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Billions to Bust and Back: How I Made, Lost and Rebuilt a Fortune
Thor Bjorgolfsson became Iceland's first billionaire. On his fortieth birthday, and worth $3.5 billion, he was sitting on top of the world. His biggest triumph was the takeover of Iceland's second-largest bank, Landsbanki, but when financial meltdown hit in 2008, Landsbanki crashed and burned, taking Bjorgolfsson with it. Within twelve months he had lost 3.3 billion euros and was treated as a scapegoat for supposedly bringing about the disaster. Faced with appalling debts, Bjorgolfsson has since made good on his promises to repay his creditors, and at the age of forty-seven is now a billionaire once again.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published November 27, 2014
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December 26, 2014
By Quentin Webb
Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson embodies Iceland’s volcanic rise and fall. He made a fortune in Eastern Europe, lost a bank in 2008 and caused Deutsche Bank years of grief. His memoir, “Billions to Bust - and Back Again,” is self-critical - but unlikely to win him new friends in Reykjavik.
This book is doubly notable. Even by the standards of a bubbly, anything-goes era, Iceland’s brief cameo in world finance was odd. And – former AIG chief Hank Greenberg aside - bosses and bankers vilified for the global financial crisis have generally kept quiet.
There’s a lot of ground to cover. Bjorgolfsson got started in St. Petersburg, where he navigated the post-communist chaos, including death threats, to build a big brewer which Heineken eventually bought for $400 million. He dismisses persistent talk of mafia ties as “nonsense.” He says he kept a low profile and relied on a senior ex-KGB officer to scare off troublemakers. Other deals followed in Bulgaria, Czech Republic and elsewhere.
Gradually, his focus shifted back towards Iceland, culminating in 2007 with the $7 billion buyout of Reykjavik-listed drugmaker Actavis. The self-styled “deal junkie” took his chances, starting with extreme leverage. The 12.5 ratio of debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization is more than twice the level that worries U.S. bank watchdogs today. Bjorgolfsson also skimped on due diligence. And his lenders at Deutsche Bank refused to spread the risk by cutting rivals in on the deal. “I saw their eyes gleam and I took their money,” he writes.
It all went horribly wrong. Actavis had trouble with U.S. regulators and debt markets froze, so Deutsche could not sell on the debt. An Actavis collapse would have blown a 4 billion euro hole in the bank’s balance sheet. “Some bankers even said to us that this could lead to the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, taking the keys to Deutsche Bank,” he writes.
That fear of a messy Actavis insolvency perhaps helped Bjorgolfsson stay onboard through a restructuring. In 2012, Actavis was sold out to Watson, which took the acquired company’s name and began a takeover spree that built up to the $66 billion purchase of Allergan. Bjorgolfsson wangled an earn-out and now has more than $1 billion in Actavis shares.
Betrayal
Back at home, Bjorgolfsson had serious trouble with Landsbanki. His father, Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, was chairman of the bank that collapsed in 2008, along with rivals Kaupthing and Glitnir. The two men together effectively held a controlling stake. The son calls the government’s failure to save Landsbanki – the state tried abortively to help Kaupthing instead -“the biggest betrayal of my life.”
That emergency loan to Kaupthing was, indeed, a bad decision and one that remains unexplained. And Iceland’s crash reflects poorly on many people: complacent politicians, asleep-at-the-wheel regulators and the heavy-handed British, who resorted to anti-terrorism laws.
But come on. The banks lent huge sums to their own and each others’ major shareholders, and grew crazily: assets went from twice to ten times GDP in five years. Panicky officials may have been terrible crisis managers - but the banks laid the groundwork for the crisis. Iceland’s robust special prosecutor has since secured convictions, with jail terms, against several bank executives.
Moreover, disputes with the British and Dutch over Landsbanki’s Icesave product posed such a threat to national interests that the nation rejected two repayment deals in referendums. Bjorgolfsson says, correctly, that most of the Icesave money will be recovered by winding up Landsbanki. But it has been a painful process.
What is this book for? It is not exactly an apology, though Bjorgolfsson admits being vain and hubristic. His blame-casting and complaints about his countrymen’s conformity and cronyism won’t help the author, who has long been based in London, mend many bridges in Iceland.
