HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver, Lam Yat-yan and David Beckham have one thing in common -- they are money spinners. But guess who makes the most? Photos: Bloomberg, Facebook, CNSA
by Ben Kwok
EJ InsightToday, 19:06
Thanks to Modern Education, we know now that a star tutor can make a lot more money than a football superstar.
If Lam Yat-yan wants to, he can put David Beckham to shame in earnings and end up just a tad below HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver.
But that’s if he decides to heed a couple of full-page newspaper advertisements inviting him to join Modern Education for HK$85 million (US$10.97 million) a year.
Not that he is being stiffed by his present employer, Beacon College, which already pays him millions.
Modern’s jaw-dropping offer is a 125 percent premium to the HK$35.5 million the star Chinese language tutor is making at Beacon.
Apparently, Lam already has singlehandedly brought in 40 percent of Beacon’s turnover of HK$327.8 million this year with more three months to go.
The open offer puts Beacon on the spot because it flags to investors how much it relies on a single teacher for revenue.
Lam’s contract with Beacon expires next summer.
Should Beacon decide to match Modern’s offer, it would mean at least a HK$40 billion hit to its bottom line.
Because Beacon is in the process of listing on the stock exchange, it’s extremely important to make its highest earning teacher happy.
In a Facebook post last night, Lam appeared to turn down Modern’s offer and stick with Beacon.
“For a long time, the school and I have maintained a good relationship, and together, we have built an ideal teaching platform,” he wrote.
“Therefore, under a fair and reasonable working environment, I am willing to continue to work here. I believe I can support myself and my family so it makes no difference to me whether I have HK$50 million or HK$80 million more.”
Lam is poised to become one of the highest paid executives in any Hong Kong-listed company.
CKH Holdings co-managing director Canning Fok Kin-ning, nicknamed “working king”, the highest paid Hong Kong executive in the past 20 years, made close to HK$197 million in 2014.
Lenovo chairman and chief executive Yang Yuanqing pocketed HK$151 million.
But HSBC honcho Stuart Gulliver would be slightly better off than Lam with the HK$90 million he bagged last year if the star tutor joined Modern.
All that money up for grabs for Lam would overshadow the HK$60 million Beckham will receive in a five-year endorsement deal with the upscale London haberdashers Kent & Curwen, which works out to HK$12 million a year.
Lam charges HK$456 per four sessions in his Chinese language classes of about 20,000 students.
That’s one-third of Beacon’s student population of 62,000-strong, or about one-sixth of all secondary students in Hong Kong.
In a city infatuated with after-school tutorials, Modern Education became the first listed company of its kind four years ago.
But its major shareholder cashed out after a year when the tuition business was hurt by a falloff in enrolment numbers.
Despite the huge profits of their underlying companies, education stocks are probably not a good long-term investment.
A year ago, SDM Group, a jazz and ballet academy for children, was listed at HK$1.50 per share.
The stock was up as much as 10 times on its debut but fell below its IPO price within six weeks and is still under water.
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