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Renowned activist investor David Webb has been diagnosed with cancer but insists that he will continue fighting for better corporate and economic governance in Hong Kong.

David Webb, 54, said he had been diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer and that webb-site.com – the platform he has used for many years to speak out on corporate, governance and regulatory affairs – would begin a «more sporadic, semi-dormant phase».

«There will probably be no more time-consuming, in-depth investigations of crooked corporate networks […] and fewer articles overall,» Webb said in a statement.

«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!»

Legendary Activist

A former investment banker and deputy chairman of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission’s (SFC) takeover and mergers panel, Webb has spent a vast amount of his career extensively lobbying for greater transparency and public accountability of public company directors as well as the local government. He previously estimated that he had sent more than 1,000 letters to the Hong Kong exchange and the SFC over topics ranging from company disclosure lapses to trading rules.

In 2003, he launched a project to buy 10 shares in each of the 33 constituents on the Hang Seng Index and used company law to demand poll voting, a move that would eventually rule the practice as a requirement from 2009 onwards. Webb has been elected multiple times as an independent non-executive director for the Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing, while earning the ire of stockbrokers and the government over efforts to reform the bourse.

In 2017, Webb coined the name «Enigma Network» in his research used to describe a network of companies, with Convoy Global Holdings in the center, which had conspired to defraud the Hong Kong bourse through market manipulation. Following the release of Webb’s research, authorities subsequently launched one of the largest raids in Hong Kong's financial investigation history. 

Database Maintenance

Meanwhile, Webb said he would seek a new permanent home for the maintenance of his database, adding that the 22-year archive of content on governmental and regulatory policy errors would «service its purpose» for fellow journalists, researchers and campaigners.