After 10 years establishing his financial empire with alco-pops and beer in the lawless ‘Wild East’ of newly-capitalist Russia in the 1990s, Thor Bjorgolfsson moved on to merging, floating, spinning off and privatising businesses. On his 40th birthday, and worth $3.5 billion, he was sitting on top of the world. But when financial meltdown hit Iceland in October 2008, Landsbanki crashed and burned, taking Bjorgolfsson with it. Within 12 months he had lost 98.5% of his wealth – and was treated as a scapegoat in his native country for supposedly bringing about the disaster. Faced with appalling debts, Bjorgolfsson has made good on his promises to repay his creditors, and at the age of 47 is now a billionaire once again.