by Rigorous Intuition » Mon Jun 12, 2006 4:24 pm
<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Ken Thomson, Canada's richest man, dies</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Ken Thomson, who transformed the media empire founded by his father and became the richest person in Canada, has died at the age of 82.<br>Ken Thomson, shown in May, was the ninth-richest person in the world, according to Forbes magazine. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)<br><br>Reports say he died at his Toronto office Monday morning. The cause of death was not announced.<br><br>Thomson was no longer actively involved in the day-to-day running of Thomson Corp., but remained on the board of directors.<br><br>...<br><br>Over the years, he sold the company's extensive travel, energy and retail interests (including the Hudson's Bay Company) and, in the 1990s, moved Thomson Corp. out of newspapers and into electronic publishing for the financial, legal, health and scientific communities.<br><br>The move turned out to be very profitable. Thomson Corp.'s 2005 revenues came to $8.7 billion US. In the most recent three-month period, it made a profit of $137 million US. <br><br>The Thomson family's holding company, Woodbridge Co., owns 40 per cent of Bell Globemedia, the company that owns the Globe and Mail newspaper and the CTV television network.<br><br>Ken Thomson once called the Globe the "jewel of the crown" in a media empire that at one time owned hundreds of newspapers in Canada, the United States, Britain and other countries.<br><br>...<br><br>Earlier this year, Forbes magazine estimated the Thomson family's worth at $19.6 billion US.<br><br>Most of that wealth came from stock in Thomson Corp. Ken Thomson was the controlling shareholder of Thomson Corp. and owned 70 per cent of the shares. Control of the Thomson Corp. will remain with the Thomson family.<br><br>Thomson was a private and unassuming man who, in Canada, did not use the Lord Thomson of Fleet title he had inherited from his father. "In London, I'm Lord Thomson; in Toronto, I'm Ken," he said in a 1980 interview in Saturday Night.<br><br>His parsimony was legendary. From wearing shoes with holes in their soles to flying economy class, he was in some ways a reluctant billionaire who seldom entertained.<br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/story/business/national/2006/06/12/thomson.html">CBC</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
