Billionaire: The Life and Times of Sir James Goldsmith

by Ivan Fallon

The saga of one of the world's wealthiest men describes his lifestyle at his estate along the Mexican coast and tells how his shrewd business sense saved his investments from the crash of 1987

Genres: Biography

500 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Nicolai · Rating 5 out of 5]

i am sorry that james could not convince all his women to move into his compound - almost a rothschild!!

[Jonas · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the more interesting characters in high finance of the 20th century, Ivan Fallon writes a fawning, yet informative biography about Sir James Goldsmith's early life, business ventures in Europe, and takeover and boardroom battles in France, Britain, and the United States during the 1950s through early 1990s.

The biography comes off a bit dry, and loses momentum in chapters (especially when discussing his libel battles with the British press), but as a reference material and insight into Goldsmith's investment philosophy and negotiation tactics, I give this 4 stars.

Many accused Goldsmith of being an asset-raider in the mold of Carl Icahn, T. Boone Pickens, etc., but one can't argue against his multi-dimensionality. Although steeped in high British society and politics, he rejected the educational mold of Oxford and the conservative politics of post WWI Britain and made his early fortune on the shores of France in pharmaceutical distribution, food manufacturing and retailing in Britain. and supermarkets and paper conglomerates in the United States.

Goldsmith was a keenly sharp financial mind that engaged financial markets with the aggressive, yet risk-attuned style of a world-class backgammon player (of which he was). Certaintly he was sui generis: both multilingual and counter-cultural; financially attuned yet environmentally minded; high-society yet able to operate in multiple business and social cultures.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts off a bit slowly with much detail about the family tree (related to the Rothschild clan), but hang in there It gets interesting maybe 1/4 of the way into the book. The link to Roland franklin, Martin Franklin of Jarden, Nomad, etc... is very interesting. For about half the book the author gives the impression that Sir James was a lucky gambler teetering on the brink on a daily basis, but some interesting business insights come out eventually, such as a strong inclination toward delegation and lean decentralized organizations; like Berkshire and many of the "outsiders."

[Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant biography of one of the world's most charismatic billionaire