In a very well written book, Nicholas Faith, in The Rise and Fall of the House of Seagram, relates how in one generation the Bronfman family almost lost its entire fortune when Edgar Jr. took over the reigns and decided to invest in Hollywood and divest of safe, profitable businesses.
The family started in the hotel business, sold that and moved into liquor and distilling and with the profits, bought the chemical company E. I. Dupont de Nemours & Co.
With everything they would ever need and a great, profitable stable of businesses, Edgar Jr. decided that he would sell the liquor and chemical business and bet almost everything on Hollywood. It almost cost them everything. They lost between 6 and 7 billion in a relatively short time.
What was one reviewer says is quite telling in contrast to the victimhood that Hollywood is trying to spin itself as today:
"Edgar Jr. had sold a concern with low risks for one with high risks. Booze, after all, is recession-proof. But Hollywood is about hits and flops, studio heads who behave like sharks in a bloodbath, and suckers looted for their cash and then thrown out of the party."
And if you've ever read and met some of the people involved with the industry, that would be describing the good guys. Oh, but the poor studios are being taken advantage of by those copyright pirates breaking the law. Poor Hollywood.
For a great business read I would get this book.
The Bronfmans:
The Rise and Fall of the House of Seagram
By Nicholas Faith
St. Martin's, 352 pages, $34.95
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