Buscar

Translate

Bad Celebrity Investments That Make You Go Hmmm

By Cornelius Nunev


Celebrities and their cash are often parted. Here are some of the most memorably poor celebrity investments, ever.

Mark Twain investment

One poor investment was made by the first modern celebrity in America, Mark Twain. In the last 19th century, he got a Paige Compositor that was supposed to be a typesetter faster than the standard Linotype. It wound up not working well because it had over 18,000 parts and needed to be cared for too much. Over 11 years, Twain spent $150,000 to $300,000 on the machine, which was a lot of cash back in his day.

Jay-Z

Jay-Z's J Hotels in New York City turned out to be a major bust. The hip-hop mogul bought land in the Chelsea neighborhood in 2007 to build a 150,000-square-foot luxury hotel. By 2008, however, construction was shut down due to lack of funds caused by the economic crash. Jay-Z's business defaulted on the $52 million loan, and the hotel partners gave the property back to the lenders. Legal battles and out-of-court settlements came to a painful yet unspecified financial end in December 2010.

Bono not making an investment wisely

Bono was very profitable in his investments with Facebook, BioWare, Pandemic Studios and Yelp. The only problem was that his confidence grew into investments in Forbes, Inc. ($300 million) and Palm ($460 million). These investments only brought a $25 million return for Bono, and he was known as "the worst investor in America" by 24/7 Wall Street. He is the managing director for entertainment equity firm Elevation Partners presently.

Investment decision from Larry King

A huge life insurance coverage scam was put on King when he invested into two policies worth $15 million. He ended up only getting $1.4 million out of the sale.

Kevin Bacon and many more

The Bernard Madoff $65 billion Ponzi scheme wound up stealing money from over 200 investors, many of which were celebs. Lots of people try to make up for the financial loss now that Madoff is in jail serving 150 years for 11 federal felonies.

Another poor investment from a movie star

The most popular movie star of the 1970s, Burt Reynolds wound up handling the urge many celebrities face: opening a restaurant chain. The chain was PoFolks, and outlets existed in California, Texas and Florida. By the late 1980s, however, the cupboard was bare and Reynolds was out $15 million. His eventual divorce from Loni Anderson and diminished star power led to a 1996 bankruptcy. Even though he was more than $10 million in debt, bankruptcy court allowed him to keep his $2.5 million mansion and all of his personal property that Anderson hadn't already claimed.

Just one more from Debbie Reynolds

Classic Hollywood movie star and Las Vegas fixture Debbie Reynolds purchased a Vegas casino in 1991. She christened it the Debbie Reynolds Hotel & Casino but neglected to anticipate just how much trouble the accommodation would have maintaining business because it was situated off the strip. A 1997 bankruptcy and sale of the hotel to the World Wrestling Federation in 1998 for $10 million left Reynolds broke and heartbroken. She would experience such grief again last year when her memorabilia museum also went bankrupt, forcing her to sell off the trappings of her film career.




About the Author:



 
ITS ALL ABOUT Finance © 2012