A Conversation with Karina Hollekim

via wendmag.com

 

Sold! eBay jettisons Skype in $2 billion deal | Wireless - CNET News

E-commerce giant eBay announced Tuesday that it is selling its Skype unit to an investor group that includes Marc Andreessen's new venture.

Under the deal, eBay will receive approximately $1.9 billion in cash and a note from the buyer in the principal amount of $125 million, for a total of $2.025 billion. The participants expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter.

 

 

The investor group, which will take a roughly 65 percent stake in Skype, is led by Silver Lake and includes Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. The remaining 35 percent of the Internet telephony service will be retained by eBay.

The parties said the deal values Skype, which is likely to see an IPO in the coming months, at $2.75 billion.

The sale of Skype had been expected for some time. Word of Tuesday's impending sale to the private investor group was first reported late Monday in The New York Times.

The Andreessen Horowitz venture capital group was launched in July by Marc Andreessen, the founder of Netscape and co-founder of Opsware, and Ben Horowitz, also co-founder of Opsware.

 

With the sale, eBay acknowledged that things hadn't worked out as planned with Skype, which it acquired for $2.6 billion in 2005 with the plans to offer customers the ability to discuss their transactions in real time. Over the course of the four years since then, eBay found that its acquisition failed to provide what it sought.

"Skype is a strong standalone business, but it does not have synergies with our e-commerce and online payments businesses," eBay President and CEO John Donahoe said in a statement Tuesday. "As a separate company, we believe that Skype will have the focus required to compete effectively in online voice and video communications and accelerate its growth momentum."

Lead investment firm Silver Lake echoed the forward-looking sentiments.

"This transaction benefits...will allow Skype the opportunity to accelerate the growth of its business by harnessing the deep technological and company development expertise that resides within the investor group," Egon Durban, managing director at Silver Lake, said in a statement.

In 2007, eBay said it would take a $900 million so-called impairment writedown against the value of Skype, meaning that eBay had been forced to reassess the value of the Internet telephony company relative to its overall business. By recording a charge, the company essentially announced it had taken a loss on its original investment.

When eBay announced Donahoe as its new CEO in 2008, he indicated that the company would take a year to evaluate the future of its online phone and video-conferencing service.

In April, eBay announced plans to spin off Skype, with an IPO in the first half of next year.

Along the way, reports had surfaced that Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis were interested in repurchasing the company.

Clarification at 7:44 a.m. PDT: This story miscast the value of the deal. eBay gets approximately $1.9 billion in cash and a note from the buyer in the principal amount of $125 million, for a total of about $2.025 billion. The companies say the deal values Skype at about $2.75 billion.

via news.cnet.com

 

Facebook's valuation: The cheat sheet by Caroline McCarthy

124diggsdigg

Seriously, how much is Facebook worth? It's been an enigma in tech gossip for years now, as the social-networking company grows bigger and bigger and yet remains privately held. And some of Facebook's most rapid growth has taken place in the midst of a stormy economic climate that could batter any company's balance sheet. So here's a rundown of what tech blogs, news outlets, investors, and Valley gadflies have said thus far about just how much Facebook is worth.

Are all these numbers accurate? In a word, no. Some of them were rumors (albeit decently strong ones, as we've omitted some of the more ridiculous ones), and others refer to Facebook's preferred-stock valuation, which as we learned during its legal tiff with onetime rival ConnectU, that isn't necessarily anywhere close to the company's paper valuation.

One thing that's interesting: Take a look at the trajectory. Facebook's perceived valuation keeps climbing and climbing and climbing right up to its $240 million investment by Microsoft. Then, once the hype dies down (and the market starts to sputter) it tanks. It's not until, perhaps not coincidentally, the departure of chief financial officer Gideon Yu and the stronger likelihood of a new investment round that Facebook's valuation starts to climb again.

What's next? Digital Sky Technologies' investment in Facebook assumed a preferred-stock valuation of $10 billion, and employee stock trades have started at about a $6.5 billion valuation. It's not yet clear how much more the company's worth will fluctuate before, at long last, founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his team decide to take it public. That is, of course, assuming that actually happens.

