong Kong people's general pessimism about the economy and the instability of the world situation, real estate purchasing sentiment is sluggish. Citigroup and UBS predict that Hong Kong's housing prices will Down another 10%. When developers use leverage to borrow money from banks to build buildings, and oversupply leads to a financial tsunami, the Lehman Brothers subprime mortgage crisis in 2008 started with real estate loans. Banks gave large loans to chaebols, and bankers encouraged any Low-income households are simply given loans to buy houses, and when this "future money" no longer has value, a financial crisis will occur.
This article Hong Kong giant Adrian Cheng, who invested in Azuki and Sandbox, sadly stepped down due to poor business management. First appeared on Chain News ABMedia.
