[3] Born in Taiwan on 28 November 1954,[4] Leslie Koo attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, graduating with a Master of Business Administration in 1981.

[5] After the death of his elder brother Chester in late 2001,[3] Leslie took over the management of Taiwan Cement Corporation (TCC) in 2003.

[6] The company was at the time mired in NT$25 billion of debt because several risky investments made by Chester in the previous ten years had gone bad.

[2] Koo refused to retain bodyguards, believing their presence to be a snobbish, insulting admission that the wealthy could not be seen alongside others of lower socioeconomic status.

To raise emergency funds, Leslie Koo needed to sell a parcel of land in Longtan District, Taoyuan owned by Dayu.