If anything, it reads like an entrepreneur’s manual, punctuated with platitudes (“everything is temporary”) and complete with a superficial discussion of global challenges. It would be more interesting to know what he means precisely by two passing references to a looming new crash. On that topic, it is worth heeding the warnings of someone who weathered Russia’s crisis in 1998 and was center stage in Iceland’s a decade later.
Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson embodies Iceland’s volcanic rise and fall. He made a fortune in Eastern Europe, lost a bank in 2008 and caused Deutsche Bank years of grief. His memoir, “Billions to Bust - and Back Again,” is self-critical - but unlikely to win him new friends in Reykjavik.
This book is doubly notable. Even by the standards of a bubbly, anything-goes era, Iceland’s brief cameo in world finance was odd. And – former AIG chief Hank Greenberg aside - bosses and bankers vilified for the global financial crisis have generally kept quiet.
There’s a lot of ground to cover. Bjorgolfsson got started in St. Petersburg, where he navigated the post-communist chaos, including death threats, to build a big brewer which Heineken eventually bought for $400 million. He dismisses persistent talk of mafia ties as “nonsense.” He says he kept a low profile and relied on a senior ex-KGB officer to scare off troublemakers. Other deals followed in Bulgaria, Czech Republic and elsewhere.
Gradually, his focus shifted back towards Iceland, culminating in 2007 with the $7 billion buyout of Reykjavik-listed drugmaker Actavis. The self-styled “deal junkie” took his chances, starting with extreme leverage. The 12.5 ratio of debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization is more than twice the level that worries U.S. bank watchdogs today. Bjorgolfsson also skimped on due diligence. And his lenders at Deutsche Bank refused to spread the risk by cutting rivals in on the deal. “I saw their eyes gleam and I took their money,” he writes.
It all went horribly wrong. Actavis had trouble with U.S. regulators and debt markets froze, so Deutsche could not sell on the debt. An Actavis collapse would have blown a 4 billion euro hole in the bank’s balance sheet. “Some bankers even said to us that this could lead to the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, taking the keys to Deutsche Bank,” he writes.
That fear of a messy Actavis insolvency perhaps helped Bjorgolfsson stay onboard through a restructuring. In 2012, Actavis was sold out to Watson, which took the acquired company’s name and began a takeover spree that built up to the $66 billion purchase of Allergan. Bjorgolfsson wangled an earn-out and now has more than $1 billion in Actavis shares.
Betrayal
Back at home, Bjorgolfsson had serious trouble with Landsbanki. His father, Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, was chairman of the bank that collapsed in 2008, along with rivals Kaupthing and Glitnir. The two men together effectively held a controlling stake. The son calls the government’s failure to save Landsbanki – the state tried abortively to help Kaupthing instead -“the biggest betrayal of my life.”
That emergency loan to Kaupthing was, indeed, a bad decision and one that remains unexplained. And Iceland’s crash reflects poorly on many people: complacent politicians, asleep-at-the-wheel regulators and the heavy-handed British, who resorted to anti-terrorism laws.
But come on. The banks lent huge sums to their own and each others’ major shareholders, and grew crazily: assets went from twice to ten times GDP in five years. Panicky officials may have been terrible crisis managers - but the banks laid the groundwork for the crisis. Iceland’s robust special prosecutor has since secured convictions, with jail terms, against several bank executives.
Moreover, disputes with the British and Dutch over Landsbanki’s Icesave product posed such a threat to national interests that the nation rejected two repayment deals in referendums. Bjorgolfsson says, correctly, that most of the Icesave money will be recovered by winding up Landsbanki. But it has been a painful process.
What is this book for? It is not exactly an apology, though Bjorgolfsson admits being vain and hubristic. His blame-casting and complaints about his countrymen’s conformity and cronyism won’t help the author, who has long been based in London, mend many bridges in Iceland.
If anything, it reads like an entrepreneur’s manual, punctuated with platitudes (“everything is temporary”) and complete with a superficial discussion of global challenges. It would be more interesting to know what he means precisely by two passing references to a looming new crash. On that topic, it is worth heeding the warnings of someone who weathered Russia’s crisis in 1998 and was center stage in Iceland’s a decade later.
