Banking |
|
Your Money > Banking Articles > Celebrities and the...
|
By Sarah Modlock
I'm pretty sure that millionaires get just as fed up as the rest of us when their fortunes are hit by the economic meltdown - it's just that we don't feel sorry for them. Perhaps we can allow ourselves a few minutes of schadenfreude as we take a look at the rich and famous who are now famous for being a little less rich..... Football focus Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich is believed to have lost £12 billion on the Russian stock exchange as plunging shares in two of his companies - steel maker Evraz and mining company Highland Gold - have left the 41-year-old tycoon £11.9 billion worse off. He's also just spent £200million on the largest private yacht ever constructed but before you start sending food parcels, he is thought to have plenty of cash left. Arsenal's part-owner Alisher Usmanov has lost £7billion on the Micex index, which has declined 61% since its peak in May. West Ham's Icelandic owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson also said he may sell the club after losing £230 million. The Beckhams are thought to be suffering as house prices slump in Madrid, where their former home, worth £6.5 million has failed to sell after 17 months. Crunch bites dragons Multi-millionaire Duncan Bannatyne says that the credit crunch is so bad that even he cannot get the banks to lend. "I would like to expand, but I simply can't borrow the money in order to do so," said the health club tycoon, worth £200 million. He warned "We won't be doing the bigger projects any more and will be mainly investing in the smaller ones." Meanwhile an environmentally-friendly haulage company which had the backing of Duncan's Den pals Theo Paphitis and Deborah Meaden has gone into administration. JPM Eco Logistics, led by Rochdale-based Paul Merker and Jerry Mantalvanos, struck an agreement with entrepreneurs in return for 40% of the company on the hit TV show in December 2007. Downturn bad for The Donald Donald Trump is suing Deutsche Bank and other finance houses for $1.9 billion after they cut funding to his project to build America's second biggest tower. The luxury hotel developer claims the banks broke agreements over building and financing the 92-storey Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago. He had been trying to extend a £415 million construction loan from the group, which includes Merrill Lynch, Union Labour Life Insurance, a property investment trust called iStar Financial and a division of Highland Capital Management. Closer to home, The Donald's plans to build 500 homes at his £1 billion golf resort in the north east of Scotland have been put on hold because of the slowdown in the property market. The announcement is the latest controversy surrounding the development, which took two years to gain planning approval following fierce opposition by conservationists. No cash in the attic You might expect the face of money saving programme Cash in the Attic to be a whizz with cash and credit. But Lorne Spicer has filed for bankruptcy at Southend County Court under her married name Donovan, according to The Sun. The journalist turned television presenter has fronted a number of programmes on how to save money, including Beat the Bailiff and Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is. Food fright As we all stay at home eating beans on toast, the restaurant world is struggling. Antony Worrall Thompson is just one of several celebrity chefs in trouble. He has been forced to close four of his restaurants because of the credit crunch. His West London Notting Grill restaurant, Henley-on-Thames based The Lamb Inn and The Greyhound, and the Barnes Grill in South-West London have all been shut. The 57-year-old said he had to use his own savings of £250,000 to buy back his two other restaurants and a shop from the administrators but said that Lloyds Banking Group refused to extend his company's overdraft by the £200,000 he needed to keep all six restaurants going. Meanwhile Gordon Ramsay (who often describes Worrall Thompson as 'the squashed BeeGee') reportedly has a business overdraft of £10.5 million and was fined for failing to file accounts on time for his own multi-million-pound empire. Another chef, Tom Aikens has escaped more than £3million of debts to suppliers, investors and the taxman by putting his restaurants into administration, according to newly released company accounts. He has lost a substantial part of his original personal investment but did not lose his empire. He had a deal lined up with the private equity company which bought the group from the administrators in a move which keeps him on as head chef and also partner and shareholder in the new holding company. Others are left crying into their beer though - suppliers were left £847,000 out of pocket, investors £600,000, banks £172,000, and HM Revenue £711,794, while there were further debts totalling £692,000. Many of the suppliers, some of them small businesses, face substantial and possibly crippling losses. If you think Aikens' move is unfair, you are not alone. However it is perfectly legal and increasingly popular. Meanwhile, Jean Christophe Novelli, has also run into difficulties. His two A Touch of Novelli gastro-pubs, the White Horse in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, and the French Horn in Steppingly, Berkshire, have ceased trading after hitting financial problems. Not taken for Granted TV presenter Anthea Turner's husband, Grant Bovey, has handed over his property empire to a bank. Imagine Homes was once Britain's largest buy-to-let business and has been taken over by HBOS. Bovey is now a consultant to a new company called Imagine Homes (UK), which is responsible only for selling and marketing the property empire he once commanded. He has been left without a financial stake in any part of the business. In the past, he made some of the biggest property purchases ever seen and only months ago was denying any difficulties, barking at newspaper enquiries: "I am sitting in our £5m chateau in Megeve in the Alps. I will sue anyone who says that Imagine Homes is in financial difficulty. We are 20% owned by HBOS and we have huge profits that have yet to materialise." Materialise, they didn't. As for HBOS, well... That's showbiz Other famous names caught in the crunch include models - Gisele Bündchen has cut the asking price of her Manhattan penthouse from $10.9m (around £5.5m) to a paltry $5.9m (around £3m). And the lovelies of the Marks & Spencer adverts are at risk of losing the gig as the retailer goes back to the drawing board on advertising costs. Steven Sharp, marketing director, refused to rule out wholesale changes and conceded that some or all of the five models who will appear in M&S's first Christmas advertisements with Take That, may no longer be with the company in 2009. He said: "We have lots of options, but you will just have to wait and see. We have to take [the savings] from somewhere but I've got some great ideas." Veteran television presenter Sir David Frost and Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson both lost out when £3billion property investment firm the AAim Fund went into administration. Hip Hop stars are not immune either - P Diddy released video blogs in which he moans that the cost of fuel is so high he can no longer fly his private jet and now has to fly on regular airlines and less than a year after it opened Jay-Z was forced to sell his Las Vegas nightclub 40/40 after it was reportedly plagued by financial problems. Poor lambs. Another TV star, Location, Location's Phil Spencer is laying off some staff and seeking a buyer in an attempt to keep his property search business, Garrington Home Finders, going. He must have been doing something right at some stage because Kylie Minogue and Keira Knightly are both said to have been clients. And just this week, The Sun reported that BBC presenter Christine Bleakley has lost her six figure salary as part of the Beeb's plans to slash their star's paychecks. The paper has previously reported how ITV stars Ant and Dec face the same fate - although at £20million, they should be able to weather the financial storm. Useful links: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||