YouSaid · the spoken record

Marc Rich

lines on the record: 20
first: 2019-03-10
most recent: 2019-03-10
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Even though he was pursued by the most powerful nation on earth, which did everything possible to thwart his business dealings, Mark Rich was able to continually expand his company until became the world's largest and most successful independent oil and metals trading company. In nineteen ninety, seven years after he was indicted in New York, he was active in 128 countries, had forty-eight offices around the globe, and employed 1,200 people. He bought and sold one point five million barrels of oil each day, more than the daily average output of Kuwait. He ruled over a trading empire with an annual turnover of thirty billion dollars. The company earned anywhere from two hundred million to four hundred million in profits each year.”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Million metric tons of oil per year, as stipulated by the contract, Richard signed with the Shah's government. Remember, he goes back, he's like, I don't do business with people for one time. I do it forever, or over the long term. So he had a long-term agreement with what before was Persian, now was Iran. They didn't have any objections, he says. And this is, again, an insight into how his mind works. He says, as if nothing at all unusual about the situation. I had asked him how he had managed to gain the trust of the new Comimia regime, even though he had worked closely with the Shah's government. His laconic, and that's a great way to describe the way he talks, answer helps to explain why traders such as Rich exists in the first place and why they were in such great demand. We performed a service for them, Rich explains. We bought the oil, we handled the transport, and we sold it. They couldn't do it themselves, so we were able to do it.”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“States, it was doing it under Switzerland. Years before this event happened in Iran, right? Or Persia, I guess. I know, whatever. Rich believed that his Swiss company was exempt from the order according to this definition. The spring of 1979 saw the beginning of one of the 20th century's most astounding business partnerships. Surely after the revolution, the anti-Semitic, anti-capitalist, and anti-American regime of the Ayatollah Khomeini decided to do business with none other than the Jewish American businessman Mark Rich. In the end, the new government, which had canceled most of the contracts signed during the Shah's reign, decided to trade with one of his most important partners. And this is why this is now Mark talking about the Simon His Life. They respected the contracts. So their main state-run oil company there is the NIOC. They continue to sell Mark Riching Company to $10.”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And this is, I would say, Mark Rich's management philosophy. Rich did not put much stock in university education, but instead entrusted employees with as much freedom and responsibility as they could bear. We throw young people into the swimming pool. Either they sink or they learn how to swim. I would say either they learn how to swim or they sink. And then this is one of his employees who worked for him for 25 years. He says he lets you do it the way you see best. It allows you to put your whole heart into it without any limitations. He leaves you to decide using your best judgment. I think that's the environment. If you're truly talented, like that's probably, even if you're working for somebody else, that's the environment you want to be in. They crave autonomy. And you can have that as an entrepreneur. You can have that within an organization as long as the management structure reflects that level of freedom that you want.”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Demand could be balanced much more efficiently. The spot market brought with it an increase in productivity that helped to turn the entire industry inside out. Oil was now precisely what Rich had predicted only a few years before. Just another commodity. Mark Rich invented the concept of the independent oil trade. That is why he is such an important person in the history of the trade.”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And then it's saying, well, how does this even happen? It says mark riching, well, first of all, you're beneficial because you have a huge amount of instability in the market. You're just happening to reinvent at the time. But it's also Mark Richard Company operated according to a completely different philosophy than did Phillips Brothers. It was more aggressive, faster, and more oriented towards long-term contract. So Mark always talks about the competitive advantage of his company with speed. And I want to get into this whole The whole time the book like there's so.”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Okay, so now he's up and running. And this is the remarkable first year of the company where he referenced earlier that he just felt, and a lot of times he was just at the right place at the right time, kind of outside of his control. And this is one of them, the oil shock of 1974. It was a good time for a commodity trader who wanted to go into business for himself. The world had been changed forever by the oil embargo imposed in the wake of the Yom Kippur War and skyrocketing oil prices. These developments led to the world's first oil shock, a shock that would have serious economic consequences the world over. It was a fabulous time for Rich and his partners. Mark Rich and Company was simply swimming in oil for which the US and European oil companies were willing to pay a very good price. That's now a quote from Mark. It was a good situation for us. It was a shortage of oil and we had the oil.”