Li Shufu

Li Shufu (Eric Li)
Image	; Li at the CPPCC session in Beijing, March 2023 (video still)
Born	1963 (Forbes) Taizhou, Zhejiang, China (Forbes)
Nationality	Chinese
Residence	Hangzhou (Forbes)
Occupation	Founder and chairman, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group; honorary chairman for life, Geely Automobile Holdings
Known for	Geely; acquisition of Volvo Cars (2010); stake in Daimler (2018)
Children	2, including Li Xingxing (Forbes; Deutsche Welle)
Education	Yanshan University, master's degree in engineering (Forbes)

Chinese businessman; founder and chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group

Li Shufu (born 1963), also known as Eric Li, is a Chinese businessman. He founded Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, whose holdings include Volvo Cars, Lotus Cars and a stake in Aston Martin.^[1]^[2] In August 2026 he stepped down as chairman of the Hong Kong-listed Geely Automobile Holdings, which made him honorary chairman for life.^[2] On 10 November 2026 the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Li 189th in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$15.1 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as automobiles.^[2]^[3] In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked Li 151st, at US$18.7 billion.^[4] Li sits on the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). He has also been a deputy to the National People's Congress and a vice-chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.^[1]

Early life and education

Forbes says Li is the son of a farmer from Zhejiang province. It gives his birthplace as Taizhou and records an engineering degree from Yanshan University.^[2] He told Forbes Asia in 2014 that as a boy he made his first car from sand.^[2] Forbes gives his year of birth as 1963.^[2]

Geely

Geely says Li founded the group in 1986. Its businesses included refrigerators, decorative materials and motorcycles before it entered the car industry in 1997.^[1] Deutsche Welle (DW) reports that his first vehicles were said to be of such poor quality that he had them scrapped.^[5] Forbes describes Geely Automobile as one of China's largest carmakers and one of the few not controlled by the state.^[2] According to Geely, Li founded Beijing Geely College (now Geely University) in 1999 and the University of Sanya in 2005, and set up the Li Shufu Charity Foundation.^[1]

Volvo and other acquisitions

Ford's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission records that on 2 August 2010 a Geely subsidiary acquired all of Volvo Personvagnar AB (Volvo Car Corporation) and its North American distributor. The total price was US$1.8 billion: US$1.3 billion in cash at closing plus a US$200 million note, with the cash subject to adjustment.^[6] DW's 2018 account says only that Li was "rumored" to have paid Ford US$1.8 billion in cash.^[5] DW reported in 2018 that Li had spent €7.5 billion, more than half his personal wealth, on an almost 10% stake in Daimler AG. Li told Chinese media that he had relied only on foreign capital markets, so that no Chinese capital left the country.^[5] DW also listed an 8.2% stake in the truck maker AB Volvo, 49.9% of the Malaysian carmaker Proton (with 51% of Lotus), and the 2013 purchase of the London Electric Vehicle Company, maker of London's black cabs.^[5] Forbes adds stakes in the flying-car start-up Terrafugia and in Aston Martin.^[2] Geely's electric brand Zeekr raised US$441 million in a New York IPO in May 2024. Forbes reports that in July 2025 Geely agreed to take it private at a US$6.8 billion valuation. Zeekr and Lynk & Co had merged in February 2025.^[2] In August 2026 Li handed the Geely Automobile chairmanship to An Cong Hui, a long-time lieutenant who had overseen its electric-vehicle brands.^[2]

Political roles

Geely states that Li is a member of the 14th CPPCC National Committee. He was previously a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress, a member of the 10th, 11th and 12th CPPCC National Committees, and a vice-chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.^[1] It adds that the Central Committee and State Council have honoured him as a "reform pioneer".^[1] DW published a photograph of Li with President Xi Jinping during a 2014 visit to Volvo in Belgium.^[5]

Wealth

Forbes classes Li as self-made and lists automobiles as his source of wealth.^[2] DW reported in 2018 that China's Hurun list ranked Li and his son Xingxing tenth in the country.^[5]

Wealth history

Forbes has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 17 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2010. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list.^[4]^[2]

Forbes estimates by list year
Year	World's Billionaires rank	Net worth (US$ bn)
2010	556	1.8
2011	651	1.9
2012	854	1.5
2013	670	2.2
2014	973	1.9
2015	782	2.4
2016	1067	1.7
2017	209	6.7
2018	91	15.3
2019	91	13.6
2020	96	12.4
2021	89	19.7
2022	62	23.7
2023	84	19.0
2024	109	16.8
2025	107	18.7
2026	151	18.7

Political activity

See Political roles above.^[1]

International and political links

This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."