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Tim Wimborne / Reuters
A potential bidder views a foal at the Magic Millions sales complex on Australia's Gold Coast during an auction of Broodmares from Patinack Farm, the horse racing stud owned by mining magnate Nathan Tinkler, on October 30, 2012.
Martyn Rushby / Handout via Reuters, file
Nathan Tinkler's rise from obscure electrician to mining magnate, sports club owner and champion of a rejuvenated Australian industrial town could be unravelling.
Reuters reports — With a cry of "cheap as old boots" from the auctioneer, the hammer came down at A$5,000 ($5,200) on the first broodmare to open a three-day auction of 350 horses from the stables of faltering mining magnate Nathan Tinkler.
Tinkler's rise from pit electrician to Australia's youngest billionaire has hit a hurdle, with creditors circling his stable of mining, sports and racing businesses, and he is raising funds with the out-of-season sale that began on Tuesday.
His 19.4 percent stake in Australia's biggest independent coal miner Whitehaven Coal, which represents the bulk of his wealth, is heavily leveraged and has shrunk considerably in line with falling coal prices. Read the full story.
Tim Wimborne / Reuters
An auctioneer at the Magic Millions sales complex on Australia's Gold Coast brings his hammer down during an auction of Broodmares from Patinack Farm on October 30, 2012.
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If he can hang in there coal will come back once the global warming scam is over and people decide they again want cheap reliable energy.
But he shouldn't have been wasting his money on horses either.
'The stone age didn't end because we ran out of stones."
Economykiller,
Please enlighten us with scientific data backing up your claim that global warming is a scam. I'd be interested in what facts and observations you can provide which support your claim.
Two scientists in Great Britain exchanged an e-mail in which they implied they may be exaggerating their own data in their particular studies. This of course, discredits any research done, worldwide, since time began. We call this the "scientific method".
What more proof do you need? Well, that's all Fox News needs.
People believe want they want to hear, and this fellow wants to believe he can drive his house to work and pay 10 cents for gas, and hey, have you lost weight? Looking good, dude!
You'll never go broke underestimating the gullibility of the American Public
economykiller, you make me wonder how we ever made it into this digital age. You're just todays iteration of those who scoffed at horseless carriages, and air travel, etc. Where would we be if minds like yours decided how we progressed into the future? Somewhere far back in the past I reckon.
As for the scientific method, that relies on producing results that can be confirmed independently. One or two scientist aren't going to change the real data being produced by thousands of scientists worldwide.
Something about not putting all your eggs in one basket.
Diversify is something he should have learned in High School economics..Put all your eggs in one basket and this is exactly what happens. And a smart person would put much of his worth into an IRA to fall back on if the rest of his investments tank. And always sell a falling stock before it ever reaches near what you paid for it.. Hence, if you sell at a profit, you can buy when it's at it's lowest if you want to play a game of risk without losing your shirt. Granted not always possible, but a good game plan none the less :)
We had one of the worst Droughts in decades and you believe it's a hoax.....This guy should have invested in other things besides horses....
hs321,that was my mother's favorite adage.I feel for this guy.Even the rich are having a hard time hanging on in this downturn global economy.
Yeah. Global warming scam. After all, what do scientists know?
Billionaire and Billionaire-on-paper are two different things.
I realized this in 2007 when I owned five houses. "On paper" I was really wealthy, but I was also heavily leveraged in debt. The "market values" of my assets were inflated.
So I sold it all, which turned out to be a good thing, and ended up with real money, not imaginary numbers.
Sounds like this fellow was in the same boat - on a scale 1,000 times bigger - but didn't get out in time.
You can leverage your way to wealth, but it is a house of cards.
Did he ever actually own anything, or was it all "leverage".
Good idea for anyone who ever comes into some assets, whether inherited, earned, profit, gambling, or capital gain - be sure to put away enough to live on for the rest of your life, in cash. And by cash, I mean currency in a sock, and/or Gold Eagles in an ammo chest. Inflation will erode the cash, and the precious metals/diamonds will bounce around in value, so keep that in mind when salting it away.
And the government keeps printing money, devaluing your "real money".
Which is misleading on two fronts. 1) Bills are constantly being taken out of circulation. 2) There's always less printed money in circulation than the total amount of wealth in dollars. A lot of money doesn't exchange hands in bill form.
