Reminiscences give Crown founder more than a Mona Lisa smile on 45th anniversary
The always prominent Jim Thompson threw a reception on Tuesday at the Conrad Hotel to celebrate Crown Worldwide Group's 45th anniversary. 'Actually, it's two anniversaries,' the jovial founder corrected. 'It's 40 years in Hong Kong and 45 as a company.'
It was a night of nostalgia for the former American Chamber of Commerce chairman and mastermind of the infamous post-Sars Harbourfest concerts. There was an awkward moment when Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang came face to face as they congratulated Thompson at the same time. Photographers asked the two to pose for a picture. Both declined as they drifted away from each other.
Both Chan and Tsang had left the party by the time Thompson, accompanied by a slide show, started recounting anecdotes about how he started the firm in Yokohama. 'I came back overseas to soak up some culture. I was 24, with no business experience and no money. The naivete of youth is what gets you into some of these things.'
Now Crown is a global conglomerate with more interests than he can explain. It includes storage facilities all over the world ('We have 20 million of those cardboard boxes stored') and even a little wine cellar in Shouson Hill. However, most folk know Thompson as the mover with the red trucks. 'We even moved the Mona Lisa,' he said, then added, 'but just from one room to the other. When you see it in the Louvre, it's so small - but so big when you move it.'
