Investor Activist To Cut Back Work Due To Illness

A well-known investor activist, David Webb, whose work had led to some of the biggest financial probes in Hong Kong said on Monday that he will take a step back from corporate research and investigation because of prostate cancer.

In a statement published on his website, the 54-year-old said he found out last month about the illness and he will now "reprioritise and give less time to the public good".

The former independent non-executive director of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing said with his latest health situation, he will probably stop doing in-depth investigations and write fewer articles overall.

"There will probably be no more time-consuming, in-depth investigations of crooked corporate networks like Enigma, and fewer articles overall. I will have to be more economical with my time, but I will continue to write and speak out on the big issues where I feel it can make a difference, so don't count me out yet!" he said.

In 2017, Webb had published an article titled "Enigma Network: 50 stocks not to own", leading to the biggest financial investigation in the city in decades.

Webb added that like every battle he has fought for corporate and economic governance in Hong Kong, he will fight the illness with full vigour.

He also said he's hoping to find a new permanent home for a database on his website, and called on journalists to keep doing investigative stories.

"The 22-year archive of content on governmental and regulatory policy errors will serve its purpose - fellow journalists and campaigners should dig deep and often, because most of the issues are unresolved. Keep the pressure up."

"I will try to find a new permanent home for the maintenance and update of the Webb-site Who's Who database, which is widely used by journalists and researchers."

"This would hopefully outlive me with continued free public access, perhaps housed in a university faculty or other non-profit organisation," Webb said.