Robert Maxwell Net Worth | celebrity net worth

What was the net worth of Robert Maxwell?

Robert Maxwell was a British media owner and Member of Parliament and had a net worth – $1 billion at the time of his death. At the height of the business empire, Robert Maxwell’s fortune was $1.9 billion. After his death, his business empire had debts of up to $4 billion. Although he managed to dump enough money to provide his children with trust funds that paid out $100,000 annually. It was also revealed posthumously that Robert had looted her employees’ pension funds amounting to several hundred million pounds.

He escaped Nazi occupation and joined the Czechoslovak army during World War II. He founded Pergamon Press and served as Member of Parliament for Buckingham from October 1964 to June 1970. He subsequently purchased the British Printing Corporation as well as the Mirror Group Newspapers and Macmillan Publishers. Eventually, he owned tabloids such as The New York Daily News and The Mirror and a stake in MTV Europe.

Maxwell was forced to sell companies including Pergamon Press in 1989 to cover his debts. Robert Maxwell’s body was found floating in the Atlantic Ocean in 1991 when he was 68 years old. The following year, Maxwell Companies filed for bankruptcy protection.

He was known for his flamboyant lifestyle which included a helicopter and a luxury yacht named Lady Gislin which was named after his daughter Gislyn Maxwell. Years later, Ghislaine Maxwell was accused of working as the lady of financier Jeffrey Epstein. It is alleged that Ghislaine would bring underage women to Jeffrey to molest and rape. She also helped Jeffrey meet such personalities as Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew.

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previous life

Robert Maxwell was born Jan Ludvik Heymann Benjamin Hoch on June 10, 1923 in Slatinsk Dooley in what was then Czechoslovakia. His parents were poor Yiddish-speaking orthodox Jews, named Hana and Michal. Maxwell was one of seven siblings. During World War II, most family members were killed during the Nazi occupation. Maxwell, however, had previously fled to France.

Military service

In exile in Marseille, Maxwell joined the Czechoslovak army. After protesting against the command of the army with hundreds of his fellow soldiers, he was transferred to the Royal Pioneer Corps in Great Britain, and then to the North Staffordshire Regiment. Maxwell went on to fight across Europe, earning the rank of sergeant and later captain. In early 1945, he won the Military Cross. He then worked in Berlin as part of the press department at the Foreign Ministry.

Pergamon Press

After the end of World War II, Maxwell used his military connections to enter the business world. It soon became the British and American distributor for science book publisher Springer Verlag. Later, in 1951, Maxwell acquired the majority of publisher Butterworth Springer, with a minority held by Paul Rosebud. The pair then changed the name of the house to Pergamon Press. In 1956, Rosbaud was fired from the company. Maxwell continued to significantly grow Pergamon over the following years, making it a pioneer in publishing science, technology, and medicine journals. The company went public in 1964.

Pergamon ran into a snag in 1969 when American businessman Saul Steinberg proposed to take over the company. During the negotiations, Pergamon had to lower its earnings forecast and suspend its stock market trading. As a result, Maxwell lost control of the company and was expelled from the board of directors. In an inquiry from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, it was found that Maxwell had devised to maximize the share price of Pergamon through transactions between private family businesses. However, after the company faltered under Steinberg’s leadership, Maxwell borrowed money to restore Pergamon in 1974. Later, in 1991, he sold the company to academic publisher Elsevier.

Other companies and projects

On top of Pergamon Press, Maxwell built a huge media empire by acquiring several other companies. In 1981, he bought the British Printing Company, which was later renamed Maxwell Communications Corporation. During the 1980s, Maxwell also acquired the Mirror newspaper group, which led to a highly publicized media battle between him and his publishing rival Rupert Murdoch. In addition, Maxwell has created Fleetway Publications through IPC Media. By the end of the decade, he owned companies such as Nimbus Records, Macmillan Publishers, Prentice Hall Information Services, and Berlitz Corporation.

In addition to his media companies, Maxwell was also notable for chairing professional football club Oxford United, taking the team to the heights of English football by the mid-1980s. He also acquired the part of Derby County Football Club in 1987. Among his other activities, Maxwell was associated with the secret intelligence organizations MI6, KGB, and Mossad.

Member of Parliament

Besides his media career, Maxwell served as a Member of Parliament for Buckingham, England from 1964 to 1970, representing the Labor Party. After losing his seat to conservative rival William Binion, he vied unsuccessfully for the seat in the 1974 general election.

Personal life and death

In 1945, Maxwell married Elizabeth Maynard, with whom they had nine children: Michael, Philip, Anne, Isabel, Kristen, Karen, Kevin, Ian and Ghislaine. Karen died of leukemia when she was three, while Michael died in his early twenties after falling into a coma caused by a car accident. Meanwhile, Ghislaine was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her involvement with Jeffrey Epstein in a child sex trafficking ring.

Instead of attending a meeting with the Bank of England about his huge financial debts, Maxwell embarked on his luxury yacht Lady Ghislaine in November of 1991. He set sail in the Canary Islands, missing two days later. Maxwell’s naked body was soon found floating in the ocean, his death causing a combination of a heart attack and accidental drowning. Thereafter he held an extravagant funeral in Israel, and was buried on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. His wife, Elizabeth, went on to become a prominent researcher on the Holocaust. She passed away in 2013.

Empire collapse

Due to the massive debt Maxwell left in his wake, his publishing empire collapsed shortly after his death. It was also revealed that hundreds of millions of pounds were embezzled from his companies’ pension funds in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy.

Robert Maxwell was married to Elizabeth Maynard and had nine children.



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