Miami Heat owner Micky Arison experienced his fair share of problems in 2011. His team came maddeningly close to winning their second NBA championship in June before falling to the Dallas Mavericks.
Then, the NBA locked out the players' union, depriving the Heat of a significant chunk of revenue due to lost games. Topping it all off, the NBA fined him $500,000 for a series of tweets blasting his fellow owners during the lockout.
But that was chump change compared to the rest of the money he lost in 2011. Financial publication Forbes Magazine has named Arison one of the five biggest money-losers of the year. The magazine estimates he lost $1.3 billion, largely due to the declining stock price of Carnival Corp., the cruise ship operator he leads as chairman and CEO.
The cruise industry has been in a funk that has spanned multiple years following the financial meltdown of 2008. With unemployment above 9 percent for much of the year, it makes sense that fewer people decided to go on cruises.
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According to Yahoo Finance, Arison owns more than 1.3 million shares of Carnival stock. The stock fell 29 percent in 2011, accounting for a huge chunk of Arison's losses.
If you think your 2011 was rough, at least you can say you didn't lose $1.3 billion.
Don't feel too bad for Micky, though. Forbes estimates his net worth to be $4.5 billion, even after losing all that money.
Besides, it's not like he's in bad company. Billionaire investor Warren Buffet topped Forbes' list, losing $3 billion last year.
