Björgólfur Guðmundsson
Björgólfur Guðmundsson | |
---|---|
Personal details | |
Born | Reykjavík, Iceland | 2 January 1941
Spouse | |
Children | Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson |
Björgólfur Guðmundsson (born 2 January 1941) is an Icelandic businessman and former chairman and owner of
Björgólfur was described in an article written by Jamie Jackson of The Guardian as "a former footballer, furniture packer and law student, a recovering alcoholic of 30 years and an old-fashioned philanthropist".[4] In the 1990s he was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, for bookkeeping offences, having faced around 450 charges.[5] He went to Russia, remade his fortune and returned to Iceland, where he also had interests in shipping, publishing, food, communications and property.[6]
Early life and marriage
Born in
Accounts vary, but it has been claimed that in 1958 Björgólfur was asked by the family of
From 1962 to 1977, Björgólfur was the founder and director of Dósagerðin hf.; from 1977 to 1986 he was the director of Hafskip, with further responsibilities for its various daughter companies in the Europe and the USA.[11] During much of this period, Björgólfur was, in the estimation of his son Björgólfur Thor, 'a highly functional alcoholic', but went into rehab in Hazelden, Minnesota, in 1978 and has not drank since.[16]
Hafskip affair
The shipping business Hafskip was the main competitor to Iceland's established shipping operator Eimskip (co-founded by the father of Björgólfur's wife). In Roger Boyes's account,
- initially there was more than enough business for both shipping companies, transporting supplies to the U.S. base. But when an American company started to compete on the route, Hafskip floundered. Björgólfur borrowed to expand, but in the early 1980s—without a bank in his pocket or sophisticated financial instruments available—he struggled to keep the cash flow going. According to Illugi Jökulsson, who has written a book about the Hafskip affair, Björgólfur was suddenly undermined when his bank, Útvegsbankinn, declared his company in default on its loans.[17]
Björgólfur was prosecuted for bookkeeping irregularities, receiving a twelve-month suspended jail sentence, but in Illugi Jökulsson's interpretation, this
- was a crude act to dispose of an Eimskip rival (which later took on Hafskip’s ships). More, it was an attempt by the Progressive Party to profit from the downfall of a man who was so clearly aligned with the Independence Party'.[18]
The affair had a considerable effect on Björgólfur and his son, and both at times portrayed their subsequent business activities as a way to take revenge on the people they saw as their persecutors and to regain their reputations.[19] One of the avenues through which Björgólfur worked to restore his reputation in the years following the Hafskip affair was by starting a successful alcoholics' rehabilitation centre in Reykjavík.[20][21]
From 1986 to 1991, Björgólfur was the director and owner of Icestar Ltd. in Copenhagen and a consultant on the shipping business for AMA Agencies in London.
Beverage businessman in Saint Petersburg
In 1991, in the wake of the Hafskip affair, Björgólfur began running the brewery and soft drinks unit of Pharmaco, a pharmaceuticals group, in 1991.
In the early 1990s Pharmaco was required to sell off its unneeded bottling machines, and Björgólfur took the opportunity, through a partner, Ingimar Haukur Ingimarsson, who was already based in St Petersburg, to co-found Bravo Brewery with
Danish journalists noted that in
The Icelandic businessmen, together with Russian partners, founded the
In 2005 an article in The Guardian wondered where the Icelandic money comes from and noted that in the 1990s the three Icelandic businessmen "were not only ploughing money into the country but doing it in the city regarded as the Russian mafia capital. That investment was being made in the drinks sector, seen by the mafia as the industry of choice."[25] Competitors in the St. Petersburg brewing market faced problems. Ilya Weismann, deputy director of competing beverage company Baltic, was assassinated on 10 January 2000. Soon afterwards Baltic director general Aslanbek Chochiev was also assassinated. One competing St Petersburg brewery burned to the ground.[23][25]
The company became the fastest growing brewery in Russia. Heineken bought the extraordinarily successful brewery for $400m in 2002[23][26] and Björgólfur returned to Iceland.[27]
The boom years: chairman of Landsbanki
Late in 2002, Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson and Björgólfur Guðmundsson's holding company Samson ehf. gained 45% controlling share of Landsbanki, Iceland's second largest bank, for about 12.3 billion ISK in a controversial privatization.[28][29] The board was announced in February 2003, with the chairman being Björgólfur Guðmundsson.[30]
Björgólfur became famous and very popular in Iceland during this time as the country's leading philanthropist, both through the direct contributions of himself and his wife Þóra, and through contributions made by Landsbanki (where he started a special service at Landsbanki with the tag "Give help to a good cause"): 'dressed in his trademark pin-striped suits he came to be Iceland's greatest philanthropist, loved by the public, and was for a while perhaps more influential in the island's cultural life than even the Minister of Culture, who in effect was downgraded to second fiddle in many opening ceremonies'.
