Nina Wang
Nina Wang (née Kung) or Kung Yu Sum (Chinese: 龔如心, pinyin: Gŏng Rúxīn) (September 29, 1937 – April 3, 2007) was Asia's richest woman, with an estimated net worth of $4,200,000,000. Wang was the widow of Hong Kong chemical magnate Teddy Wang (Wang The Huei, 王德輝), who disappeared in 1990 after a kidnapping.
Kung Yu Sum was born in Shanghai, where she was a childhood playmate of Teddy Wang, the son of Wang Din-shin, who had established a paint and chemical business. The Wangs moved to Hong Kong, and the business became the Chinachem Group, eventually one of Hong Kong's largest and most powerful companies based on a lucrative pharmaceutical division. In 1948, when she was 11 and he 15, they renewed their friendship, and in 1955 they married.
Nicknamed "Little Sweet Sweet" ("Siu Tim Tim" or "小甜甜" in Cantonese), she was noted for her two pigtails and her love of dressing in traditional Chinese dresses.
She was the richest woman in Asia and Asia's 35th richest person, with a fortune of $4.2bn, according to Forbes magazine... a fortune exceeding that of the Queen of England.
On April 12, 1983, the Wangs' Mercedes was hijacked. Teddy Wang was taken away and chained to a bed for eight days until Nina Wang paid an $11 million ransom. On April 10, 1990, Teddy Wang was kidnapped again. After his disappearance, Nina took the helm of Chinachem under the title of "Chairlady" and built it into a major property developer.
Teddy Wang was declared dead in 1999, although his body was never found, the battle over the late Teddy's fortune began in earnest, with at least 3 different wills circulating in the court system. The earliest will, the authenticity of which is not contested, was dated 1960 and split the estate equally between Teddy's father Wang Din-shin and Nina. A 1968 version produced by Din-shin gave the entire estate to Din-shin. This will was made after Teddy discovered that his wife was having an affair with Dallas based business man Tony Dimirack. A 1990 will (dated a month before Teddy's abduction) ceded the entire estate to Nina and included the phrase "one life, one love", in English, with the rest of the will in Chinese, stating that the Wang family is disappointing. This will had a signature indicating it was witnessed by the family butler.
On November 21, 2002, after a 171-day courtroom battle featuring some of Hong Kong's most prominent lawyers and accusations of adultery on the part of Nina Wang by Wang Din-shin, High Court Justice David Yam declared the 1990 will a forgery and awarded all of Teddy Wang's estimated $128 million estate to Wang Din-shin. She appealed against the ruling but lost in a 2-1 decision on June 28, 2004. The money was handed over to Wang Din-shin. On January 28, 2005, she was formally charged with the forgery and freed on bail.
On September 16, 2005, the Court of Final Appeal overturned the previous High Court ruling, giving control of the multi-billion dollar Chinachem firm back to Mrs Wang. On December 2, 2005, prosecutors in the fraud case officially dropped all charges, effectively exonerating Wang.
On April 4, 2007, Chinachem announced that Wang passed away at the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital the previous day. Although the cause of death has not been disclosed, there have been reports suggesting that she might have been suffering from ovarian cancer.
Wang had no children but is survived by at least one brother and two sisters. It is revealed that her hereditary will be split in three ways. The first portion to her family including her old mother, and the three siblings. The second portion will be used to establish a trust fund for the management of Chinachemp Group, under the supervision of her sister Kung Yan Sum and two other unnamed employees. The final and largest portion of the billions will be given to China as a charity fund for economic developments.
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