 

Playing the Facebook valuation game Everyone's constantly talking about how much Facebook is worth. But how much has that number changed over the past few years? A lot, it turns out. Here's our cheat sheet.
Few thousand	February 2004: Backed by a few thousand dollars from its co-founders, Facebook goes live as a small, minimalist social-networking site limited to Harvard undergraduates.
$10 million	June 2004: PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel becomes Facebook's first outside investor. He invests $500,000 into the 4-month-old social network, which has by now taken its home base of Harvard and a scattering of other elite colleges by storm. Later that year, there are shaky rumors that Friendster--still a major player in U.S. social networking at the time--offered $10 million for Facebook and was turned down.
$100 million	April 2005: Facebook raises a $12.7 million Series A round of funding from Accel Partners. Rumors peg its valuation at about $100 million.
$750 million	March 2006: BusinessWeek reports that Facebook turned down a $750 million acquisition offer and was shopping itself to potential buyers at closer to $2 billion.
$525 million	April 2006: Facebook raises its Series B round of funding to the tune of $25 million. The round is led by Greylock Partners, with contributions from Meritech Capital Partners, and prior investors Accel Partners and Peter Thiel. The company's pre-money valuation is reported to be $525 million.
$1 billion	September 2006: Rumors--which are later confirmed--start to swirl that Yahoo has offered to acquire Facebook for as much as $1 billion.
$8 billion	December 2006: Early Facebook investor Peter Thiel, who fueled the small social network with $500,000 in June 2004, tells Bloomberg that he believes the company is worth as much as $8 billion but says it is not for sale.
$15 billion	October 2007: Microsoft invests $240 million in Facebook at a $15 billion valuation. Although it's not really made clear at the time, the company later clarifies that this investment was in preferred stock and that therefore $15 billion is not the company's actual valuation.
$3.75 billion	June 2008: Previously redacted court documents from ConnectU v. Facebook, the trial in which the creators of a onetime rival social network at Harvard sued Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg--claiming he stole their code and business plan--reveal that at this time, Facebook valued itself at $3.75 billion.
$4 billion	August 2008: Reports surface that Facebook, with early employees growing restless about stock options that they thought they could've cashed out by now, is about to launch a program to permit the sale of some vested shares. The internal valuation is said to be $4 billion. By the end of October, rumors start to spread that chief financial officer Gideon Yu was spotted in Dubai, supposedly to drum up interest from new overseas investors.
$3 billion	March 2009: Months later, the Silicon Valley rumor mill still won't stop talking about employees' private sales of Facebook stock--and apparently, the numbers aren't too pretty. The figures tossed around indicate that the stock is trading at a valuation well south of $3 billion. Later in March, Facebook CFO Gideon Yu leaves the company. Persistent rumors hint that he was unable to secure new funding for the company.
$2 billion	April 2009: TechCrunch reports that Facebook received a term sheet from potential investors with a valuation of $2 billion and turned it down.
$4 billion	April 2009: On the same day, VentureBeat reports that Facebook was on the verge of accepting new funding at a $4 billion valuation, but that Zuckerberg said no.
$8 billion	May 2009: The latest rumor is that Facebook turned down yet another term sheet--this one for a $200 million investment at an $8 billion valuation.
$10 billion	May 2009: Later in the month, Facebook finally gets that long-rumored cash. The company receives an investment of $200 million from the Russian firm Digital Sky Technologies at a $10 billion preferred-stock valuation. Also included: a plan to buy back a limited amount of vested employee stock.
$6.5 billion	July 2009: Digital Sky Technologies begins its buyback of up to $100 million in Facebook employee shares. Each share of common stock is selling for $14.77, which assumes a valuation of $6.5 billion for the company.
Source: CNET News research

via news.cnet.com

 

Interview with Carina Hollekim - by Red Bull

Red Bull Reporter - Interview with Karina Hollekim

Karina Hollekim is one of the most inspirational, remarkable and self-motivated people one could be pleased to meet. Most people have childhood dreams, but not many are ever realised – especially if the dream is to fly! Will Gilgrass meets her.

The 33-year old Norwegian achieved this dream, as she spent six-years as a professional BASE Jumper. However, in August, 2006, during a routine skydive in front of 5,000 onlookers around Lake Geneva, Switzerland, disaster struck. A parachute malfunction sent her crashing at 100-km/hour to the ground, shattering both her legs and leaving her life in the balance.

Miraculously she survived, and despite picking up 25-fractures and being told she would never walk again – just a year on she was rock climbing. I was sent to Soho by Red Bull to meet this incredible woman before the premier of her biographical film 20 Seconds of Joy.

