Guerrilla Billionaire™

Secrets Of The Self-Made: Billionaires Share Their Secrets

The 400 Richest Americans

Secrets Of The Self-Made 2009

Ever wonder what the most successful entrepreneurs think about the stock market, public policy and the keys to amassing serious wealth? Look no further.

We asked eight of the wealthiest self-made members of the Forbes 400 to weigh in on 22 topics ranging from universal health care to the right amount of vacation. If you think you've had a rough year, consider that five of the eight lost a combined $2.65 billion in the last 12 months; only two increased their net worth. Clearly, these guys have a lot on their minds--and, for the most part, they were willing to share.

Business tips are a penny a dozen. A billionaire's playbook for success: priceless.

Go read the article.

It was a pleasant surprise to discover John Paul DeJoria on the list. I first heard of him in an Inc. magazine article in the mid 1980s. In his youth he was a member of an LA street-gang. Later on he had been a homeless person. In 1980 he launched his hair-care products company, John Paul Mitchell Systems with a $700 loan. Here's more on this impressive man.

There Will Be Blood: French Internet Entrepreneur Takes on the Big 3

Since this blog is dedicated to the swashbucklers who dare to shake things up, I'm adding this story.

Iliad's warrior

From The Economist print edition

The rise of Xavier Niel, a controversial internet entrepreneur, says a lot about French business

“IF I commit suicide, or if I die in a car accident in the next three months or so, you will know the threats were serious, because I am not feeling at all suicidal and I drive very slowly.” Xavier Niel, the founder of Iliad, a young broadband firm which has upended France’s internet-access market and wants to do the same for mobile telephony, says he is prepared for any attempts at intimidation. In 2004 an executive from TF1, a French television firm which was withholding its programming from Iliad’s multimedia packages, reportedly told one of Mr Niel’s colleagues: “I am going to nail you down on the wall in blood.”

He may be a bit paranoid, but Mr Niel plans to wreak financial violence on France’s dominant telecoms firms. After years of deliberation and fierce opposition from the big three—Orange, owned by the former monopoly, France Telecom; SFR, part of Vivendi, a media giant; and Bouygues Telecom, part of a conglomerate which also part-owns TF1—the government invited bids for a fourth mobile licence on August 1st. If Iliad wins, as is expected, it aims to launch a service under its brand, Free, by 2012

Read the rest about Xavier Niel and his company Iliad here.

A Man Obsessed: The single-minded force behind one of the world’s most exclusive hotel chains

The WSJ has a fascinating piece on an Indonesian hotel magnate.

A Man Obsessed

The single-minded force behind one of the world’s most exclusive hotel chains

It’s nearing dusk and Adrian Zecha, founder of one of the world’s most luxurious hotel brands, is speed-walking through Beijing’s legendary Summer Palace as if it’s his own backyard. In a sense, it is: His new Aman at Summer Palace resort—with rooms starting at $550 a night—occupies a prime spot adjacent to the palace behind a stone wall. A secret door lets guests come and go from the World Heritage Site as if it were just another amenity of the hotel. When Zecha finishes his walk, staff greet him at the door with scented hand towels and guide him into the privacy of his own retreat for a cold beer.

Read the rest here.

Greed Is Bad, Gekko. So Is a Meltdown.

Gordon Gekko is returning! This is great news for big movie fans such as myself.

Today's NYTimes

Greed Is Bad, Gekko. So Is a Meltdown.

Read the article here.

I only have one issue here.

Shia LaBoeuf?

Oliver, what the hell were you thinking?

Billionaire Mark Cuban Turns Tables, Seeks To Fine The SEC

Here's an amusing update on the Mark Cuban vs SEC war.

Earlier this month Mark Cuban not [only] scored a rare victory against the SEC, having a judge dismiss the insider trading

case against him. Now he’s going for the extra-points by attempting to force the SEC to pay for the costs of his lawyers.

Lawyers at Dewey & LeBoeuf, Cuban’s law firm

, filed a motion on Friday asking the judge to order the SEC to pay their attorneys' fees and costs. (source)

Billionaire Profiles: Top Man How Philip Green Built His High Street Empire

Top Man How Philip Green Built His High Street Empire

Philip Green, owner of, amongst much else, British Home Stores, reached billionaire status faster than anyone else in British history. Today he is worth GBP 3.6 billion and is reckoned to be the country's fourth richest citizen.

This is the first biography of a man whose aggressive business tactics and brash lifestyle have transformed the staid image of British retailing, and who is likely to remain in the headlines for as long as his ultimate prize, Marks and Spencer, continues to elude his grasp. A middle-class Jewish boy from North London who left school at fifteen, Green started and failed with four businesses before he made it with his fifth venture, Jean Jeannie, which he sold to Lee Cooper for an enormous profit that set him on the road to fame and fortune.

