Even if you have only half-heard of Gina Rinehart, you will know that she is a force to be reckoned with. She is the Australian mining magnate who controls Hancock Prospecting, founded by her father. Her aggressive approach to business and family relations has prompted three of her four children to sue her.
The emails and letters in this court battle were released last week. They make for compulsive reading. In brief, the children allege Ms Rinehart gave them one business day to agree to extend her control of a family trust or face “financial ruination”. She, in turn, deems them “manifestly unsuited” to running the trust. Her letter says it is “reasonably arguable” that bankruptcy of the trust might – “personal development-wise” – be in her children’s best interests: it would “force them to go to work and reconsider their holidaying lifestyles and attitudes”.
This would just be a tawdry family spat, bar the fact that Ms Rinehart is already one of the richest people on the planet – and getting richer. Owning a giant iron ore mine at a time of growing Asian demand helps, but I think the ruthless vigour with which she has prosecuted this and other family feuds (she was at acrimonious odds with her father in his later years) is also part of the reason for her success.
