The bombshell has dropped just days after he confirmed he never graduated from the highly regarded Stanford University as claimed in stock exchange filings and publicity material distributed by his company.

As expected, PCCW wrote-off the entire $22bn of goodwill from its purchase of Cable & Wireless HKT against reserves, putting the company in negative shareholder equity totalling $1.8bn.

The worse-than-expected combined results were the first reported since PCCW bought Cable & Wireless HKT last year in a $28.5bn deal that was Asia's largest-ever corporate takeover.

PCCW shares ended down 0.71% at HK$3.475 on Wednesday, just a shadow of its HK$28.50 high in February 2000.

A bit of Li way

A year ago, local boy Mr Li was seen as a saviour when he outbid rival Singapore Telecom for HKT, but as global tech and telecom shares tumbled, shareholders' praise soon turned to criticism.

Perceived as Hong Kong's leading young entrepreneur, also known as "Superboy" in the local press, the younger son of tycoon Li Ka-shing, the territory's richest man, has become a focus of shareholder anger over their stock market losses.

When Mr Li spoke to analysts on Wednesday about the results it was broadcast by video screen to journalists but he avoided a news conference, leaving his colleagues to face the music.

"The purpose of this meeting is to address the financials, and we have the full team of financial people here to answer your questions," said Deputy Chairman Francis Yuen, when asked by a member of the 100-strong media pack about Li's absence.

Kryptonite career

Mr Li honed his deal-making skills by turning Hong Kong's Star TV into Asia's first satellite broadcasting service with a loan from his father.