Word: man
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...this has been conceived, directed, and largely financed by one man: Daniel Keith Ludwig; 82, the secretive shipowner and industrialist whose estimated net worth of $3 billion or more makes him the richest American. Tough-minded and intensely shy, Ludwig is sole owner of his enterprises and thus must answer to no one. Operating from offices in Manhattan's Burlington House, he runs a maze of companies (he has 19 in Brazil alone). His flagship firm, National Bulk Carriers, operates one of the world's largest private fleets of huge supertankers and cargo ships. He is also proprietor...
...Amazon is so wild that Ludwig was obliged to become a one-man development program. In the past twelve years, his Jari Forestry and Agricultural Enterprises has invested some $780 million, of which $520 million came directly from Ludwig's resources. He has carved from the rain forest four towns (the largest of which is Monte Dourado), as well as an 85-bed hospital, four schools, 4,500 miles of roads and trails, a 26-mile railroad, and three small airports. The project has attracted so many job seekers, peddlers and hangers-on that the population of the area...
Even for a man of Ludwig's wealth, the Jari project can be a drain. His executives believe that funding for the project is catch as catch can. When Ludwig has surplus funds from his many ventures, he pours them into Jari. When his cash flow is tight-a situation that even a billionaire occasionally encounters-everybody is told to start saving paper clips...
...less dictatorial. The present project chief, John Trescot Jr., 54, an ace cost cutter who has been on the job for six months, claims that he can actually argue with him over decisions. Ludwig is beginning to accept a substantial dilution of his authority. He has created an eight-man committee that exercises an overall policymaking role. Also, Ludwig has willed Jari to a Swiss-based cancer institute that he has set up, and ultimately it will use profits from the project to promote medical research...
Until now, in order to run the operation as a one-man show, Ludwig has even refused Brazilian tax credits that could have saved him roughly 50% of his own investment. However, since the next stage will cost $650 million to $750 million and perhaps much more, he is seeking to line up credit from American and European financial institutions...