Mr Five Per Cent

The Many Lives of Calouste Gulbenkian, the World's Richest Man

De: Jonathan Conlin

Narrado por: Simon Vance

When Calouste Gulbenkian died in 1955 at the age of 86, he was the richest man in the world, known as 'Mr Five Per Cent' for his personal share of Middle East oil. The son of a wealthy Armenian merchant in Istanbul, for half a century he brokered top-level oil deals, concealing his mysterious web of business interests and contacts within a labyrinth of Asian and European cartels, and convincing governments and oil barons alike of his impartiality as an 'honest broker'. Today his name is known principally through the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, to which his spectacular art collection and most of his vast wealth were bequeathed.

Gulbenkian's private life was as labyrinthine as his business dealings. He insisted on the highest 'moral values', yet ruthlessly used his wife's charm as a hostess to further his career, and demanded complete obedience from his family, whom he monitored obsessively. As a young man he lived a champagne lifestyle, escorting actresses and showgirls, and in later life - on doctor's orders - he slept with a succession of discreetly provided young women. Meanwhile he built up a superb art collection which included Rembrandts and other treasures sold to him by Stalin from the Hermitage Museum.

Published to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth, Mr Five Per Cent reveals Gulbenkian's complex and many-sided existence. Written with full access to the Gulbenkian Foundation's archives, this is the fascinating story of the man who more than anyone else helped shape the modern oil industry.

©2019 Southampton University. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Crisp reading. Understandable at any speed

The ruthless individualism of Mr Gulbenkian was beyond reason. Understanding that money doesn’t guarantee happiness. A memorable by selfish life. Great story.

Incredible life. Sad end.

Calouste Gulbenkian, Mr. 5%, was the architect of Middle East Oil as we know it. Instrumental in the founding of Royal Dutch Shell, this incredible Armenian rose to become the king maker of the development of oil in Mesopotamia.
His life was truly incredible, but in the end —dying as the world’s richest man—his paranoia and status as a man without a home, meant his legacy never was what he hoped it would be. His “5%” and the vast art collection he amassed were left to the Gulbenkian Foundation in Portugal., who ended up running it as an appendix of Salazar’s government…