Guy Laliberté, the man behind the One Drop Foundation, has had tough times at the poker tables, both live and online (according to a Swedish poker site, he has lost around $20 million playing online poker alone.)
Apart from his poker losses, he is one heck of a businessman. In 1984, Laliberté started Cirque du Soleil with a fellow street performer. The show was an instant success and expanded from one show to 19 shows in over 271 cities through the 1900s and 2000s. As of today, Cirque du Soleil is the largest theatrical producer in the world
At the end of last week it was reported that Laliberté had agreed to sell his lifework. According to Reuters, he is now in the final stages of negations with the buyers, TPG Capital and Fosun International Ltd. Laliberté will get close to $1.5 billion and maintain a 10-percent stake in the company when the process is completed. We guess that many high-stakes pros are eager to see the sale go through, given that Laliberté is known to lose big.
