Obituary: David Webb – A Rich and Dutiful Life
David Webb, who died on January 13 age 60, was a unique figure in the annals of the Hong Kong financial industry. It was not so much that he was highly intelligent, a “computer geek” from his teenage years with an Oxford degree in mathematics that led him to a career starting with Barclays Capital and early riches. At least as important was his commitment to long hours of work that got to truths which others missed. That combination in turn did two things. It created wealth for himself, most often by taking a fine-toothed comb to smaller listed companies, finding hidden gems and hidden traps in a market with plenty of both.
It also provided information that saved myriad others from losing money to scams, dodgy accounting and innocent ignorance. “Scientia Potentia Est”, Knowledge is Power, was the motto of his Webb-site.com, where he posted for free his investigations into companies, individuals and institutions. He assembled a vast and unsurpassed database of companies and their directors and analysed public issues, such as the Hong Kong taxi business and the government’s annual budget.
He was driven by two over-arching beliefs. Firstly, that capitalism was best served by free and open competition and serviced by ready access to information on which investors could base their decisions. Monopolies and oligopolies were a danger to economic health and individual prosperity, but all too often were protected by a government overly influenced by vested interests.
Secondly, that he had a public duty, as one who had used his knowledge to prosper, to pass it on to the public in general, and to confront issues when he found abuses, inaccuracies and flaws in laws and systems that deterred the free flow of competition and information. That principal applied in politics as well as business, and he publicly supported the pro-democracy 2014 Umbrella Movement. Making money by diligent investing provided a platform for pressing for reforms and accountability.
Nor did he just contribute from the sidelines. He was an elected member of the board of HK Exchanges for five years and later a member of the Takeovers Panel of the Securities and Futures Commission, always pressing for transparency and the protection of minority shareholders from abuse by dominant interests. David could be demanding and dogmatic and met sometimes fierce criticism from others in the financial sector, particularly the local broking industry on the subject of minimum commissions. He was not appreciated by the government for his detailed policy criticisms and what some saw as a quasi-political agenda. But his combination of facts, clear goals and determination did help to raise standards of information and accountability, and he was mostly held in high regard by a public that always suspected it was being exploited by the financial sector at large, such as the costs of the Mandatory Provident Fund scheme. His exposure of the artificial trading that boosted the share prices of 50 interlinked listed companies — which he named the Enigma Network — led to charges against several executives, and also showed up the feeble performance of the frontline regulator. Even after the discovery of metastatic cancer in 2020, David continued to raise issues, including criticism of the excessive restrictions on movement imposed during Covid.
David was a longtime friend of the FCC and chose to make his last public appearance here on May 12, a lunch that broke attendance records and for which he received a prolonged standing ovation. Even staunch critics could not deny the public legacy of a life sadly shortened by cancer. Contributing to society was more important than his success at making money. Very visible for his Webb-site work and role as an activist investor, David was personally a quiet and unflamboyant family man. He is survived by his wife Karen and two children.
