Larry Silverstein's Luck and Business Decisions

Larry Silverstein is both the stupidest and the luckiest

businessman in the world. He's the stupidest businessman in the

world because six weeks before 9/11, he buys the lease to the

World Trade Center. Okay, but why is this stupid?

Because the World Trade Center is filled with a dangerous mineral called

asbestos, which has a long list of health risks for

humans. The problem is, the cost of removing all that

asbestos would've been more than the value of the Twin Towers.

So that's kind of stupid. It's like buying a used car with a

failed transmission and a check engine light

that has been on since

1967. What's even more stupid is that

owning the lease meant buying insurance, and so the insurance

company says, "We value the World Trade Center at one

point five

billion dollars." But Larry Silverstein was like,

"Actually, no, it's not one point five billion dollars.

They are worth three point five billion dollars." So he is

asking to pay more insurance than he needed to on a

building that's already trying to bankrupt you.

That sounds ultra-mega stupid, right?

But actually, he's the luckiest man in the world because

he actually got

his big insurance payout, plus he didn't need to repair the

building, plus his big insurance payout actually

got doubled. You see, on the tragic day of 9/11,

lucky Larry here argued that two planes hit the two towers,

which meant two separate insured events.

So instead of one payout of three point five billion dollars,

he argued that he should get double.

Where is my seven billion dollars?

And so he sued. A settlement was reached in

2007 with insurers agreeing to pay out four point

five five billion dollars, which was not as much as Silverstein

had sought, not quite double, but still not

exactly pocket change. But wait, his luck buffs

isn't finished yet. Lucky Larry here is a well-known

workaholic, so he never misses work.

Yet, on the morning of September 11th, he wasn't there.

Why, you ask? Because he had a dermatologist

appointment.

Imagine skipping work one time and accidentally making the

greatest attendance decision in human history.

Coincidence? Unbelievable luck?

Main character energy?

You decide. The moral of the story: forget

IQ, forget business school, forget five-year

plans. Apparently, the strongest superpower is

spawning in the world with maxed out luck.