Li Ka-shing, Asia’s richest man, has pledged to donate a third of his fortune, or at least $8bn, to his eponymous charitable foundation.

Reports that the Li Ka Shing Foundation is prepared to pay 0.75 per cent of this largesse, or a piddly $60m, to buy an even piddlier 0.4 per cent stake in Facebook, the Palo Alto-based social networking site, highlight the septuagenarian tycoon’s fascination with new tricks.