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And then so it says on April 3rd, 1974 in the Swiss town of Zug, Mark Rich and Company was founded, the five partners brought a total of 2 million Swiss francs and seed capital to the table. Rich borrowed money from his father-in-law, as well as his own father. So that's how he's getting set up. And then I was like, why is he in Switzerland though? So he's going to lay out exactly why. It was no accident that Rich chose Switzerland as the location for the headquarters of Mark Riching Company. First of all, Switzerland is politically neutral and in the mid-1970s was not even a member of the United Nations. Second, Zug is close to Zurich, one of the world's best and thanks to a strong banking secrecy regulations, most discrete financial centers. Remember, he felt secrecy was like a strategic advantage. So it's saying, okay, first of all, they're politically neutral. They also are very discreet with their financial transactions. And finally, it's a tax paradise with comparatively low income tax.”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Okay, so this is where I meant there's a lot about Mark. I just didn't understand. And so I thought he was living in Spain at the time. He's also traveling everywhere. But this is the story of the founding of Mark Rich and Company. And then why he chose Switzerland as the headquarters. So he says, we all liked each other and they felt that there was more opportunity to make money, to make money. This was a phrase I heard time and time again from Rich when he spoke of his own motivation or the motivation of others. Money was the prime mover”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And Jesse said he refused to pay on principle to pay more than $150,000. And so Rich says, so I had to leave. I didn't want to leave. I'd been there for 20 years. I liked the company. I always thought that the company would be my career for the rest of my life. But Jesselson got stuck on the principle. As soon as the meeting was over, Rich phoned Green, and Green didn't hesitate. I told him that I didn't reach an agreement with Jesselson. Pinky's nickname was Pinky. Pinky did not hesitate for a second. So we're going, he said. That one telephone call would mark the beginning of the most successful commodities company the world had ever seen.”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And not only in Phillips Brothers, but when they actually leave and start their own company together. So it says Rich and Greens trade in oil alone earn the company between $4 and $5 million of profit in 1973. Mark Rich did not earn much more than $70,000 per year at the time. With his bonus, it was possibly $100,000. After racking up such amazing trade successes, Rich came to the conclusion that $100,000 was nowhere near enough. He demanded a bonus of $500,000 for himself and the same again for Green. My request was influenced by what I knew the company was making, Rich said. So he meets with the company founder in many ways basically his mentor for 20 years, this guy named Jesse Wilson, whatever. His name's not important. But the founder of the company just offered rich $150,000”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Starting his own company. It's just he gets, well, I'll get into it right here. And I talked about this on Twitter. I think the moral of the story here is like you need to pay your talent. And so he gets screwed on pay and decides to start his own company. And so they wind up trading in oil. He invents the spot market. They make a ton of money, right? But the money is going to the company. And it says rich in green, green's going to be his partner.”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Person in the right place at the right time. I was working in a commodity trading house, and the oligopoly of the Seven Sisters was coming to a halt. Suddenly the world needed a new system of bringing the oil from the producing countries to the consuming countries. So that's exactly what I did. Rich realized that if the oil producing countries wished to break the dominance of the corporations, they would need independent traders like him. They simply did not have the means, the marketing know-how, the established distribution channels, contacts to the refineries, and the market of the oil themselves. Rich knew that he could offer all of these by utilizing Phillips Brothers worldwide organization. He wanted to repeat the success he had enjoyed trading mercury. He wanted to create a market. It's very interesting that he's trying to do this with InPhillips Brothers. He kind of speaks that he was happy there. I don't think he ever really thought about...”