Robert Maxwell was a British media tycoon and Member of Parliament (MP). He was born in poverty
Question:
Robert Maxwell was a British media tycoon and Member of Parliament (MP). He was born in poverty in the Czech Republic, fought with the Free Czech army during the Second World War and received the British Military Cross for his bravery on the battlefield. Subsequently, he became an international publishing baron and started his own publishing company Pergamon Press. In the early 1970s, he was investigated by the authorities in the United Kingdom (UK) for the failure of his company Pergamon Press, and following the investigations, he was designated by the authorities in the UK as a person who could not be relied upon to exercise the stewardship of any public listed company in the UK. However, despite that, he subsequently succeeded in building up a media empire that included two public listed companies, Maxwell Communication Corporation and Mirror Group of Newspapers. However, he was later found dead in mysterious circumstances in 1991. He was alleged to have used his dominant position as Chairman of the Trustees of the Maxwell Group’s pension funds to siphon off monies for his other private interests and was also involved in an illegal scheme to bolster the share prices of companies within his Maxwell Group. In the end, his holding companies went bankrupt, and the Maxwell Group collapsed. It was estimated that 763 million pounds sterling were plundered from his two public listed companies and their pension funds to prop up Robert Maxwell’s private interests. You are required to write a report which should include the following information:
i. An introduction to the case, incorporating all the appropriate background information.
ii. Elaborate on the valuable lessons learned by Boards of Directors from this scandal.
iii. Discuss the appropriate lessons learned from corporate governance perspectives; and
iv. Detail the critical factors which contributed to both Maxwell’s initial successes and his later failures. Expectations This group assignment expects you to seek out, extract and analyze relevant information from various sources. You are expected to write and present a well-structured, cohesive, and clear report using the appropriate writing style and language.
Expert Answer:
i Maxwell was a British businessman who owned a publishing company called Pergamon Press However his ... View the full answer