Björgólfur's use of sponsorship of the cultural sector to win public approval of himself and his businesses extended to buying influence in the media. In 2002, Björgólfur took a 68% in Iceland's biggest publisher, Edda.[34] When, in 2005, Guðmund Magnússon published the book Thorsararnir, on the history of the descendants of Thor Jensen.[35] In the first version of the book was a chapter on Þóra's marriage with Rockwell. The book was published by the press Edda, but Björgólfur, who owned the publisher, had the author change the text, and had the whole first print run destroyed.[36] Moreover, he tried to buy the newspaper Dagblaðið-Vísir, which had discussed the matter, in order to close it down.[37] Björgólfur did succeed in buying the country's only broadsheet newspaper, Morgunblaðið, along with the associated internet news portal mbl.is.[38][39]
The banking crisis, and personal bankruptcy
Björgólfur's chairmanship at Landsbanki ended when, on 7 October 2008, the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority (FME) decided to take over Landsbanki's operations, replacing its board of directors.[40] After the almost total collapse of the Icelandic banking system in 2008, Björgólfur Guðmundsson was pointed out as one of the main players behind the Icelandic economic disaster in all Icelandic media including the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service (RUV) and all major newspapers. Björgólfur declared his personal bankruptcy in 2009, owing $750m, $500m of which he owed to Landsbanki. This seems to have been the world's biggest recorded personal bankruptcy.[41] In 2010, Time magazine named Björgölfur as one of their hundred most influential people in the world for his role in the Icelandic crash.[42]
Other businesses 2002–2008
Björgólfur has been a keen
Appearances in popular culture
- Björgólfur Guðmundsson is the model for the character Haraldur Rúriksson in Þráinn Bertelsson's 2004 Roman à clef, Dauðans óvissi tími.[45][46]
- Björgólfur Guðmundsson is the inspiration for one of the principal characters of Bjarni Harðarson's satirical novel about the 2008–2012 Icelandic financial crisis, Sigurðar saga fóts: Íslensk riddarasaga, where his counterpart is Bjarnhéðinn 'kaupahéðinn' Jónsson.[47]
References
- ^ Forbes' Rich List 2008
- ^ "Billionaire Blowups of 2008". Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
- ^ Icelandic bank chief in £500m of hot water
- ^ Jackson, Jamie (2 September 2007). "He's the real thing". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
- ^ Jackson, Jamie (2 September 2007). "He's the real thing". London: The Observer. Retrieved 12 September 2008.
- ^ Conn, David (29 November 2006). "The real power behind West Ham". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 12 September 2008.
- ^ Indriðason, Valur Grettisson, Friðrik (31 July 2009). "Björgólfur Guðmundsson - frá upphafi til enda - Vísir". visir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 1 June 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Ólafur Kr. Guðmundsson". www.mbl.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 1 June 2022.
- ^ Ingi Freyr Vilhjálmsson, Hamskiptin: Þegar allt varð falt á Íslandi (Reykjavík: Veröld, 2014), p. 53.
- ^ a b Thor Bjorgolfsson and Andrew Cave, Billions to Bust—And Back: How I Made, Lost and Rebuilt a Fortune, and What I Learned on the Way (London: Profile, 2014), p. 20.
- ^ a b 'Björgólfur Guðmundsson', Stúdentafagnaður 2012, [1].
- ^ Roger Boyes, Meltdown Iceland: Lessons on the World Financial Crisis from a Small Bankrupt Island (New York: Bloomsbury, 2009), pp. 63-64, 71. 76.
- ^ a b Roger Boyes, Meltdown Iceland: Lessons on the World Financial Crisis from a Small Bankrupt Island (New York: Bloomsbury, 2009), pp. 63-64; Ingi Freyr Vilhjálmsson, Hamskiptin: Þegar allt varð falt á Íslandi (Reykjavík: Veröld, 2014), p. 55.
- ^ Thor Bjorgolfsson and Andrew Cave, Billions to Bust—And Back: How I Made, Lost and Rebuilt a Fortune, and What I Learned on the Way (London: Profile, 2014), p. 19.
- ^ "Margrét Þorbjörg Thors". Retrieved 1 June 2022.
- ^ Thor Bjorgolfsson and Andrew Cave, Billions to Bust—and Back: How I Made, Lost, and Rebuilt a Fortune, and What I Learned on the Way (London: Profile, 2014), pp. 13-15.