But there were pitfalls on the way; in particular, his involvement with Amber Day, a public company, left him with an abiding dislike for both the City establishment and outside investors. Ever since, he has relied upon a close group of like-minded entrepreneurs, including Tom Hunter the sports shoe millionaire and the Barclay twins, to help fund his buccaneering forays into Britain's High Streets. The authors describe Green's takeover and highly profitable break up of the Sears empire created by one of his business heroes, Charles Clore, and his first audacious attempt to seize control of Marks and Spencer at the end of 1999. Frustrated, in part by what were widely perceived as unfair tactics on the part of M&S, Green then turned his attention to the ailing BHS, for which he paid a mere GBP 200 million and then transformed its fortunes to such an extent that, in 2004, he was able to transfer dividends totalling GBP 400 million to his Monaco tax haven.

His appetite unsated, Green then turned his attention to the Arcadia Group, which included brands such as Miss Selfridge, Top Shop and Dorothy Perkins before making another bid for M&S in 2004. Again he was foiled, partly because of what he saw as treachery on the part of his former protege Stuart Rose, the man who was appointed by M&S to see off Green's bid. But there seems little doubt that, given the opportunity, he will be back and that this time the personal grudge between the two men will give the contest an added bitterness.

Get more info on Top Man How Philip Green Built His High Street Empire.

Is Donald Trump Really a Billionaire?

Donald Trump's case against the author who claims in his book that Trump is not a billionaire has been thrown out by the judge.

GETTING 'TRUMPED' EMBARRASSING COURT LOSS FOR THE DONALD

Donald Trump's bid to silence an author who claims the developer is worth far less than the billions he claims was dealt a major blow after a New Jersey judge tossed out the case yesterday.

"The Apprentice" star had sued author Timothy O'Brien for libel after his 2005 book "TrumpNation," citing anonymous sources, claimed Trump was worth between $150 million and $250 million -- not the $5 billion to $6 billion Trump himself asserts.(source)

So, is The Donald really a billionaire?

Looks like we will never know for certain.

Billionaire Profiles: Why I’m Giving Away $1 Billion

This is a very interesting read if you have an interest in billionaires.

Why I’m Giving Away $1 Billion by Pete Peterson

The moment is overdue for us to become moral and worthy ancestors.

In 2007 the company I cofounded, the Blackstone Group, held a most successful public offering. I found myself, at 81, an instant billionaire. I wish I could've called my father, a Greek immigrant who had spent most of his life running a 24-hour diner in Kearney, Neb. The news might have pleased him as much as my being the first Greek cabinet officer, which he never hesitated to tell perfect strangers. In the 1930s, when I was growing up, there was all this talk about millionaires like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. Now I was a millionaire 1,000 times over.

Read the rest of the Pete Peterson article at Newsweek.

Billionaire Profiles: Warren Buffett

Just stumbled across a book review by one of my favorite business writers, Michael Lewis, on the recent book about Warren Buffett: The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder. If you don't have the time for a 960 page tome, check out the review. It makes for an interesting read.

He confines himself to the diet of an eight-year-old, refusing to eat anything much beyond spaghetti, hamburgers, and grilled cheese sandwiches. Schroeder describes a bizarre scene in which Katharine Graham escorted Buffett to dinner at the Manhattan apartment of Sony Chairman Akio Morita. Japanese chefs served plate after plate that Buffett left completely untouched. "By the end of fifteen courses, he still had not eaten a bite," writes Schroeder. "The Moritas could not have been more polite, which added to his humiliation. He was desperate to escape back to Kay's apartment, where popcorn and peanuts and strawberry ice cream awaited him. 'It was the worst,' he says about the meal he did not eat. 'I've had others like it but it was by far the worst. I will never eat Japanese food again.'"

Popcorn, peanuts, and strawberry ice-cream?

As a sushi fanatic, them's fightin' words.

Here is the review.

Give Me Some of That Billionaire Freedom!

Every now and then I get this overpowering urge for total freedom. It usually comes around this time of year when I'm doing the tedious work of preparing for April 15th. This urge typically manifests itself in a desire to just drop everything and walk the earth. You know, like Caine in Kung-Fu. Walk from place to place ... meet people ... and get into adventures. Till God puts me where he wants me to be.

But alas, I can't. Too many projects on the go. This means that I have to live out this fantasy vicariously through Tim Ferriss of  The Four Hour Work Week fame.

Tim just put up a post which caught my eye: How to Be Jason Bourne: Multiple Passports, Swiss Banking, and Crossing Borders which is a fun read. It's about Neil Strauss's new book Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life.

(Photo by gravitywave)

Thanks Tim, for a nice 15 minute break.

Now back to work.