Zdeněk Bakala

Czech businessman (born 1961)

Zdeněk Bakala
Born	(1961-02-07) February 7, 1961 (age 63) Opava, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic)
Citizenship	Czech Republic, United States^[1]
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley Tuck School of Business
Known for	former ownership of OKD
Spouse	Michaela Bakala

Zdeněk Bakala (born 7 February 1961) is a Czech entrepreneur and investor.

Business career

Zdenek Bakala is a stakeholder in mining, energy, financial businesses and owns the media company Economia, the publisher of Hospodářské noviny and Respekt magazine among others.^[2] In 2017, Bakala was named by Forbes as the tenth wealthiest person in the Czech Republic. ^[3] His philanthropic activities are directed via the Bakala Foundation.

Controversy

In September 2018, Bakala filed a lawsuit in Beaufort, South Carolina claiming that a Slovak businessman initiated frivolous lawsuits, made death threats on Facebook and instigated criminal investigations against him. He also said the businessman threatened to send soccer hooligans to protest in front of his home in Switzerland and demanded 500 million Czech koruna (US$23 million) as a compensation for losses suffered by buying Bakala's New World Resources stock.