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The Castro regime wouldn't just take it. So it says the 24-year-old rich flew to Havana shortly after the revolution in order to negotiate with the new regime. So he winds up staying there for a long time, about six months, just trying to negotiate with them. And he's successful, he recoups all of, he gets all their money back. They fills, in fact, doesn't lose any money. He starts making money in Cuba. But the reason I bring this story up is because it's an insight into how the mind of Mark Rich works. He's just like people are like, how did you do this? And he's just like, it's pretty obvious to me. So he says, Rich analyzes the situation. What did Castro and his government need most of all? They needed hard currency. They needed international context. Contacts. They needed jobs. Castro must want to continue production at the mine, which would both ensure jobs and bring currency into the country. Rich thus devised a creative solution that initially appeared foolhardy. I offered to inject fresh”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“At the time, Mercury was used predominantly in thermometers, batteries, and detonators. Trading was consequently limited and the prices were low. Having analyzed the global political situation, he had come to the conclusion that Mercury would soon be in great demand. Now, keep in mind, he's doing this in his early, early 20s. I think he's like 21 or 22 at the time. When Rich started trading in Mercury, all the indications were pointing to war. He called any producer who had the slightest connection to Mercury in order to buy the stuff. He located his first source at the Spanish mining company, the name of the company's not important, so I'll skip that. Before long, he had established a good relationship with producers and consumers and was regarded as an expert in the mercury trade. Meanwhile, the demand for the commodity soared and the United States government, which commenced a rearmament program that saw the Air Force and Army increasing their stocks of mercury by over fifty percent.”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And then he talks about what he learned from his father. My father had a knack for success and an uncompromising work ethic. So his father is also very remained very open to different opportunities. So he gets the opportunity to sell his business in Kansas City. He moves to Queens, New York. And they just, you know, we always talk about the value of niche businesses, especially in the agent of the internet. Well, this is a hell of a niche. They found this is what in the early 1950s. So he sets up a business. And its main activity was important.”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He buys a car before the Nazis move. He says, My father put us on the car. We started to drive away. I saw the German planes. I heard the bombings. The German attack and the hasty getaway are his first real memories, Mark's first real memories. The fear, the confusion, the uncertainty, the trauma of flight and loss of home were etched into the mind of the five-year-old boy. This is actually probably important to his life because he's always felt like very much an outsider. He didn't really have a country. And so a lot of that came, like he's...”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Be they dictators or democrats, communists or capitalists. Okay, so let's get into his early life, and this is before I get into his early life. This is just him reflecting it towards the end of his life. Like, who is the person who influenced his life the most? And this is the answer Mark's answer to that question. He says, my father is definitely the person who influenced me the most. We fled from Belgium, and he managed to build up an important business from zero. He actually did that twice. He then begins to tell me a story. This is now the author saying, a story of poverty and riches, power and morality, politics and genius. His story, and in many ways the story of oil in the past and the future. Okay, so this is a little bit about how they escape the Nazis.”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Give value from my work, please subscribe and support it financially. I would appreciate that. Okay, so let me just, I have to get into the body of the main part of this podcast because this story is insane. And I have way more notes than I normally do. So I don't, let's not waste any more time. Let's just go ahead and get right into the secret lies of Mark Rich. So this is what the book hopes to answer. How did he and a handful of business partners seem to appear out of nowhere and go on to dominate global trade in oil and other commodities? What were the crucial decisions the milestones in his unlikely career? And how far did he have to go in order to reach them? What were his limits? What were his greatest successes and his worst defeats? What drives him? And what can be learned from his entrepreneurial skills?”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Okay, so that was an excerpt for the book that I want to talk to you about today, which is The King of Oil, the secret lives of Mark Rich. And before I do that, welcome to Founders. My name is David, and the idea behind this podcast is very simple. Every week I read a biography of an entrepreneur, and I try to find and pull out ideas from their life experiences that we can all use in our lives. So I have a lot of notes for this book, so we got to get started. But before I jump into the rest of the book and the ideas I want to share with you, as a reminder, this podcast is ad free and independent. So if you give value for my work, please consider investing in the ongoing production of this content by subscribing to Founders Notes, which is now not only is it on my podcast notes on entrepreneurs, which by themselves are extremely valuable because it's the key ideas of hours and hours of audio, but I've turned that into a daily podcast. So if you want to...”
2019-03-10 · Founders · #63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source