Hong Kong activist investor to shut Webb-site data platform amid battle with cancer

Corporate governance activist David Webb will shut down his information services platform Webb-site.com after almost three decades, saying he only has months to live after a long battle with prostate cancer.

The British citizen would close his pro-bono and unprofitable service from next month in an orderly manner in stages, the 59-year old former investment banker said in a post on Wednesday. When its server in New York shut down, Webb-site and all its editorial content would disappear, he added.

“When I disclosed my metastatic prostate cancer in June 2020, I didn’t expect to live as long as I now have,” said Webb, a Hong Kong resident since 1991.

“However, after exhausting four lines of therapy and resorting to experimental treatments that are only available overseas, I have now reached the point where outcomes are measured in months rather than years.”

Webb did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Webb said he has spent HK$10 million (US$1.3 million) of his own fund to support the venture he founded in 1998, after working as an equity market banker with the Barclays group in London and Hong Kong, and also serving as an adviser to Wheelock.