September 29, 2017
Focus is the single most important skill you need in business, along with clear vision. (Thor Bjorgolfsson, Billions to Bust and Back, Page 198)
Written by Iceland's first billionaire. He is also the first business person to be involved in bankrupting the entire country. He basically started from nothing and created a soft drink company and then a beer company, which he later sold. The beer company he sold to Heineken for millions of dollars in 2002, as they wanted to enter the Russian beer market and his company had a popular brand.
Most of the book covers the gross mistake he made in his home country of Iceland. He, the government, his partners and others basically over-leveraged Iceland's banking industry. This caused the financial collapse of Iceland. He takes responsibility in this book for his role and also shares how things could have been different if the government would have had better regulation, etc. He kind of shifts the blame around a bit, so that it doesn't all fall on him.
He is a risk taker by nature. He has since bounced back to billionaire status after his and his country's financial collapse, mostly with assets he had previously owned before the crash. He is sometimes right on deals and sometimes wrong; however, his rights have taken him back to billionaire status again and he seems to be very repentant and willing to moderate his behaviour now. He has an itch to make deals, leverage and take risk in order to reap great rewards. He now states he has more checks and balances to prevent him from getting into too much trouble.
Written by Iceland's first billionaire. He is also the first business person to be involved in bankrupting the entire country. He basically started from nothing and created a soft drink company and then a beer company, which he later sold. The beer company he sold to Heineken for millions of dollars in 2002, as they wanted to enter the Russian beer market and his company had a popular brand.
Most of the book covers the gross mistake he made in his home country of Iceland. He, the government, his partners and others basically over-leveraged Iceland's banking industry. This caused the financial collapse of Iceland. He takes responsibility in this book for his role and also shares how things could have been different if the government would have had better regulation, etc. He kind of shifts the blame around a bit, so that it doesn't all fall on him.
He is a risk taker by nature. He has since bounced back to billionaire status after his and his country's financial collapse, mostly with assets he had previously owned before the crash. He is sometimes right on deals and sometimes wrong; however, his rights have taken him back to billionaire status again and he seems to be very repentant and willing to moderate his behaviour now. He has an itch to make deals, leverage and take risk in order to reap great rewards. He now states he has more checks and balances to prevent him from getting into too much trouble.
September 23, 2020
This book was so-so for me, disappointing.
The good:
Juicy setting: author is mostly focused Iceland in the run up to 2008 crash and several years thereafter.
According to the book, Central Bank of Iceland was the only central bank to have gone completely bankrupt. That was a result of excessive debt (Icelands' external debt to GDP: 6x) and has resulted in bankruptcy of all Icelanding banks (only financial institutions to go bankrupt with A rating).
The great:
Story about how author earned his first 100M in Russia, in the 1990ies, by building up, developing then selling brewery business. Fascinating times, interesting anecdotes and goes a bit into details perhaps because it's all water under the bridge.
The bad - and that's half of the book, if not more:
Endless ramblings about crony capitalism with close-knit business and politics society in Iceland and how author was unfairly treated there.
Major flaw - way too little details on actual business transactions, reasoning behind them etc. Without that for me personally this book loses its sense - it's just "was rich then everything crashed then slowly worked to earn wealth back" story with not much morale or insight.
The good:
Juicy setting: author is mostly focused Iceland in the run up to 2008 crash and several years thereafter.
According to the book, Central Bank of Iceland was the only central bank to have gone completely bankrupt. That was a result of excessive debt (Icelands' external debt to GDP: 6x) and has resulted in bankruptcy of all Icelanding banks (only financial institutions to go bankrupt with A rating).
The great:
Story about how author earned his first 100M in Russia, in the 1990ies, by building up, developing then selling brewery business. Fascinating times, interesting anecdotes and goes a bit into details perhaps because it's all water under the bridge.
The bad - and that's half of the book, if not more:
Endless ramblings about crony capitalism with close-knit business and politics society in Iceland and how author was unfairly treated there.
