Word: australian
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...list of history's most successful land speculators were ever drawn up, first place would probably go to the Dutch settlers who bought Manhattan Island for $24 in trinkets. Second place might go to the Australian government, which paid about $280,000 for almost 1 1/2 acres, including a mansion and gardens, in central Tokyo...
...week earlier, complying with a directive from Australian stock exchanges for all companies to disclose the damages they suffered in the crash, Holmes a Court gave a stunning account of his companies' net losses, now estimated at $1 billion. Holmes a Court described how his principal companies -- Bell Group, Bell Resources and J.N. Taylor Holdings -- suffered an avalanche of falling stock prices in their wide holdings in energy, banking, mining and retailing. As the Holmes a Court companies took losses on these investments, their own shares collapsed as well. The stock-market value of the Holmes a Court corporations plunged...
...future purchases. In February, he withdrew from a $337 million deal to buy a group of newspapers and radio stations from John Fairfax Ltd. But the most stunning move was his retreat from the long, often bitter struggle to gain control of Broken Hill, known as the Big Australian...
Holmes a Court's coming-to-grips with his situation seemed to salvage his reputation somewhat in the financial community. Said the daily Australian Financial Review: "The savage write-downs . . . are no more than tough-minded demolition and site clearing to facilitate clean rebuilding of the group." In fact, Holmes a Court may thrive once again as the lord of a humbler empire, but his brief reign as a globe-straddling raider appears to be finished for good...
...Independence is the only way for us to go now," says George Mye, chairman of the islanders' 19-member Coordinating Council. After initially dismissing the fuss, Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke last week dispatched a Cabinet minister to Thursday, the capital, for discussions. The government then promised to set up a commission to safeguard the islanders' interests every day of the week...