Will Gilgrass: You started off skiing from a very young age, what was the progression into BASE Jumping?

Karina Hollekim: I began when I was 4-years old and then I got into free riding, and big mountain skiing at quite a young age, getting sponsorship at 16. I always had that dream about flying. I was fascinated by the birds from when I was a little girl, and I actually remember one time when I was at school my teacher asked me to tell her about my dreams. So I said I wanted to fly… She told me that it was a nice dream, and I had to be more realistic in life because people can’t fly. But little does she know, because I kept that dream.

 

WG: What did your friends and family think when you got into BASE Jumping?

KH: My Dad wasn’t super-psyched about it obviously! I had been injured quite a lot during my skiing career – breaking almost every bone in my body. But, he accepted my choices and has been supporting me, asking and telling me to be safe.

 

WG: BASE Jumping must have taken you to some amazing places, which ones stand out?

KH: BASE Jumping takes you to some really magnificent, really remote amazing places; but what is cool about is that there are so many levels of BASE Jumping. You can go to a huge city like New York and be captivated by the buildings and structures, and you can jump off construction projects to hotels or anything in Downtown New York – which is pretty fascinating; and challenging because of the winds. But for sure I’m a nature girl, and I love to hike in the mountains and to climb. Sometimes the jumps that you remember the most are the ones you have been fighting the most to achieve. Maybe you have been rock-climbing for 12 hours straight. Then when you finally make it to the top you sleep only to be woken up by the wind, and it is too windy so you can’t jump and have to repel back down, and the day after you try and do it all again. Then finally you get to jump.

 

WG: What gives you the biggest thrill? Is it the preparation because you have said about the challenges of reaching the top of mountains, and I read a story about you illegally getting ready for a jump in a hotel toilet in Las Vegas; or is it the few seconds in the air itself; or perhaps the feeling of accomplishment?

KH: It is the whole package. Some jumps like the illegal ones are ‘Mission Impossible’, you feel like you are on a James Bond mission, and you have to sneak around. It is all the excitement before hand, making the jump, and the payback afterwards from succeeding. But again it is also about nature, if you walk or climb it is about the visuals and the scenery around you. Some of the most amazing sceneries I have been around are in Africa, in Mali. In the glaciers of Alaska and even travelling in my own country, it was only when I started BASE Jumping that I began to explore and see Norway because you seek out all those hidden valleys which you wouldn’t go to if wasn’t for jumping.

 

WG: What keeps BASE Jumpers going? Is it the challenge to push the boundaries?

KH: I think yer, for sure. I need a challenge so that I feel like I have actually accomplished something, and I think all BASE Jumpers are the same. I seek out the situations that make me scared, that force me to feel. Because in everyday life we are protecting ourselves from all sorts of emotions that we can’t control; but in BASE Jumping you can be forced into an emotional rollercoaster. You go from extreme happiness to extreme fear in seconds – it is breathtaking and captivating.

 

WG: Do you think it is important to almost think there are no limits?

KH: No, there are limits for sure, and it is very important to know where they are, where your limits are, because my limits are different from yours. I need to figure out where my limits are, because if I overstep them I will be dead – you don’t joke around with that.

 

WG: If you don’t mind me asking about your accident, how much of the event do you remember?

KH: I remember pretty much everything, honestly. It was a World Cup in paragliding and I was invited there to do a show, and fly in my wing suit. It was actually out of a plane, so it was like another day in the office. I wasn’t scared about it, or worried because it was an easy thing. I remember sitting in the plane and looking down at Switzerland and it was beautiful. I thought that I was a lucky girl, this was my work, this was my profession – how could it get any better than this? I was with good friends, I was laughing, and I was having a good time. I jumped out of the plane. Just as I was about to open my parachute I heard the roars and clapping from the thousands of spectators that were below us – it was perfect. I pulled the parachute and realised immediately that something was wrong. Then 15-seconds later my life had changed forever. What I had was something called a tension knot, it isn’t an actual knot but a build up of tension, and as long as I am hanging below it can’t be undone. I spun into the ground at 100-km/hour. I fractured everything I have from below my waist down. I had 21 fractures on my right side, and they were all open so I had more of my legs outside than I had inside. But it saved my back and saved my head, so I was still alive. I remember thinking that I had messed up, and I have had some friends who have died in the same way. When I hit the ground I rolled over and saw my legs next to me, and at first I wasn’t sure if I was still alive or dead – because you don’t know what it feels like to be dead. I felt the intense pain, but it became a positive thing because I thought that if I could feel this pain it meant that I was alive.