Major flaw - way too little details on actual business transactions, reasoning behind them etc. Without that for me personally this book loses its sense - it's just "was rich then everything crashed then slowly worked to earn wealth back" story with not much morale or insight.
June 7, 2020
It’s fine if you’re just looking for a human interest story, but as a business book it was seriously lacking in detail.
To be fair, Bjorgolfsson does provide an account every major venture and business deal done in his career up to c. 2014, but the explanation of each of those businesses feels far too shallow. When you read the book it’s easy to understand his rationale for the decisions he made leading up to and immediately following the financial crisis of 2007/2008, but it’s hard to get a sense of how, precisely, Bjorgolfsson was involved in their success.
I was expecting valuable, timeless insight from one of the world’s most successful businesspeople. What I got instead was a ‘celebrity biography’ style reaction to the financial crisis.
It’s as if the author didn’t want to show too much agency and intelligence in case it opened up more room for public criticism, which is frustrating, because that makes it so much harder to understand what makes him different as a businessman.
To be fair, Bjorgolfsson does provide an account every major venture and business deal done in his career up to c. 2014, but the explanation of each of those businesses feels far too shallow. When you read the book it’s easy to understand his rationale for the decisions he made leading up to and immediately following the financial crisis of 2007/2008, but it’s hard to get a sense of how, precisely, Bjorgolfsson was involved in their success.
I was expecting valuable, timeless insight from one of the world’s most successful businesspeople. What I got instead was a ‘celebrity biography’ style reaction to the financial crisis.
It’s as if the author didn’t want to show too much agency and intelligence in case it opened up more room for public criticism, which is frustrating, because that makes it so much harder to understand what makes him different as a businessman.
February 19, 2019
Very candid and hence, refreshing to read about a billionaire's fall from grace.
1. His Russia experience in setting up a successful business there
2. His experience with the mad lenders of the 2000s who were willing to fund his audacious dreams
3. The personal stories of his relation with his father, his partner/wife, his kids and with his home country - Iceland
4 How talent plays a crucial role - Iceland didnt have much in the financial arena
5. A recognition of who he is, and what drives him
Great stuff.
1. His Russia experience in setting up a successful business there
2. His experience with the mad lenders of the 2000s who were willing to fund his audacious dreams
3. The personal stories of his relation with his father, his partner/wife, his kids and with his home country - Iceland
4 How talent plays a crucial role - Iceland didnt have much in the financial arena
5. A recognition of who he is, and what drives him
Great stuff.
January 20, 2020
Crazy timeline from starting a company in the early 90s Russia to being worth billions of dollars to losing almost all of it in the ‘08 crash. Was fun to learn about that.
His analysis of why he crashed and how it happened was more of a rant, though. I didn’t enjoy that part of the book too much.
His analysis of why he crashed and how it happened was more of a rant, though. I didn’t enjoy that part of the book too much.
March 6, 2019
For me, 2 stars for writing but 5 stars for the story which grabbed me.
Some good lessons for us all.
Some good lessons for us all.
April 18, 2025
good read
Good read but tails off towards the end. Starts out fast with a whirlwind of deals but slows down shortly after.
Good read but tails off towards the end. Starts out fast with a whirlwind of deals but slows down shortly after.
June 12, 2017
Whether you love or hate his mercenary style of operating, you'll appreciate Bjorgolffson's story.
Straightforward account, doesn't waste time trying to convince you of his brilliance. One of the most direct - and seemingly honest - autobiographies I've read.
And best of all, there is zero virtue-signalling — Bjorgolfsson doesn't try to convince you that he's a "force for good", "changing the world" or a "raider wolf". He shares what happens, his perspective, and leaves you to connect your own dots.
Straightforward account, doesn't waste time trying to convince you of his brilliance. One of the most direct - and seemingly honest - autobiographies I've read.
And best of all, there is zero virtue-signalling — Bjorgolfsson doesn't try to convince you that he's a "force for good", "changing the world" or a "raider wolf". He shares what happens, his perspective, and leaves you to connect your own dots.
May 18, 2018
Great history
Great history of Thor with recent facts of world economy. Inspiration for all entrepreneurs. Thank you a lot for this book.
