ALTHOUGH his name was conspicuously missing from the Queen's Birthday Honours List yet again, Hongkong's richest man, Li Ka-shing, received an unexpected birthday present from the bible of capitalism, Fortune magazine, a few days ago.
And, as the Cheung Kong chairman sits down to celebrate his birthday with his family today, he will be happy in the knowledge that his net worth has been assessed at $45 billion, making him the 16th richest man in the world, according to Fortune.
With 35 per cent of Cheung Kong Holdings, his investments include securities, real estate, oil, container terminals and communications.
This being his birthday, what exactly could Mr Li buy with all the wealth, if he were to liquidate his assets tomorrow? If he were in a generous mood, he could buy everyone in the world, all five billion people - give or take a few hundred million - a Big Mac at a McDonald's of their choice, and still have $5 billion left over for some fries.
Or he might like to treat himself to a couple round trips on the space shuttle - a bargain at roughly $6.3 billion.
He could buy 29 Boeing 747-400 jumbo jets at $1.17 billion each (last year's prices) and start his own airline.