 

WG: Doing something like BASE Jumping you must have appreciated the dangers that came with it; did it ever cross your mind something like this would happen to you?

KH: Yer. As a BASE Jumper you have to realise the consequences and you have to deal with it. I decided that BASE Jumping was what I wanted to do. But before I was very black and white about it, I knew that if I had an accident I would either survive and be fine, or be dead, but suddenly I was stuck in a wheelchair for an indefinite amount of time, and I was the one who had to deal with the consequences. It was much harder and much tougher than I had ever anticipated. I didn’t regret anything, of course it was too bad it happened, but I had no one to blame.

 

WG: So began your amazing recovery – what kind of stuff did you do?

KH: The first thing I did after spending 4-months in the hospital was eating! I had been in bed and lost all my muscles. I weighed 47kg – about 20kg less than what I weigh today – I was just skin and bone. I couldn’t even sit up in a wheelchair for an entire meal as I super weak. I had been an athlete for a very long time and I used my body for everything that I did. I was frustrated and sad and couldn’t use my body because I was linked to a wheelchair and didn’t know if I would ever get out of there. I didn’t know what to do and I couldn’t let off any steam. My PT at the rehab centre came to me one day and threw a pair of boxing gloves in my face, and I sparred with him. It was such a great feeling because I could use my hands. I used so much energy in that session that I was sick for the next two days – but it was definitely worth it.

 

WG: Do you understand the concepts of fear and defeat.

KH: Sure I do! What do you mean?

 

WG: Doing BASE Jumping for a start is remarkable. But then having the determination to fight on from the position you were in…

KH: Why I started doing all the things I did after the injury was because I missed taking part and sharing with my friends. It wasn’t just about the adrenalin of BASE Jumping or anything like that; it was about being with my friends instead of only sitting at the bottom with a cup of tea waiting for them. That was the only way that I could participate. I want to get back to skiing now because that is what I have been doing all my life. And I think for a girl who had been told that she was never going to be able to walk again, to be able to ski again is probably as good as it gets.

 

WG: Now you have been giving talks. What are the main aims of them and how have they been received?

KH: In a way I am just trying to tell my story, and if someone can get something out of it then I feel like it is worth it for me. My story is pretty universal, even though they might not want to jump off a 1000-metre cliff; we all have setbacks in life. If it’s the loss of someone close or disease we need to find the strength to get back on our feet. If my experiences and the way I have been dealing with it, can be an example for others to deal in certain situations then it feels rewarding for me. I try to kind of focus on the thought that people have to ‘dare to dream’ because even if your dream is completely unrealistic and seems a little far off, I still believe that you can do it and you just need to believe in yourself.

 

WG: So you are looking to start skiing again in the next 12-months, what do you hope to do beyond that?

KH: I want to get back to skiing, and the exploration part. Hopefully I will work with some of the film companies that I have already worked with and make expeditions more scenic than they have been; they tend to be quite extreme. I think that I have quite a lot to share, and maybe now if I can make it more scenic and more about the exploration and the travelling and everything around it I can reach out to a broader audience.

 

WG: Given the chance, and you were fit again, would you BASE Jump?

KH: Umm… You know honestly I don’t know, because I would. I would love to fly, I would love to jump, but I am scared now. It is a different fear than before, because it is illogical. Because it is a gear failure and a fear of something that I cannot control. To BASE Jump you have to be able to deal with the consequences, and I am not now because I can’t do this one more time. These have been three of the toughest years of my life, and I know that I can’t go through that again. And if I can’t do it again I don’t really think I can BASE Jump either, because I can do everything right and it can still go wrong.

 

WG: Would you recommend it to someone else?

KH: The people who want to get into BASE Jumping have to be passionate about it obviously. I can show some amazing footage, some beautiful locations, and some pretty horrifying scars and then they can choose for themselves.

 

The strength of character to be able to pick herself up after her near-fatal experience and literally get herself back on her feet is truly inspiring. Karina’s openness and willingness to talk about such a tragic experience was surprising and I thought particularly her complete lack of regret despite a painstaking three-year recovery was quiet astounding.

I was then given the privilege of watching the premiere of her film 20 Seconds of Joy. In the intimate screening room of the Soho Hotel a select group of journalists and Red Bull employees were set on a rollercoaster journey of emotions for just over an hour.

