An Ode to Maternity

influence

A REVOLUTIONARY OF BUSINESS

“I’m the only one who knows how to get as rich as me”, Aristotle Onassis used to say, and his legendary talent is a special, perhaps even unique chapter in the history of international business.

His business moves were the stuff of legend. The thinking behind them? “We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will become calm. We must learn to sail in strong winds”. Clandestine audiences and missions.At just 16 years old, Aristotle Onassis arrives in Greece as a refugee from the Asia Minor Catastrophe and in August 1923 he takes the leap and travels to Argentina with 250 dollars in his pocket. He worked odd jobs washing dishes, in construction and as a night guard until he was hired as a nighttime telephone operator at British United

River Plate Telephone Company. It was there, that he took advantage of the conversations he eavesdropped on and decided to found a small tobacco import and cigarette manufacturing company with the help of his father who sent him tobacco – often smuggled – from

Turkey. “The secret in business is knowing something that no one else knows”, he used to say later in life.

The first oil tanker in the world and contracts with ships still being built. His cigarette business is going quite well and Onassis, having already set significant capital aside, takes advantage of the financial juncture created by the 1929 crash and turns to shipping in 1932. He was one of the first to anticipate the new opportunities created by the industrial revolution and the role oil was set to play in it. He commissioned the first oil tanker in the world with a capacity of 15,000 tons, naming it “Ariston”. Shipping grew with leaps and bounds and Onassis continued to purchase larger and larger oil tankers, while he even signed deals for the transportation of coal and oil with ships that had not yet been built. Thus, major oil companies such as Mobil, Socony, and Texaco preferred steady long-term deals with him instead of having to deal with the headaches caused by smaller players. Into the shipping elite: marriage to the daughter of the patriarch of shipping. During World War II, Onassis left London, where he had settled in the meantime, for New York. That was where he met Athena (Tina), the 16-year-old daughter of top Greek shipowner Stavros Livanos. They were married in 1946, opening the door to the world of shipowners for Onassis. Domination in Monaco and in the skies, and a monster deal with the Saudis. Aristotle Onassis continuously built new oil tankers while he also turned to whalers, picking Monte Carlo as the base for his business. In 1953, he came close to owning all of Monaco, while that same year in Hamburg he christened the largest oil tanker in the world with a capacity of 45,000 tons; he called it “Tina Onassis”. In 1954, he closed a monster deal with the Saudis to transfer their oil. In 1957, with the encouragement of Konstantinos Karamanlis, Onassis took over TAE, a small airliner that was losing money, for $2,000,000, and renamed it “Olympic

PRIVATE JOURNAL NO2 RON GALELLA/ GETTY IMAGES/ IDEAL IMAGE

"IN ORDER TO SUCCEED, YOU NEED TO GO BIG, THINK BIG AND TALK BIG."

Airways”. Olympic Airways was soon an international airline; its glory days had begun. By then, the entrepreneur already had 70 companies all over the globe and was at the epicenter of attention and in touch with all of the world’s economic and political figures. The Suez Canal closes, the opportunity for wild profits opens up. After taking over Olympic Airways, Onassis orders the construction of the magnificent luxury yacht “Christina”, on which he hosted global personalities such as Winston Churchill. Through his friendship with the English politician’s son, Randolph Churchill, Onassis learned about the Suez crisis and – as the only independent shipowner at the time –used this information to make more money than he had imagined even in his wildest dreams. In 1967, the Suez Canal closes once again due to a new conflict between the Egyptians and the Israelis, and shipping rates skyrocket. Onassis orders six new supertankers in 1968 – as a result, the total capacity of his tankers alone reaches 2,500,000 tons. His triumphs, his success and the worldwide admiration of his person would continue for another four years until 1973, when Onassis’ son Alexandros was killed in an airplane accident at Ellinikon airport. To honor his memory, Onassis created the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation. The last oil tankers and his final acknowledgement. Despite the fact that his fleet already consisted of more than 100 ships including 15 supertankers each with a capacity of 200,000 tons, Onassis commissions six more oil tankers, two of them with a capacity of 400,000 tons each – the largest in the world. However, the end was near. Shortly before his death, Aristotle Onassis was forced to confess: “In the end, money may not always be what people need in their lives”. 

Aristotle Onassis used to be a big fan of the Athenian Riviera. After all, his first asset after he returned from Argentina was the ‘‘Villa Onassis’’ in Glyfada area.