Hong Kong media mogul and philanthropist Run Run Shaw passed away at the age of 107 on Tuesday morning, according to local media.

According to Hong Kong's TVB (Television Broadcasts Ltd.) News, Shaw peacefully died at his residence on January 7, 2014, at 6:55 am (HKT), with his family by his side.

Hong Kong local paper Oriental Daily News reported yet another story that Shaw slipped into coma around 8:00 a.m. and an ambulance took him to a hospital where medical staff failed to revive him. China.org.cn was not yet able to verify the facts independently.

TVB, the multi-billion dollar TV empire which Shaw founded in 1967, released a statement to mourn the tycoon, "He used his unparalleled energy and vision, led TVB to become the biggest television network in Hong Kong and one of the most influential Chinese TV networks in the world."

The statement continues, "Although we all knew this day would come, this doesn't help reduce the sorrow and loss. All the staff at TVB will miss Sir Run Run Shaw and send our most sincere and deepest condolences to Shaw's wife Mona Fong and his family."

TVB News also said Shaw's funeral would be attended only by family members, while a public memorial service would be planned and announced at a later time.

Chief Executive of Hong Kong CY Leung also paid his respects, "Sir Run Run Shaw has been long promoting the showbiz industry in Hong Kong and made extraordinary achievements. He also promoted charity causes, including education on the mainland and in Hong Kong, as well as promoting scientific research on the global scale. " Leung described Shaw as a much respected elder and sent his condolences to his family.

Veteran Hong Kong actor, TV host and filmmaker Eric Tsang said Shaw was the one man who had made the biggest contributions to the Hong Kong film industry. "His film studio built and nurtured the Hong Kong film market and made Hong Kong a film empire in Asia. It was him who pushed the Hong Kong film onto the world. Nobody in the Hong Kong film industry can compare to him. And his TVB also contributes a lot to Hong Kong's television industry. We Hong Kong filmmakers will always miss this great man."

Sir Run Run Shaw GBM CBE, born as Shao Ren Leng in Ningbo, Zhejiang of the Qing Dynasty in 1907, was the youngest of the six sons of a Shanghai textile merchant, Shaw Yuh Hsuen (1867-1920). Shaw founded the Shaw Organization together with his brother Runme Shaw in Shanghai in 1926.

He co-founded another movie company, Shaw Brothers, in 1930, which grew to be Asia's largest studio by 1958. Since then, it has contributed enormously to the Hong Kong martial-arts film industry. Its well-known productions include "One-Armed Swordsman" (1967), "Five Fingers of Death" (1972) and "Five Deadly Venoms" (1978).

Shaw co-founded the TVB empire in November of 1967, turning it into a multi-billion dollar TV empire that today ranks as one of the top five television producers in the world.

Shaw retired at age of 104, and was honored as the Honorable Chairman of TVB. He is the CEO with the longest-term of service in the world to date.

The film and television tycoon was also a generous philanthropist, financing more than 6,000 projects and schools across Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland. Many universities have buildings named after him. By 2012, he had donated a total of HK$4.75 billion to mainland education, China News Service reported. He also donated HK$100 million for disaster relief after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

In addition, Shaw set up an international award, the Shaw Prize, for scientists across three areas of research, namely astronomy, mathematics, and life and medical science. The prize money accompanying the award goes up to $1 million. The press called it the "Nobel Prize of the East." The first prize was awarded in 2004.

In 1974, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), making him the first one in the Hong Kong entertainment industry to receive the honor. He went on to receive a knighthood in 1977, as well as the Grand Bauhinia Medal (GBM) from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government in 1998. In 2013, Sir Shaw received the BAFTA Special Award for his outstanding contribution to cinema.