- ^ Roger Boyes, Meltdown Iceland: Lessons on the World Financial Crisis from a Small Bankrupt Island (New York: Bloomsbury, 2009), pp. 64-65.
- ^ Roger Boyes, Meltdown Iceland: Lessons on the World Financial Crisis from a Small Bankrupt Island (New York: Bloomsbury, 2009), p. 65.
- ^ Roger Boyes, Meltdown Iceland: Lessons on the World Financial Crisis from a Small Bankrupt Island (New York: Bloomsbury, 2009), pp. 64-66.
- ^ Roger Boyes, Meltdown Iceland: Lessons on the World Financial Crisis from a Small Bankrupt Island (New York: Bloomsbury, 2009), p. 66.
- ^ 'Þeir byggðu Vog og réðu Þórarin' (5 August 15).
- ^ Roger Boyes, Meltdown Iceland: Lessons on the World Financial Crisis from a Small Bankrupt Island (New York: Bloomsbury, 2009), pp. 67-68.
- ^ a b c d "Россия желает спасать Исландию из-за давних офшорных связей чиновников и бизнесменов". The New Times. 21 October 2008.. Another copy: "Зачем Россия спасает Исландию". Rususa. 21 October 2008. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011.. An automatic translation: "Discussion of the relationship between Iceland and Russia from the Russian newspaper". Archived from the original on 23 October 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
- ^ Нерсесов, Юрий (23 January 2003). Жертвы иудейской войны. stringer-news.ru website. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
- ^ a b Griffiths, Ian (16 June 2005). "Next-generation Viking invasion – They've got the cash to buy big UK groups like M&S. But where does it come from?". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
- ^ "Who is Thor Bjorgolfsson, Iceland's lone billionaire?". Invest in Greece. 20 January 2006.
- ^ Ingi Freyr Vilhjálmsson, Hamskiptin: Þegar allt varð falt á Íslandi (Reykjavík: Veröld, 2014), p. 54.
- ^ Guðmundur Magnússon, Thorsararnir: auður – völd – örlög (Reykjavík: Almenna bókafélagið, 2005), p. 354; Questions over Landsbanki's new shareholder /Euromoney magazine
- ^ "IcelandReview - Online, Iceland News, Travel, Vacation, Culture, Hotels, Politics, Business". Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
- ^ Guðmundur Magnússon, Thorsararnir: auður – völd – örlög (Reykjavík: Almenna bókafélagið, 2005), p. 354
- ^ Eiríkur Bergmann, Iceland and the International Financial Crisis: Boom, Bust and Recovery (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), p. 72.
- ^ Ingi Freyr Vilhjálmsson, Hamskiptin: Þegar allt varð falt á Íslandi (Reykjavík: Veröld, 2014), pp. 51-67; 261-68 (at p. 59).
- ^ Ingi Freyr Vilhjálmsson, Hamskiptin: Þegar allt varð falt á Íslandi (Reykjavík: Veröld, 2014), pp. 67-82, 165-206.
- ^ Magnús Þór Snæbjörnsson, 'Björgólfskviða- eða listaverkið að lokinni fjöldaframleiðslu sinni: Smásaga með myndum og neðanmálsgreinum', Kistan (18 October 2008), &tId=2&fre_id=78217&meira=1
- ^ Thorsararnir: auður – völd – örlög (Reykjavík: Almenna bókafélagið, 2005).
- ^ 'Chairman of Landsbanki burning books?', Iceland Review (5 December 2005, updated 30 January 2014).
- ^ Ritskoðari einokar dagblaðamarkað. DV, 1. nóvember 2008.
- ^ Eiríkur Bergmann, Iceland and the International Financial Crisis: Boom, Bust and Recovery (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), p. 96.
- ^ Alda Guðrún Áskelsdóttir, 'Áhrif eigenda á íslenska fjölmiðla' (unpublished MA thesis, University of Iceland, 2009), pp. 61-62.
- ^ "History". Retrieved 1 June 2022.
- ^ "Iceland: How Could This Happen?" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
- ^ Björn Þór Sigbjörnsson, Bergsteinn Sigurðsson, and others, Ísland í aldanna rás, 2001-2010: Saga lands og þjóðar ár frá ári (Reykjavík: JPV, 2012), p. 408.
- ^ Magnusson leaves Hammers SkySports – 13 December 2007
- ^ West Ham takeover deal completed www.bbc.co.uk
- ^ Háskólabókasafn, Landsbókasafn Íslands-. "Tímarit.is". timarit.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2 June 2022.
- ^ Illugi Jökulsson. „Rússneska mafían kemur til íslands.“ DV 15. nóvember 2004, p. 25.
- .