The film in many ways is quiet refreshing, as unlike most extreme sport videos it does not just show the extraordinary daredevil antics which the athletes undertake. Instead the focus is on the danger and the impact on the sportsman’s personal life and what those closest to them think of their chosen career. Culminating in footage from Karina’s helmet-camera of the accident, the broken and helpless athlete who had been indefinitely sentenced to life in a wheelchair is shown in stark contrast to the woman who showed no fear. Especially given she was sat at the front of the theatre with no signs she had ever been involved in an accident, the final scenes are so powerful many were left speechless and evidently moved.

Will Gilgrass

Interview with Carina Hollekim - by Red Bull

Red Bull Reporter - Interview with Karina Hollekim

Karina Hollekim is one of the most inspirational, remarkable and self-motivated people one could be pleased to meet. Most people have childhood dreams, but not many are ever realised – especially if the dream is to fly! Will Gilgrass meets her.

The 33-year old Norwegian achieved this dream, as she spent six-years as a professional BASE Jumper. However, in August, 2006, during a routine skydive in front of 5,000 onlookers around Lake Geneva, Switzerland, disaster struck. A parachute malfunction sent her crashing at 100-km/hour to the ground, shattering both her legs and leaving her life in the balance.

Miraculously she survived, and despite picking up 25-fractures and being told she would never walk again – just a year on she was rock climbing. I was sent to Soho by Red Bull to meet this incredible woman before the premier of her biographical film 20 Seconds of Joy.

Will Gilgrass: You started off skiing from a very young age, what was the progression into BASE Jumping?

Karina Hollekim: I began when I was 4-years old and then I got into free riding, and big mountain skiing at quite a young age, getting sponsorship at 16. I always had that dream about flying. I was fascinated by the birds from when I was a little girl, and I actually remember one time when I was at school my teacher asked me to tell her about my dreams. So I said I wanted to fly… She told me that it was a nice dream, and I had to be more realistic in life because people can’t fly. But little does she know, because I kept that dream.

 

WG: What did your friends and family think when you got into BASE Jumping?

KH: My Dad wasn’t super-psyched about it obviously! I had been injured quite a lot during my skiing career – breaking almost every bone in my body. But, he accepted my choices and has been supporting me, asking and telling me to be safe.

 

WG: BASE Jumping must have taken you to some amazing places, which ones stand out?

KH: BASE Jumping takes you to some really magnificent, really remote amazing places; but what is cool about is that there are so many levels of BASE Jumping. You can go to a huge city like New York and be captivated by the buildings and structures, and you can jump off construction projects to hotels or anything in Downtown New York – which is pretty fascinating; and challenging because of the winds. But for sure I’m a nature girl, and I love to hike in the mountains and to climb. Sometimes the jumps that you remember the most are the ones you have been fighting the most to achieve. Maybe you have been rock-climbing for 12 hours straight. Then when you finally make it to the top you sleep only to be woken up by the wind, and it is too windy so you can’t jump and have to repel back down, and the day after you try and do it all again. Then finally you get to jump.

 

WG: What gives you the biggest thrill? Is it the preparation because you have said about the challenges of reaching the top of mountains, and I read a story about you illegally getting ready for a jump in a hotel toilet in Las Vegas; or is it the few seconds in the air itself; or perhaps the feeling of accomplishment?

KH: It is the whole package. Some jumps like the illegal ones are ‘Mission Impossible’, you feel like you are on a James Bond mission, and you have to sneak around. It is all the excitement before hand, making the jump, and the payback afterwards from succeeding. But again it is also about nature, if you walk or climb it is about the visuals and the scenery around you. Some of the most amazing sceneries I have been around are in Africa, in Mali. In the glaciers of Alaska and even travelling in my own country, it was only when I started BASE Jumping that I began to explore and see Norway because you seek out all those hidden valleys which you wouldn’t go to if wasn’t for jumping.

 

WG: What keeps BASE Jumpers going? Is it the challenge to push the boundaries?

KH: I think yer, for sure. I need a challenge so that I feel like I have actually accomplished something, and I think all BASE Jumpers are the same. I seek out the situations that make me scared, that force me to feel. Because in everyday life we are protecting ourselves from all sorts of emotions that we can’t control; but in BASE Jumping you can be forced into an emotional rollercoaster. You go from extreme happiness to extreme fear in seconds – it is breathtaking and captivating.

