Exista owner blames bloggers for his own mess
Lýður Guðmundsson the CEO of Exista, the more or less bankrupt mess of a company does not see any reason to apologise to the public about the way he has treated them and the nation of Iceland with his behaviour as a reckless investor. His part in the collapse is great, similar to the responsibility of Hreiðar Már of Kaupthing (Exista and Kaupthing owned each other, big cross ownership ties), and just like Hreiðar Már, who saw no reason to excuse his behaviour either to the public, he blames someone else for his situation.
First blame the media
While Exista was flying high on borrowed time and borrowed money, the media in Iceland ate it up and praised the company, the brilliance of its owners and hyped everything up to the point Lýður and his brother Ágúst Guðmundsson had the image of the fishing company kings that made it in the big world. Bakkavör is also in a big financial mess, the company they started with.
Lýður Guðmundsson asked the shareholders of Exista to excuse him for the economic collapse at the main annual meeting this morning in Reykjavik. He said about the media (those who hyped him at for years) that now there are journalists why write every day about things they have no knowledge about (the same people that had no knowledge of his fantastic exploits of 2007), such as economic matters, derivatives, currency deals, and other similar business phrases. He basically called the journalists stupid. Up to a point he is correct, there are many journalists who do not have the knowledge about anything, especially business matters, but the same journalists praised him, and that was ok with him.
The financial matter they write about are complex and cant be explained fully in short news bulletins he also said. But the serious part according to the Exista CEO is the fact that those journalists do not take notice of pointers or corrections from the business men they cover.
Second, blame the solvency committees
According to him, a news item on RUV the other day about the running cost of Exista was based on information from an unknown solvency committee personnel and it was full of wrong data and deliberately used to feed the paranoia towards the company and most likely its owners. In most peoples opinion they don’t need any help doing that, they manage just fine themselves, especially when they talk like he does. He finished his rambling about the solvency committees by saying that it could hardly be justified that bearers of slander and rumours should be in the solvency committees.
Last and not least. The bloggers are responsible for the whole mess
Lýður Guðmundsson also said: “I will not bother about the society of cowards that are bloggers, who hide behind anonymity as the majority of the blog sphere has become. The filthy mouths of those who hide behind aliases are directly to blame for the atmosphere that is fuelled every day by their words, and I am sorry to say that there are a few who spearhead the blog sphere and the online dialog who play a big part in creating this atmosphere. I also respect the rights of expression in Iceland, but I despise a lot of what those nameless cowards publish every day on their blog sites with language that should never be seen or heard”
I take this personally. I am offended as I am being accused of this whole mess with my fellow bloggers and journalists.
My reactions to Lýður Guðmundsson and I speak most likely for of all those who he blames for his own, mess is clearly shown in the picture below.
Popularity: 78% [?]
The comments this dirt bag is making reminds me of the routine Richard Pryor did involving his wife. She arrive home to find Richard hiding in a bedroom closet holding a naked woman and his comment to his wife was ” Are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?”
[...] Excerpt from: Exista owner blames bloggers for his own mess | Independent … [...]
[...] Bragadóttir the personal propaganda machine of Davíð Oddsson the ex PM and Central Bank manager. Lýður Guðmundsson of Exista accused me and other bloggers and journalists for his mess as can be …. They are now accusing her of trying to ruin them and their reputation by constantly claiming that [...]
Give us some guidance.
Or respond to this posting.
How do we organise, and I mean seriously, to bring this guy to book.
Do the Icelanders really want to see the ill-gotten gains of their rogue high flyers confiscated??
perhaps the Icelanders would like to comment.
My personal opinion is that they should find themselves living with the basics forthwith.
Now how can we co-operate to produce this?
There are a few ways.
First is to trust the system to bring them to justice. But….the system is broken, corrupt and in no way ready to do them full justice.
Then there is the laws of the street. Wheather Icelanders are angry enough to follow up on that is not sure. Why go to prison for a scumbag like that.
The main question is, can we get the money back. According to Eva Joly, we can get some back but some is “lost forver”.
From what I have seen, the politicians are to involved with those guys and in many ways, in their pockets.
My advise would be this: Trust the Serious Fraud Office and other European courts to tackle them. Work together with foreign governments to solve this biggest fraud case of recent times (called the Icelandic banking system and economy), that was based on shady deals, an insane ideology and massive corruption.
We need help.
Or we can simply beat them up on sight. That would be a good start.