George Economou or Georgios Ekonomou (Γεώργιος Οικονόμου, born 1953) is a Greek billionaire shipowner, CEO of DryShips Inc. and Ocean Rig, and the owner of Cardiff Marine.
[6] Despite the privileged tax status of the shipping industry in Greece - the industry pays no tax on international earnings brought into the country under rules incorporated in Greece's constitution in 1967 - traders and other finance professionals caution against investing in companies run by Economou, on the grounds that his business strategy is to acquire assets personally and sell them on to his public companies for a profit, Economou getting cash while shareholders inherit operating risks exacerbated by further share dilutions.
[12] Currently, it is impossible to prove Economou is directly involved in the ownership of Kalani due to the British Virgin Islands status as an offshore tax haven that provides secrecy for its clients.
Then he issued 60 million new shares to make affiliate transactions from his own private company to sell DryShips four overpriced very large gas carriers (VLGC).
[13][6][14] In 2006, he started collecting art, mainly from European artists of the early 20th century such as George Grosz, Pablo Picasso, Christian Schad, Werner Schramm, Andy Warhol, Diego Rivera, Fernando Botero, Hermann Scherer and Heinrich Hoerle.