Shrewdness Has a Price to Pay

Ian Robert Maxwell was a British media man. He also served in the British Parliament. From poverty, Maxwell worked hard to build one of the largest publishing empires in the world.

Maxwell was born in Czechoslovakia. He was a decorated member of the British Army who fought during the World War II. When the war was over, Maxwell built the Pergamon Press which eventually became a major publishing house. He served in the Parliament for six years, after which he focused on his publishing business again. He had a series of acquisitions, which included the Mirror Group Newspapers, British Printing Corporation and Macmillan Inc.

Controversies embroiled Maxwell while he lived a flamboyant lifestyle. One of the major controversies attached to him was his support for Israel when the nation was fighting in the War of Independence in 1948. Maxwell sold Pergamon Press, one of his more successful businesses, to pay for his huge debts.

Maxwell’s dead body was found floating in the Atlantic Ocean in November 1991. Reports said he fell overboard his yacht. His death uncovered fraudulent misappropriations in his companies’ finances. His sons struggled to keep his businesses going. In 1992, his companies applied for bankruptcy.