 

WG: Do you think it is important to almost think there are no limits?

KH: No, there are limits for sure, and it is very important to know where they are, where your limits are, because my limits are different from yours. I need to figure out where my limits are, because if I overstep them I will be dead – you don’t joke around with that.

 

WG: If you don’t mind me asking about your accident, how much of the event do you remember?

KH: I remember pretty much everything, honestly. It was a World Cup in paragliding and I was invited there to do a show, and fly in my wing suit. It was actually out of a plane, so it was like another day in the office. I wasn’t scared about it, or worried because it was an easy thing. I remember sitting in the plane and looking down at Switzerland and it was beautiful. I thought that I was a lucky girl, this was my work, this was my profession – how could it get any better than this? I was with good friends, I was laughing, and I was having a good time. I jumped out of the plane. Just as I was about to open my parachute I heard the roars and clapping from the thousands of spectators that were below us – it was perfect. I pulled the parachute and realised immediately that something was wrong. Then 15-seconds later my life had changed forever. What I had was something called a tension knot, it isn’t an actual knot but a build up of tension, and as long as I am hanging below it can’t be undone. I spun into the ground at 100-km/hour. I fractured everything I have from below my waist down. I had 21 fractures on my right side, and they were all open so I had more of my legs outside than I had inside. But it saved my back and saved my head, so I was still alive. I remember thinking that I had messed up, and I have had some friends who have died in the same way. When I hit the ground I rolled over and saw my legs next to me, and at first I wasn’t sure if I was still alive or dead – because you don’t know what it feels like to be dead. I felt the intense pain, but it became a positive thing because I thought that if I could feel this pain it meant that I was alive.

 

WG: Doing something like BASE Jumping you must have appreciated the dangers that came with it; did it ever cross your mind something like this would happen to you?

KH: Yer. As a BASE Jumper you have to realise the consequences and you have to deal with it. I decided that BASE Jumping was what I wanted to do. But before I was very black and white about it, I knew that if I had an accident I would either survive and be fine, or be dead, but suddenly I was stuck in a wheelchair for an indefinite amount of time, and I was the one who had to deal with the consequences. It was much harder and much tougher than I had ever anticipated. I didn’t regret anything, of course it was too bad it happened, but I had no one to blame.

 

WG: So began your amazing recovery – what kind of stuff did you do?

KH: The first thing I did after spending 4-months in the hospital was eating! I had been in bed and lost all my muscles. I weighed 47kg – about 20kg less than what I weigh today – I was just skin and bone. I couldn’t even sit up in a wheelchair for an entire meal as I super weak. I had been an athlete for a very long time and I used my body for everything that I did. I was frustrated and sad and couldn’t use my body because I was linked to a wheelchair and didn’t know if I would ever get out of there. I didn’t know what to do and I couldn’t let off any steam. My PT at the rehab centre came to me one day and threw a pair of boxing gloves in my face, and I sparred with him. It was such a great feeling because I could use my hands. I used so much energy in that session that I was sick for the next two days – but it was definitely worth it.

 

WG: Do you understand the concepts of fear and defeat.

KH: Sure I do! What do you mean?

 

WG: Doing BASE Jumping for a start is remarkable. But then having the determination to fight on from the position you were in…

KH: Why I started doing all the things I did after the injury was because I missed taking part and sharing with my friends. It wasn’t just about the adrenalin of BASE Jumping or anything like that; it was about being with my friends instead of only sitting at the bottom with a cup of tea waiting for them. That was the only way that I could participate. I want to get back to skiing now because that is what I have been doing all my life. And I think for a girl who had been told that she was never going to be able to walk again, to be able to ski again is probably as good as it gets.

 

WG: Now you have been giving talks. What are the main aims of them and how have they been received?

KH: In a way I am just trying to tell my story, and if someone can get something out of it then I feel like it is worth it for me. My story is pretty universal, even though they might not want to jump off a 1000-metre cliff; we all have setbacks in life. If it’s the loss of someone close or disease we need to find the strength to get back on our feet. If my experiences and the way I have been dealing with it, can be an example for others to deal in certain situations then it feels rewarding for me. I try to kind of focus on the thought that people have to ‘dare to dream’ because even if your dream is completely unrealistic and seems a little far off, I still believe that you can do it and you just need to believe in yourself.

