3 ms·
Celebrity Bond
- dang 8y agoDostoevsky's The Gambler was written to get him out of something like that. I couldn't find a good web page with the story, but https://books.google.com/books?id=heVDCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA211&lpg=PA211&dq=dostoevsky+debt+gambler+police+station&source=bl&ots=wv904AjhSo&sig=-7A7w3gLrjt69Nyx6GdHEcBD0cw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwip_evhiJ3dAhUE-lQKHRJ2CuQQ6AEwDXoECAQQAQ#v=onepage&q=dostoevsky%20debt%20gambler%20police%20station&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=heVDCgAAQBAJ&a... has the basics. The story is better than that, though. He was working on one of his great novels as a serial (Crime and Punishment, I think), so he had to keep writing that during the day. But he had to produce another novel at the same time in order not to lose his future royalties to this publishing contract, which he had signed to pay off his own gambling debts. He was in despair, but a clever friend found the star pupil at the local shorthand academy and Dostoevsky dictated The Gambler to her in the evenings while she got it down in shorthand (a new technology at the time) and later transcribed it. They only had a few weeks, and finished it at the last minute, but the publisher had cunningly closed his office that day. He was no match for Anna, however, who took the manuscript to the nearest police station and got a receipt, rescuing Dostoevsky's career. Then he married her.
- shshhdhs 8y agoWell that is a great story indeed! With two happy endings :)
- jtbayly 8y agoIf this is true, then the linked Wikipedia article needs to be changed where it says “pioneered in 1997 by rock and roll investment banker David Pullman through his $55 million David Bowie bond deal.”
- dang 8y agoI'm sure it wasn't technically a bond—it just fits in the same bucket in my head. I'll change "one of these" to "something like that" above.
- apo 8y agoIn addition to getting money upfront, artists additionally retain ownership of their work and do not have to pay tax on what the IRS considers a loan, since yet-to-be received royalties are re-characterized by the bond agreement as loan interest and principal payments. Similar tax advantages present themselves to those who borrow money using stocks as collateral. Borrowing against a stock portfolio is nothing new. Margin loans have been around for a long time. But securities-based loans offered by Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and other large wealth managers aren't margin loans. The proceeds aren't supposed to be used to buy more investments. Marketing materials commonly suggest using a securities-based loan to buy a vacation home, or cover retirement expenses, without needing to sell your investments. https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/11/19/wall-streets-hottest-loan-product-borrowing-agains.aspx https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/11/19/wall-streets-hotte...