...when someone mentions "printing money", they usually include the entire money supply (currency printed and coins minted, all deposits and debts, all assets that can be used as collateral.) Considering this, when the "value" of stocks, bonds, or real estate goes up, there is more "money" in circulation - the owners feel wealthier, they can borrow funny money based on the assets, buying more assets and increasing the prices of stuff through demand.
hs321, you should have been with the fools on the HMS Bounty. This idiot that owned all these horses lives in Australia. How is our 'printing money' costing him?
And for the person talking about coal, since when is burning coal, possibly the dirtiest fuel on the planet, cleaner than natural gas?
The two of you sould stop trolling the 'Vine and get over to the Fox area.
The cheap natural gas in the US makes coal not so good a prospect for a long time.. NG is cheaper and cleaner as long as they do not destroy folks ground water.. Probably can be done safely, but care is critical.
This a prime reason so many old coal power plants are being replaced by NG power plant -- today it is the winner for cheap and "cleanest"
Larger commercial fleets and long haul trucking are shifting to NG as the refilling infrastructure expands
Stoney, you can't use their argument against them. Market forces are making coal prices plummet but that is no reason why coal prices can't stay high, right? It's supply and demand free markets until what they supply isn't what is demanded. Fracking has made coal expensive compared to NG. When I was a kid people even in Chicago had coal heating. When was the last time anyone heated their home with coal? My grandparents heated their home with coal and grandma even cooked with a coal stove into the 1970s. My cousins that have her home now have gas heat and cooking. And that is in the coalmining region in Pennsylvania. My grandfather was a coalminer. My father was in his younger days. All my uncles were for most of their lives. Coal is going the way of cars with fins and LP records.
Devil, I agree with you. Industrial progress and the law of supply & demand will dictate the future of the coal industry. For that matter, it dictates the future of any industry.
That is something Obama should have considered when he gave the alternative energy companies billions of dollars. Is there a need for altarnative fuel products, yes. Is there a demand for them, no. As long as there are other cheap options for fuel, people will not buy the alternative fuel products.
So Harry, we should take the short sighted view with natural gas as we did with oil and coal. While we have a gas "boom" now, will it last forever? Probably not. So why not try to develop alternative energy sources? If we hadn't squandered trillions on wars we had no business being in, the few billion spent on alternative energy development would be a proverbial drop in the bucket.
Bring alternative energy prices in line with existing energy prices and it will sell. In order to do that, we have to develop it and that takes financial investment. As private business will not take the risk, our government must. Kind of like space exploration. It never would have happened without our government's investment. Today, private business is entering the space business, as there is a buck to be made. Remember those crazy expensive flat screen TV's? Now they are cheap, but it had to start somewhere.
The headline is longer than the article.
Bring on the zombie apocalypse...we can eat the rich.
... and the impoverished.
So you're in trouble either way.
It is a sad day for us all.
Global warming is real. Look around. do you see any saber toothed tigers? Wooly mammoths? Mastodons? Giant sloths? Have you spoken to a Neanderthal lately? (And, yes, I know all white people are part Neanderthal.)
Shocking, just shocking. Poor electrician!
Worst Case Scenario, He walks away with a couple meazly million and fades off in the Sunset. I wouldn't mind trying that myself.
so obama is killing aussie coal too?
the fact that natural gas is half the cost and half the emissions has nothing to do with it
'Heavily leveraged' just means he doesn't really have access to that much cash. It's just his net worth. I still wish I had his problem.
Try as I might, I am unable to generate as much as a scintilla of sympathy for this still-rich fat boy.
G'day, U.S of A , this bloke was luck personified. He had access to a million bucks and put it on an coal exploration block that somehow was missed by the big players. Good on him. And being a local boy made good, of course he bought the local football teams (both codes) and went on spending spree. You could say it has been a cautionary tale, but as another poster has stated he'll walk away a cool couple of mill. Boy, I wish I had the opportunity to splurge half a billion, but the way things happen they are gifted to people who have no taste or sense.
Tell 'em Tassie.
Let's see, around $5200 for each of 350 horses is roughly $2 million. And he has other sports businesses? How much does he owe? I guess if you're a billionaire, you can run up a lot of debt figuring it's a drop in the bucket - until the bucket shrinks!
Shoulda diversified or used CFDs and other exotic instruments. Need a better broker...that is, if he can still hang onto enough of his fortune.
Perhaps he has buried some money in a suitcase somewhere, or hidden assets with distant relatives?