 

WG: So you are looking to start skiing again in the next 12-months, what do you hope to do beyond that?

KH: I want to get back to skiing, and the exploration part. Hopefully I will work with some of the film companies that I have already worked with and make expeditions more scenic than they have been; they tend to be quite extreme. I think that I have quite a lot to share, and maybe now if I can make it more scenic and more about the exploration and the travelling and everything around it I can reach out to a broader audience.

 

WG: Given the chance, and you were fit again, would you BASE Jump?

KH: Umm… You know honestly I don’t know, because I would. I would love to fly, I would love to jump, but I am scared now. It is a different fear than before, because it is illogical. Because it is a gear failure and a fear of something that I cannot control. To BASE Jump you have to be able to deal with the consequences, and I am not now because I can’t do this one more time. These have been three of the toughest years of my life, and I know that I can’t go through that again. And if I can’t do it again I don’t really think I can BASE Jump either, because I can do everything right and it can still go wrong.

 

WG: Would you recommend it to someone else?

KH: The people who want to get into BASE Jumping have to be passionate about it obviously. I can show some amazing footage, some beautiful locations, and some pretty horrifying scars and then they can choose for themselves.

 

The strength of character to be able to pick herself up after her near-fatal experience and literally get herself back on her feet is truly inspiring. Karina’s openness and willingness to talk about such a tragic experience was surprising and I thought particularly her complete lack of regret despite a painstaking three-year recovery was quiet astounding.

I was then given the privilege of watching the premiere of her film 20 Seconds of Joy. In the intimate screening room of the Soho Hotel a select group of journalists and Red Bull employees were set on a rollercoaster journey of emotions for just over an hour.

The film in many ways is quiet refreshing, as unlike most extreme sport videos it does not just show the extraordinary daredevil antics which the athletes undertake. Instead the focus is on the danger and the impact on the sportsman’s personal life and what those closest to them think of their chosen career. Culminating in footage from Karina’s helmet-camera of the accident, the broken and helpless athlete who had been indefinitely sentenced to life in a wheelchair is shown in stark contrast to the woman who showed no fear. Especially given she was sat at the front of the theatre with no signs she had ever been involved in an accident, the final scenes are so powerful many were left speechless and evidently moved.

Will Gilgrass

Former judge Marcus Einfeld gets at least two years' jail ... all for lying about a $77 traffic fine

Marcus Einfeld arrives at court for sentencing. Photo: Jon Reid

Former Federal Court judge Marcus Einfeld has been sentenced to at least two years in jail for lying to evade a speeding fine three years ago.

In a packed hearing room at the NSW Supreme Court, Justice Bruce James imposed a maximum three-year sentence on the 70-year-old for offences that struck "at the heart of the administration of justice".

"Any lawyer, and especially a lawyer who has been a barrister and a judge, who commits such an offence is to be sentenced on the basis that he would have been fully aware of the gravity of his conduct," he said.

Einfeld had pleaded guilty to perjury and making a false statement with intent to pervert the course of justice, to avoid a $75 speeding ticket in 2006.

Advertisement: Story continues below

His lawyer, Ian Barker, QC, said Einfeld's tireless work for the disadvantaged and other mitigating factors justified the imposition of a non-custodial term.

But Wayne Roser, SC, for the Crown argued Einfeld should be jailed full time, saying the counts were "in the worst case category" of such offences.

Justice James said the retired judge engaged in "deliberate, premeditated perjury" in order to avoid incurring demerit points on his driver's licence.

He concluded Einfeld had engaged in "planned criminal activity", detailing the numerous lies in his police statement when he asserted he was not driving his car when it was clocked going 10kmh over the speed limit in the Sydney suburb of Mosman.

Justice James referred to the offences as striking "at the heart of the administration of justice".

Justice James set a non-parole period of two years.

After the sentence was imposed, well wishers went over to the dock where Einfeld embraced and kissed many of them.

At the suggestion of corrective services officers, he handed over his valuables, including his mobile phone.

'Oh, the bag is packed'

In reply to a comment from one supporter, Einfeld said, "Oh, the bag is packed," and he was then escorted out of the dock.

Outside court, Detective Superintendent Colin Dyson said there had been "no winners here today, but justice has been served".

The head of the fraud squad and commander of Strike Force Canter said the investigation was lengthy and "very intricate".

