Onassis
, subject: Biography of Aristotle Onassis, covering his shipping empire, business methods, and marriage to Jacqueline Kennedy, 1968
Frischauer’s Onassis covers the tactic Onassis used to enter the tobacco market, the Livanos shipping family, and Churchill’s travel aboard Onassis’s yacht.
About the book
Frischauer follows Onassis from Smyrna, where his father was a Greek tobacco merchant, to Buenos Aires and the tobacco trade, and then into shipping, where he bought vessels cheaply during the Depression. A contemporary reviewer found the biography openly admiring of its subject.
Why read it
Best if you want to study the tactic Onassis used to enter the tobacco market, alongside an account that includes the Livanos shipping family and Churchill’s travel aboard Onassis’s yacht.
Key themes
- Breaking into the tobacco market
- The people around Onassis
Evidence and original sources
Sources: official Founders episodes — #84, #111, #117, #196, #352
This record is supported by 6 public evidence rows linked to original Founders episodes.
- Aristotle Onassis — David names Onassis by Willie Frischauer as the book he read this week and will cover for the full episode.
- David Geffen — David identifies Founders 84 and applies Onassis's tobacco-market entry tactic.
- Chung Ju-yung founder of Hyundai (the most inspiring autobiography I've read) — David points back to the Onassis episode and applies its account of the Livanos shipping family.
- Winston Churchill (Leadership during WW2) — David points back to his Onassis podcast while recalling Churchill's travel on Onassis's yacht.
- J. Paul Getty: The Richest Private Citizen in America — David recalls his earlier Onassis episode while discussing Getty’s account of the entrepreneur; the official episode identifies Willi Frischauer’s biography.