King Larry : The Life and Ruins of a Billionaire Genius

English

ISBN: 1416589228

EAN: 9781416589228

Category: Biography & Autobiography / Business/Business & Economics / Entrepreneurship/

Publisher: Scribner

Release Date: 07/22/2012

Synopsis: When globalization pioneer and reclusive billionaire Larry Hillblom disappeared in 1995, he left behind an international fiasco that is still unraveling today. King Larry is a three-part journey, beginning with the early years of a mercurial young man who grew up fatherless on a peach farm outside of Fresno, California. Months after graduating from Boalt Hall School of Law in 1969, Hillblom cofounded DHLthree years before FedEx was formedand it quickly became the fastest-growing corporation in history. Hillbloms expatriate life began twelve years later, when he retreated to a small tax haven in the Western Pacific. There, James Scurlock reveals, Hillblom led the resistance to American meddling in the Mariana Islands, rewrote the tax code and real-estate laws, and became a Supreme Court justiceamong other unlikely exploits. Hillbloms voracious appetite for underage prostitutes is another facet of his convoluted story, illuminating the realities of the sex and human-trafficking industries in Southeast Asia. But Hillbloms amoral, thrill-seeking nature finally caught up with him when his vintage seaplane disappeared off the coast of Anatahan in May 1995, and he left behind an estate worth close to a billion dollars. Weeks later, five impoverished women and their attorneys came forward to challenge Hillbloms will, his former business partners, and his alma mater, provoking a legal battle that has raged for over fifteen years. From Howard Hughes to Mark Zuckerberg, the public has always been fascinated by larger-than-life entrepreneurs and their eccentricities. Now, James Scurlock engages us with the riveting story of one such man, who dressed in rags and lived in relative obscurity, but who has had a profound and lasting influencea pioneer who shrank the globe, toppled the postal monopoly, anticipated electronic mail, and, most important, envisioned a world driven by economics rather than by laws.

King Larry : The Life and Ruins of a Billionaire Genius

Illustrated: Yes

Format: Hardcover

Height: 1.1 inches

Width: 6.0 inches

Length: 9.0 inches

Weight: 17.57 oz

Pages: 352