famous investors who died broke- part 4

famous investors who died broke- part 4

fiction
edward w pritchard

other people's money- the entrepreneur- Billie Durant

As General Motors went so went America in the 1950's, but in 1908 General Motors was struggling to survive, competing with the indomitable Ford Motors, and needed a savior; for the bankers were ready to pull the plug and that was before the days of government socialism for business.

William Durant was a man of extreme optimism and vision. Born into a troubled home, he sold fire insurance, cigars and patent medicine as a young man. In 1886 he bought a carriage making factory and in 1904 he acquired and reorganized troubled Buick motors. By 1908 Buick motors was bleeding cash so Durant borrowed and borrowed and reorganized Buick as General Motors.

Durant said he saw 1 hundred million Americans driving one day. The bankers only saw a company with close to one hundred million of debt in 1910. By 1915 the bankers won and William Durant was booted out of General Motors. Within a year following a proxy fight he was President of General Motors again. By 1920 powerful New York bank JP Morgan once and for all forced out the free spending Durant.

During the heady 1920's the promoter Billie Durant successfully raised over 80 million to promote Durant Motors. Unfortunately few cars actually were built or sold. Instead the money was invested in the market by Durant and company and in early 1929 the company had approximately 1 billion dollars in highly leverage assets and Durant personally was worth an estimated one hundred million. In January 1929 [ten months before the market crash] Durant stepped down as head of Durant Motors and announced that he, "the dream maker" wanted to devote more time to personal interests.

In 1936 Durant declared bankruptcy, the fortune was gone in the aftermath of the crash. In 1939 he opened a bowling alley in Flint, Michigan. His health and appearance declined throughout the 1940's and he died in 1947 as an old man of very modest means.