Three women CEOs who prove that diversity is the key to success
Three women CEOs who prove that diversity is the key to success
Tom Saunders looks at how three very different women – Shahrzad Rafati, Trinny Woodall and Anne Boden – have grown successful businesses.
28 Dec 2020
Great frauds in history: rogue trader Kweku Adoboli’s £1.4bn loss
Great frauds in history: rogue trader Kweku Adoboli’s £1.4bn loss
Kweku Adoboli's risky trading and his desperate attempts to cover it up wiped £2.7bn off UBS’s market capitalisation.
24 Dec 2020
The return of Janet Yellen
The return of Janet Yellen
Janet Yellen, the former US central-bank chief is back, this time as US Treasury secretary. Donald Trump wondered whether she was too short for the jo…
19 Dec 2020
Great Frauds in History: Robert Schuyler’s illicit share issue
Great Frauds in History: Robert Schuyler’s illicit share issue
Robert Schuyler was known as “America’s first railroad king” issued millions of dollars' worth of fraudulent shares in his company, and kept the money…
17 Dec 2020
The Kwoks: a soap opera set to run and run
The Kwoks: a soap opera set to run and run
Boardroom battles, bribery convictions, feuds, kidnapping – the Kwoks’ Hong Kong property empire has seen the lot. But for all the drama, they have te…
13 Dec 2020
Great Frauds in History: Michael Meehan’s market manipulation
Great Frauds in History: Michael Meehan’s market manipulation
Stockbroker Michael Meehan manipulated the markets, driving stock prices up and making a mint.
8 Dec 2020
Philip Green: retail king who lost the Midas touch
Philip Green: retail king who lost the Midas touch
Philip Green’s empire has collapsed, taking great chunks of the high street with it. In the Noughties his Topshop chain was called Britain’s favourite…
4 Dec 2020
Great frauds in history: Meyer Blinder's Blind ’em & Rob ’em
Great frauds in history: Meyer Blinder's Blind ’em & Rob ’em
Meyer Blinder’s brokerage firm cold-called unsuspecting punters and pumped shares in fraudulent shell companies while stiffing them with huge commiss…
1 Dec 2020
The authentic magic of Dolly Parton
The authentic magic of Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton, the warm-hearted chanteuse from Tennessee, blends old-fashioned etiquette with openness and is loved by millions. She also has a very sh…
30 Nov 2020
Great frauds in history: John MacGregor’s dodgy loans
Great frauds in history: John MacGregor’s dodgy loans
When the Royal British Bank fell on hard times, founder John MacGregor started falsifying the accounts and paying dividends out of capital. The bank f…
22 Nov 2020
Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci : the boffins behind the Covid-19 vaccine
Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci : the boffins behind the Covid-19 vaccine
Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci are an unassuming Turkish-German couple who had already made their fortune as biotech entrepreneurs when a strange new vi…
21 Nov 2020
Great frauds in history… William Strahan’s stolen bonds
Great frauds in history… William Strahan’s stolen bonds
Eton-educated William Snow, AKA William Strahan, inherited a huge fortune and joined the family bank. On the face of it he was a pillar of respectable…
18 Nov 2020
Lawrence Stroll: the petrolhead who saved Aston Martin
Lawrence Stroll: the petrolhead who saved Aston Martin
Lawrence Stroll made his fortune in fashion and has a passion for Ferraris and motorsport. When he saw the greatest luxury car brand in the world stru…
14 Nov 2020
Ronald Perelman: the billionaire who is downsizing
Ronald Perelman: the billionaire who is downsizing
Ronald Perelman acquired a fortune as a dealmaker during the 1980s takeover boom. Now he seems to be quietly selling up.
9 Nov 2020
Donald Kendall: helping Pepsi win the cold war
Donald Kendall: helping Pepsi win the cold war
Donald Kendall was there to serve Nikita Khrushchev a Pepsi during a famous cold war détente with Richard Nixon. He went on to become a 20th-century m…
30 Oct 2020
Craig Newmark: the nerd who shook up the media giants
Craig Newmark: the nerd who shook up the media giants
Twenty-five years ago, Craig Newmark lost his job at a brokerage and fired off an email to friends. That seeded a venture, Craigslist, that dominates …
26 Oct 2020
Great frauds in history: the Independent West Middlesex Fire and Life Assurance Company's early Ponzi scheme
Great frauds in history: the Independent West Middlesex Fire and Life Assurance Company's early Ponzi scheme
The Independent West Middlesex Fire and Life Assurance Company (IWM) offered annuities and life insurance policies at rates that proved too good to be…
21 Oct 2020
Mukesh Ambani: the Indian billionaire eyeing global expansion
Mukesh Ambani: the Indian billionaire eyeing global expansion
Mukesh Ambani is already the richest man in India by a large margin, but his ambitions do not end there. He wants India to be at the front of the worl…
19 Oct 2020
Great frauds in history... John Factor’s penny-stock scams
Great frauds in history... John Factor’s penny-stock scams
John Factor sold worthless penny stocks through a boiler room operation, ramping the price via his financial newsletters. But he was never held to ac…
14 Oct 2020
Mohsin and Zuber Issa : garage tycoons who put Asda in their trolley
Mohsin and Zuber Issa : garage tycoons who put Asda in their trolley
The supermarket’s new owners are Mohsin and Zuber Issa, two brothers from Blackburn who started with a rundown petrol station 20 years ago. But their …
8 Oct 2020
Great frauds in history: Farrow’s Bank
Great frauds in history: Farrow’s Bank
Thomas Farrow set up his eponymous bank in 1901, offering high interest rates to small savers. After falsifying the accounts and collapsing the bank, …
7 Oct 2020
Reed Hastings: Netflix founder who looms over Hollywood
Reed Hastings: Netflix founder who looms over Hollywood
Reed Hastings turned Netflix – a DVD rental service rejected by Blockbuster – into a global streaming giant that has redefined the entertainment indus…
4 Oct 2020
Great frauds in history: Alan Bond’s debt-fuelled empire
Great frauds in history: Alan Bond’s debt-fuelled empire
Alan Bond built an empire that encompassed brewing, mining, television on unsustainable amounts of debt, which led to his downfall and imprisonment.
1 Oct 2020
Trevor Milton: big dreamer wakes to a hard reality
Trevor Milton: big dreamer wakes to a hard reality
Trevor Milton wanted to be the next Elon Musk, and planned to revolutionise transport with hydrogen-powered trucks. His dreams are unravelling amid al…
27 Sep 2020