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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Jun 5, 2015 22:44:41 GMT -6
variety.com/2015/biz/asia/alan-bond-dead-1201513709/Tarnished Tycoon, Alan Bond Dead At 77 Alan Bond, the disgraced Australian businessman and former media mogul, has died age 77. Bond is most famous for winning the America’s Cup ocean yachting race, beating a U.S. team which had held the trophy for over a century, and for a spectacular business collapse that was the second largest personal bankruptcy in history. He also owned the Australian TV channel Nine Network which he bought from Kerry Packer for A$1.05 billion. Bond died on Friday (June 5) while in a coma in hospital in Perth, West Australia, after complications from heart surgery. Born in the U.K., Bond moved to Australia while a child. He made his initial fortunes in property, before later expanding into mining, brewing and the media. He bought Nine in 1987 with a mix of cash and debt. And when Bond went bankrupt in 1992 Packer was able to retrieve the company by converting the debt into a 37% stake in Bond Media. Bond’s bankruptcy provoked outrage in the business community as the company was able to repay less than 1% of the A$1.8 billion owed, and it left related company Bell Resources also in financial difficulty. Bond was sentenced to seven years in jail and served four. He returned to business and by 2008 had amassed a fortune of A$285 million. Between 1995-2012 he was married to publicist and theater producer Diana Bliss.
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