Robert Maxwell Essays - Robert Maxwell, United Kingdom, Maxwell

Robert Maxwell INTRODUCTION Robert Maxwell, the infamous tycoon who is remembered as much for his personality and ethics in his business dealings as he is for his accomplishments. BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION Soldier, publisher and patriot, a man who spoke 9 languages; in 1923 Robert Maxwell was born in Czechoslovakia. He was and is a mystery in many respects. Even his birth name is questionable.. Maxwell had many reasons to rebel against the norms of the world. One of these was the Holocaust. Although Maxwell personally escaped the horrors of the Holocaust, he lost his parents and four brothers and sisters to the Nazis. He fought with the British against the Nazis and was awarded a British Military Cross for his wartime accomplishments. After the war Maxwell had seven children with his French-born wife Elizabeth. He would soon begin work on his business empire as well. He was a very strong person who knew what he wanted. Robert Maxwell was used to keep a high image even during bad times, he depended on bankers and high society people to keep high credibility. This man was used to having whatever he wanted wherever he was overall he led an extremely luxurious lifestyle. BUSINESS DIVERSIONS Between his death in 1991 and the end of World War II Robert Maxwell was able to build one of the largest publishing and communications empires in the world. He accumulated approximately two billion dollars worth of family assets and was the fifth or sixth biggest media group in the world. His companies included the Mirror group of newspapers, Maxwell Communications, Nimbus Records, P.F. Collier, Official Airline Guide, Prentice Hall Information Services, Macmillan publishing, the Berlitz language schools, and Pergamon Press, a technical publishing company. The road to success was not straight up for Maxwell. He experienced numerous financial ups and downs over the forty years following Word War II. Pergamon Press, one of his first acquisitions had to be sold in the 1960s but Maxwell eventually bought it again and was forced to resell the company during the 1980s. Publishing was not Maxwells only pursuit. His companies also included numerous television industry interests fifty percent ownership of MTV in Europe, twenty percent of Central TV, twelve percent of the French TFI station and Maxwell Cable TV. Most of these holdings are through Maxwell Entertainment Company, which also was a major provider of European television programming. Maxwells business interests also included online pursuits such as the Official Airlines Guides, a front-runner in online flight information and reservations. Only two years before his death Maxwells finances were going down by 1990 he was running out of cash he was secretly buying his own shares so that they maintained high prices. Maxwell concealed his financial problems by secretly selling other peoples shares that were deposited with Maxwells recently established bank. He and his closest son Cavan used these shares to raise loans. These secretly sold shares in FIRST TOKIO TRUST investment fund were worth ?57 million. The funds directors discovered that shares were missing and investigations took place at this stage. He was desperate to repay his debts his next target were pension funds he offered in one of the companys. With this company he was using advertising, encouraging customers to stay and in return he was making promises. Among the pension funds; shares plumed by Robert Maxwell, certificates of 25 Million shares clearly owed by the mirror pension fund, bankers Goldman Sachs sold them on Maxwells instruction. But proceeds were not handed over to the pension funds instead it was paid from the banker straight to Maxwell. He was smart he always chose companies or individuals he thought he could manage. Hence, after a major disagreement with his personal assistant that left him, Maxwell was going through depression because he felt lost and knew that she had all sorts of important information. Pressure accumulated and he didnt know whom to speak too. His next attempt was when he went and bought the US Daily News, and was extremely popular in the US while ignoring the empire back home. Meanwhile, directors of FIRST TOKIO remained quiet about his business affairs because they knew they were in fault and reputation was concerned. Maxwell was still stealing millions from wherever he could