When winners become losers

The laws of capitalism that we like to embrace so warmly dictate that being a winner in business usually means turning somebody else into a loser – my success is by definition accompanied by your failure.

Those involved in commerce at its highest level know this, accept it and thrive upon it, a truth evidenced in lights this week by Sir Anthony O’Reilly (inset). Once Ireland’s richest man, O’Reilly now finds himself in the vanquished position that he deftly avoided for the bulk of his decades-long business career.

It may seem harsh to use the term, but we should not feel bad at doing so, just as O’Reilly himself should not spend too much time grieving for his past victories.

He, of all people, knows how the business, and real, worlds work.

Where he won in rugby, other teams were defeated, where Kerrygold dominated, other butters struggled and where Heinz won the brand wars, other beans and ketchup-makers lost share.

For some time, though, O’Reilly’s winning streak has been on the wane and, while it may have taken a while for him to realise it, he of all people will now be aware that it is now officially his turn to end up on the wrong side. It is simply how the world works when one over-borrows and backs, repeatedly, the wrong horse.

In this case, the unreliable nags turned out to be Waterford Wedgwood and, to a lesser extent, Independent News & Media. Deciding to keep throwing good, hard cash at both at the most unproductive of times, must be often on his mind this week, as the vultures hover ever closer.

In considering his demise by the sword of commerce, however, O’Reilly should reflect that to fully appreciate losing, one must have experienced the sweet, often fleeting, taste of winning.