Great history of Thor with recent facts of world economy. Inspiration for all entrepreneurs. Thank you a lot for this book.
January 15, 2015
Given that the dust has largely settled following the financial crisis in Iceland, one would have expected this book to be a well-edited piece of work, especially given the author’s attitude towards his own reputation and public image.
In reality, the book feels rushed, poorly constructed and almost as if it has not been edited at all. The bizarre prognostications towards the end are just that - bizarre, and left this reader in a state of confusion. Does Mr. Björgólfsson see himself as absolved of any responsibility in the eyes of the (Icelandic) public, and that the logical progression of his renaissance is to address the largest issues facing human kind? I honestly don’t know.
Having said all this, it is easy to understand why this book is published now, and not a couple of years back. First of all, people like Mr. Björgólfsson have not exactly had a particularly sympathetic audience in Iceland (perhaps why this book is published in English). Secondly, he has now rebuilt his wealth to a large extent and is, once again, writing from the point of view of a winner. He has settled his debts, met his obligations, and emerged on the other side in rather good nick.
As for the book itself, it does provide interesting insights into what is a fascinating career in investment and finance, across many turbulent jurisdictions. It fills in the several blanks that have existed when it comes to Mr. Björgólfsson’s business history, as well as in his glamorous private life. Anyone interested in the high-flying lifestyles of the super-rich would be interested in this book, particularly those who take an interest in the matters of Iceland.
But it is poorly written and edited. This is a shame, as there is wealth of interesting material to build on. One cannot help but think that the tone and structure of the book is the way it is because Mr. Björgólfsson has a number of points that he wishes to make, and does so again and again. This is to the book’s detriment, and is reflected in my rating.
In reality, the book feels rushed, poorly constructed and almost as if it has not been edited at all. The bizarre prognostications towards the end are just that - bizarre, and left this reader in a state of confusion. Does Mr. Björgólfsson see himself as absolved of any responsibility in the eyes of the (Icelandic) public, and that the logical progression of his renaissance is to address the largest issues facing human kind? I honestly don’t know.
Having said all this, it is easy to understand why this book is published now, and not a couple of years back. First of all, people like Mr. Björgólfsson have not exactly had a particularly sympathetic audience in Iceland (perhaps why this book is published in English). Secondly, he has now rebuilt his wealth to a large extent and is, once again, writing from the point of view of a winner. He has settled his debts, met his obligations, and emerged on the other side in rather good nick.
As for the book itself, it does provide interesting insights into what is a fascinating career in investment and finance, across many turbulent jurisdictions. It fills in the several blanks that have existed when it comes to Mr. Björgólfsson’s business history, as well as in his glamorous private life. Anyone interested in the high-flying lifestyles of the super-rich would be interested in this book, particularly those who take an interest in the matters of Iceland.
But it is poorly written and edited. This is a shame, as there is wealth of interesting material to build on. One cannot help but think that the tone and structure of the book is the way it is because Mr. Björgólfsson has a number of points that he wishes to make, and does so again and again. This is to the book’s detriment, and is reflected in my rating.
January 9, 2015
As an Icelander who experienced the chaotic period that came with the economic downturn in Iceland this book was a very interesting read. Thor Bjorgolfsson was one of a handful of people that the Icelandic people blamed for the situation. Being able to read about that period from his perspective is very interesting and what I found even more interesting are the tales of how he build up his wealth through hard work and extreme situations in Russia and then how he multiplied that wealth with very interesting investment decisions.
July 15, 2015
Ok read. Some chapters quite inspiring, such as the one about Russia. The poor language (ok language, but very "Nordic" and straigh forward English, and repetitive in his points) was a bit tedious - it felt like the book could have been written in 50 pages if you take out a lot of the repetitions. Hence, I feel he could have given more colorful descriptions of event, key meetings etc. to his credit- Thor is not a writer but a doer. All in all a 3
December 19, 2016
Thor Bjorgolfsson story of going from broke to billionaire, to broke to Billionaire. I enjoyed the backstory on his business deal making.
September 3, 2023
Good read. Reading about the 90ties we can understand today’s financials situation. Nothing new under the skies. It is not what is written but rather what is said between the lines.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews