Random Excess: The Wild Ride of Michael Copland and Corel

by Ross Laver

The high-tech world is known for its overnight successes and its equally spectacular failures. It can be a rollercoaster business environment that keeps investment analysts on their toes and company executives scrambling simply to maintain their positions in the market. It's a wild ride and no one enjoys it more than Canada's Michael Cowpland. Brilliant innovator and iconoclastic businessman, Cowpland has made billions, has helped dozens of his employees become millionaires but has also seen his businesses collapse and his fortunes evaporate, apparently without regret. Cowpland is a born gambler, a man of excesses, both personal and professional, a maverick who seems to be addicted to highfliers and a flamboyant lifestyle that has made him and his young wife Marlen the closest thing to Hollywood that Ottawa has ever seen.

Genres: Business

339 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[JEB BEICH · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read, recommended to me by a guy who lived it. You’ve read it before… the demise of an 80s tech giant due to the hubris of its founder. Still, I enjoyed it. Have read it twice.