Jay Zhemin Chen

20316557
Hist 113
History Biography Essay: The Fall of Conrad Black
November 19, 2009
 Conrad Black, one of the most powerful businessmen in Canada, was once the CEO of the third

largest media company in the world during the late 1990s. He had wealth, fame, and status, but he

didn’t feel as if it was enough. Black continued to seize every opportunity possible to expand his

personal wealth and fame, which eventually lead him to the doors of Coleman Federal Correctional

Complex in Florida in 2008. The fall of Conrad Black can be attributed to his egotistic pride and his overly

ambitious business etiquette.

Conrad Black was raised in a wealthy family that owned two large corporations. His business

career started when he inherited his family’s holdings in both companies and became part of the board

of shareholders of Argus Corp. Ltd in 1978 (Olive). Shortly after he acquired Argus Corp. Ltd, Black sold

many of its assets and reinvested them into the newspaper media industry. From 1985 to 1996, Black

purchased and acquired many well known newspaper companies and formed the Hollinger

International. By 1996, Black controlled 55% of the total Canadian daily newspaper market share and a

few international newspaper companies. He ultimately formed the world’s third largest newspaper

media group (Webster). Although Black’s enormous wealth and fame was rapidly gained within 10

years, it also promptly fell in 2003.

Conrad Black’s fall started because by his egotistic pride. Throughout his business career,

Conrad Black had filed countless libel suits against various organizations for damaging his reputation.

Conrad Black’s first libel suit was filed in 1983 towards a U.S society magazine for defamation. The

second one quickly spurred in 1989 towards the Globe and Mail over a profile of Black in 1987 that

allegedly damaged Black’s good character. Both cases resulted in written and published apologies

(Olive). The most famous libel suit case occurred in 1999 when Conrad Black sued the Canadian Prime

Minister Jean Chrétien because he cited that the British monarch cannot confer titles on Canadian

Citizens thereby denying Conrad Black to be appointed into the British House of Lords (Webster). Black
sued many organizations and even the prime minister whenever he felt threatened by their comments.

He felt that his reputation was being damaged and especially disliked when he didn’t receive the

recognition he wanted. In addition, not only did Black’s egotistic pride cost him billions of dollars in libel

suit cases, it also lead to the development of his overly ambitious business etiquette.

Conrad Black’s ambition was not only to gain abundant fame and status but also wealth. Conrad

Black first inherited the family home consisting of 7 acres of land in Toronto. As time went by, his real

estate assets included a luxury Park Avenue apartment in New York, a London town house in

Kensington, and a Palm Beach mansion which estimates to a total value of 70 million dollars (Webster).

By 2003, Black was ranked the 238th wealthiest person in Britain with an estimated worth of 135 million

pounds. However, money was never enough for Black as he lived a luxurious life style. This lifestyle first

consisted of staff such as maids, chefs, chauffeurs, footmen and began to grow with additional

housemen, guards, and 17 butlers (Steyn). Conrad Black’s expenditures were eventually too much to

handle and he turned to funding at the shareholder’s expense.

Conrad was first sued for allegedly taking 32 million (CAD) from Hollinger International without

any consultation or permission. Conrad was then sued for the non- compete deal he took which

provided him with 80 million dollars of unexplained money (Newman). Conrad Black knew his greed had

overtaken him but was afraid it would damage his reputation. As a result, on August 18th 2005, Conrad

Black secretly removed 13 boxes of documents from Hollinger Inc. headquarters in Toronto (Newman).

This movement was captured on security cameras which ultimately labeled Conrad Black as a criminal

on the basis of the obstruction of justice (Steyn). The 13 boxes of documents that were subjected to

legal inquiry were the critical point in Conrad’s fall. By removing those boxes, Conrad Black stepped into

the world of corporate crime which eventually became the main charge imposed on him.
 In conclusion, Conrad Black’s fall was built by his egotistic pride and his overly ambitious

business etiquette. His pride caused the start of his fall and was the main reason he was accused as a

corporate criminal. His ambition which lead to greed eventually caused him to make unethical decisions

that landed him in jail. One may say ambition and pride are the essential traits to succeeding in business

but in Conrad’s case these traits lead him to destruction.

Biography

Newman, Peter (2003, December 1) Conrad Black’s fall. The Canadian Encyclopedia Historica Dominion

Institute <http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?

PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0012541>

Olive, David. (2007, March 11). A Conrad Black timeline. The Star

<http://www.thestar.com/special/article/190670>

Steyn, Mark. (2008, March 3). A baron behind bars. Maclean’s <http://forums.macleans.ca/advansis/?

mod=for&act=dis&eid=52>

Webster, Adam. (2007, March 13) The fall of Conrad Black. BBC News

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6443191.stm>