The jail term imposed on Einfeld sent out a message that for "anybody who is thinking about engaging in this type of activity, it is not worth it".

"For the sake of a small monetary penalty, people's lives can be absolutely ruined," Detective Superintendent Dyson told journalists.

He said Einfeld was the only person who knew why he did what he did.

In January 2006, Einfeld's car was caught by a speed camera doing 60kmh in a 50kmh zone. Rather than accept the $77 fine at his court hearing in August 2006, Einfeld said a friend of his, American college professor Teresa Brennan, had been driving the car.

It later emerged that Ms Brennan had died three years before the speeding offence took place.

Einfeld continued to deny any wrongdoing until his hearing, when he pleaded guilty to both charges. Einfeld's psychiatrist, Dr Jonathon Phillips, told the sentencing hearing that his patient had been treated for depression in 1996 and 2006, and had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

An Aboriginal elder, Madeline McGrady, praised Einfeld's work with indigenous communities when he was Human Rights Commissioner in the 1980s.

In a separate hearing, Angela Liati was found guilty last month of making a false police statement by saying that she had been using Einfeld's car at the time of the speeding offence. Liati is on bail awaiting sentence.

- with AAP

via smh.com.au

 

Perrin vanishes like a billabong in a drought | The Australian

FORMER Billabong clothing empire wunderkind and Gold Coast multi-millionaire Matthew Perrin has gone to ground after this week being declared bankrupt with debts of $28 million.

Mr Perrin's brother Fraser - a former Queensland rugby union player and board member of The Southport School - said he had been unable to contact the former Billabong chief executive. "If I could find him I'd ring him as well," he said. "I don't know where he is."

Matthew Perrin, who spent four years on the BRW Rich List with his wife, Nicole, recording a peak value of $151 million in 2002, filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday with debts of $28.2 million to 20 unsecured creditors.

It is becoming apparent that although he reportedly had problems with a real estate investment in China, he had other difficulties relating to horse racing interests in Australia. Also, his personal fortune may not have been as high in recent years as was imagined. Two family companies, Christie Queensland Pty Ltd and MDP Consolidated Pty Ltd, have gone into forms of administration in recent days and are likely to be wound up.

A long-time, big-scale punter and former owner of as many as 60 horses, Mr Perrin owes $1.62 million to seven bookmakers, mostly corporate bookmakers offering odds online.

He owes $800,000 to Centrebet managing director Con Kafataris and a combined $460,000 to Victorian bookies Alan Eskander and Frank Hudson. Mr Perrin has an association with the gambling industry stretching back to the early 1990s when, as a university student, he spent more than three years working for bookmaker Laurie Bricknell, whose daughter Nicole is Mr Perrin's wife.

He owes a further $13.5 million to the Commonwealth Bank, secured against a Mermaid Beach unit that he bought in 2007 for $4.3 million and which by now may be worth only $3.5 million. Mr Perrin shot to fame in financial circles in 2000 when he became chief executive of Billabong, which listed that year as a market darling, with the group's shares closing at a 37 per cent premium to its $2.30 offer price.

Two years earlier Mr Perrin, then a little-known 26-year-old Gold Coast solicitor, teamed up with former Qantas chief executive Gary Pemberton to buy a 49per cent stake in surfwear giant Billabong from its co-founder Rena Merchant.

Ms Merchant, who founded Billabong in 1974 with her former husband Gordon, was paid $26.4million for her stake by Mr Perrin, his brother Scott and Mr Pemberton.

The deal with Ms Merchant paid off for Matthew, who in 2002 sold 60 per cent of his holding, reaping $66million. But that move caused a furore, with the Billabong chief executive failing to tell the board he planned to sell, and he resigned.

Ms Merchant, speaking yesterday from Queensland's Sunshine Coast, where she owns and operates an environmentally aware "organic golf course" at Boreen Point, said she did not regret the sale. "We did what we did at the time and we wish (Mr Perrin) all the luck in the world: it sounds like he needs some," she said.

"I only met the man twice which was when (the sale) was negotiated."

Matthew Perrin moved on too, selling a controlling stake in his software group RuleBurst to Larry Ellison's Oracle Group last year in a deal that was described as being worth $100 million.

That claim, which did not come from him, served to reinforce the notion of great wealth but in fact he ended up being paid only $242,500 for a parcel of options in RuleBurst sold on December 30, according to a statement of affairs filed during the week.

via theaustralian.com.au