My Take | Tell-all conference by tycoon one for the ages let alone new year
- Disclosures by Joseph Lau of loves, hates and pet peeves of his life are funnier than most comedies and more salacious than worst tabloids
Tycoon Joseph Lau Luen-hung has given the local media the best present for the new year. His press conference on Tuesday was truly one for the ages, and what I wouldn’t have given to have been there in person!
It was funnier than most local comedies, and more salacious than the worst tabloids. The 71-year-old billionaire was completely open about his fabled love life.
In fact, he called the meeting with the press precisely because people questioned the veracity of his “clarification” notice released to leading news groups last week, in which he denied he was back with an old flame.
Rather he accused her of being behind the rumour following a photographed incident of the two walking together at a shopping centre owned by Lau.
All in all, Lau has provided a walk down memory lane for many Hong Kong people who have all shared a collective memory about a man never far from the tabloid pages over the decades. Perhaps best of all, he has now denied his widely rumoured predilections for, as he puts it, “spring rolls, ping pongs, tennis balls and rugby balls”. It’s all untrue. This being a family newspaper, I can’t go into details.
Meanwhile, Lau said The ONE in Tsim Sha Tsui, which is the city’s tallest retail complex, was not named after the alleged love of his life who is not his current wife. He said his son from his first wife, Lau Ming-wai, a businessman and former lecturer at Harvard Law School, came up with the name independently.