Billions to Bust - and Beyond (New and Updated Edition) (Trade Paperback)

Billions to Bust – and Beyond (New and Updated Edition) (Paperback)

How I made, lost and rebuilt a fortune, and what I learned on the way

Thor Bjorgolfsson

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A no-holds-barred true story of risk, loss and adventure capitalism

Thor Bjorgolfsson is a self-styled adventure capitalist who became Iceland's first billionaire: by his 40th birthday he had assets of around $4 billion. Among them was investment in Iceland's oldest bank, Landsbanki - but in the 2008 financial meltdown, Landsbanki crashed, taking Bjorgolfsson with it. He lost nearly everything, yet amazingly by 2014 had made good his losses, repaid his creditors and rebuilt his empire. This new and extensively revised edition brings the buccaneering story of his extraordinary and ambitious achievements fully up to date.

Publication date: 04/12/2025

£14.99

ISBN: 9781805220237

Imprint: Profile Books

Subject: Arts, Language & Literature

Billions to Bust - and Beyond (New and Updated Edition) (Accessible EPUBAccessible EPUB)

Billions to Bust – and Beyond (New and Updated Edition) (Ebook)

How I made, lost and rebuilt a fortune, and what I learned on the way

Thor Bjorgolfsson

Preorder from

Amazon Kobo Apple Books

A no-holds-barred true story of risk, loss and adventure capitalism

Thor Bjorgolfsson is a self-styled adventure capitalist who became Iceland's first billionaire: by his 40th birthday he had assets of around $4 billion. Among them was investment in Iceland's oldest bank, Landsbanki - but in the 2008 financial meltdown, Landsbanki crashed, taking Bjorgolfsson with it. He lost nearly everything, yet amazingly by 2014 had made good his losses, repaid his creditors and rebuilt his empire. This new and extensively revised edition brings the buccaneering story of his extraordinary and ambitious achievements fully up to date.

Publication date: 04/12/2025

£13.99

ISBN: 9781805220244

ISBN 10 / ASIN: B0C5FTFVP9

Imprint: Profile Books

Subject: Arts, Language & Literature

Reviews for Billions to Bust – and Beyond (New and Updated Edition)

'A must-read for anyone with entrepreneurial spirit'

Nick Leeson Management Today

'A self-confessed deal junkie afloat on the turbulent seas of global capitalism, this latter day Thor's life story of triumph, disaster and, it seems, redemption is in the finest tradition of Viking sagas. He provides a gripping insider's perspective on the causes of the financial crisis and its aftermath that you won't read anywhere else'

Matthew Bishop 

'Thor Bjorgolfsson made $4billion by the time he was 40 and lost most of it by the time he was 41. His story has much to tell about entrepreneurship. dogged ambition and the brutal might of global markets. A classic tale of how a young man from a small island reached for the sky, achieved riches beyond his dreams and then saw the sky come crashing in on him'

Brent Hoberman 

'Though the global financial crisis has spawned shoals of instant histories, mostly by small-fry journalists, there are precious few first-hand accounts of what it was like to be one of the big fish swimming in the treacherous economic seas of the past two decades. Now comes Icelandic entrepreneur Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson with a gripping autobiography that describes not only his part in his homeland's banking blow-up but also his earlier career as a brewer in the "Wild East" that was post-Soviet Russia. Anyone who wants to understand the animal spirits that propelled the world economy all the way underwater in 2008 - and then slowly raised it back to the surface again - will relish Billions to Bust and Back'

Niall Ferguson 

'Thor has lived a classic story of boom to bust; of youthful ambition and exuberance; of sheer passion and determination. Now he has emerged to tell the tale. Inspiring!'

Ashish Thakkar 

'PRAISE FOR BILLIONS TO BUST - AND BACK'

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Thor Bjorgolfsson

Thor Bjorgolfsson

Thor Bjorgolfsson is a self-styled 'adventure capitalist' and was Iceland's first billionaire. Born in 1967, his earliest business deal was persuading his father to lend him $80 to buy vintage Marvel and X-Men comics, an investment that he still holds. He made his first $100 million in 2002, from the sale of his Russian Bravo brewery business to Heineken. At the age of 40, Forbes magazine estimated his wealth at $3.4 billion and featured him on its cover.