Gokongwei Does a Buffett

An article published in The Philippine Daily Inquirer, August 14, 2006
By Victor Agustin
 

JOHN Gokongwei JR. surprised his children and business associates at his 80th birthday party celebrations Friday by announcing that he would donate his personal shareholdings in JG Summit Holdings--equivalent to 25 percent of the listed conglomerate or about P10.25 billion--to charity.

Mr. John and his wife Elizabeth control half of JG Summit, which had a market capitalization of P41.46 billion as of last week.

Mr. John's conjugal half would accrete to the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation, which already owns 16.61 percent of JG Summit.

Mr. John said the considerable paperwork for the transfer would take at least two weeks.

Once completed, the transfer would make the Gokongwei foundation the biggest shareholder, at 41.6 percent, of the food, airline, telephone and real estate conglomerate.

In peso terms, the additional transfer effectively places more than P17 billion of Gokongwei wealth, worthy of a local Warren Buffett, for disposal to their favorite charities, mainly schools.

And the newest beneficiary, for P50 million, would be, the taipan announced, the University of San Carlos in Cebu, where Gokongwei put himself to high school during the war years while buying-and-selling goods on his bicycle.

That rusty bike sowed the seeds that blossomed into an Asian business empire that is also celebrating its 50th year.

Saying he had already exceeded by 10 years the average life span of Filipinos, Mr. John announced that he wants to devote more time to "philanthropy, reading and travelling," much to the feigned relief of his children, nephews, nieces and Mr. John's youngest brother, JG Summit chair/CEO James Go, who all work for what effectively is Gokongwei Inc.

As in his 75th birthday celebration when he first announced his "retirement," the ballroom of the Gokongwei-owned Crowne Plaza overflowed with more than 1,000 officers and employees and business partners from the region and as far away as New York and Romania.

Even the sons of competitor taipans, Alfred Ty and Henry Sy Jr., showed up, as well as PLDT president Napoleon Nazareno.

The six Gokongwei children, their husbands and wife, and nine grandchildren joined Mrs. John and emcee Karen Davila of ABS-CBN in singing on stage "Happy Birthday" after a rousing Broadway-style medley of songs from Lea Salonga, Robert Sena, Isay Alvarez, JR, The Company and Whiplash.

But not after Mr. John's best friends, retired Bangko Sentral Governor Gabriel Singson and banker Antonio Go, brought the house down with their irreverent, off-key version of "My Way."

And, in a further sign that the proudly parsimonious clan loosened the purse strings a wee bit, the Gokongweis even took out eight-page supplements in three leading dailies for the milestone event.

Still, Mr. John's lone son, Lance, could not help but tell Audi car dealer Robert Coyiuto Jr. that his budget for the hot Q7 SUV "already went to the talent fee of Lea Salonga" as Mrs. John, true to family tradition, was imploring friends to take home leftover lechon.

Coyiuto, incidentally, vigorously denies the Manila Golf chatter that he is behind the fake Macario Te letter that had been sent to and caught the ire of the Supreme Court. But that, whoops, is another story.

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