PJ King
Quick Facts
Biography
Today we will review and analyze PJ King’s controversial deeds that are considered good by some people and disastrous by the others. PJ King is a technology entrepreneur, space engineer, and venture investor who is connected with innovative companies with high potential. “A technology investor involved in high-risk start-ups,” these are the words PJ King uses to describe himself and his professional activity. According to his statements, currently he is engaged in fusion energy and blockchain projects.
Many view him as an icon of a successful entrepreneur, but is he really a true image of a good and caring businessman? Or a malevolent and ill-natured criminal? Does he truly serve as a role model with scandalous reputation or indeed cause damage to anyone involved?
PJ King’s Early Life
Kind was born in an ordinary shepherd’s family in Ireland. He went to Dublin’s Trinity College where he received his bachelor’s degree in Physics. Later, at Cranfield University, he gained a Master’s degree in Astronautics and Space Engineering and decided to continue his education and join the Ph.D. program. However, for some unrevealed reason, he did not manage to finish studying and quit from the program in the middle. This is how his possible career in space engineering ended without even being started.
As it turned out, Kind was quick and adaptive enough to start his own business. His first project was related to a bedroom startup, which began its work from brilliant interactions with top businesses right after entering the Silicon Valley market. Unfortunately, the company’s end was the end of a sad story. Was it due to King’s being in the head?
The Technological Bedroom Startup
It all started with a company that he named as Clockworks International. He founded the bedroom startup that specialized in software engineering in 1994. Though his main ideas about the company’s product were based on space engineering background, he opened the outsourcing company in the sphere of information technologies. At first, it brought fruitful and positive results and was popular among such famous organizations as Apple, Disney, IBM, etc. Such type of clientele led to the company’s prestigious and elite reputation.
Its impressive success had been lasting for 6 years before King suddenly decided to sell the company in 2000 without explanations. He did not provide solid reasons for his decision, however, soon the company went bankrupt. Its main board members were accused of financial fraud and got a lawsuit against them. It is interesting to note that King mysteriously knew the right time to leave the company, isn’t it?
Later on, King founded another company, CNG Travels, however, he soon deemed it unprofitable and set the organization for sale. He managed the company from 2001 to 2008, and during this period the company was subject to several scandals as well.
A Story of an Angel Investor
PJ King, however, continued experiencing his success in another field. He left his entrepreneur career to become an angel investor. This is where his varying interests were clearly evident. He invested in a multitude of different industries that had no connection between them. His spheres of investment included boutiques, travel, cryptocurrency, space technology, energy search, and many others. Thus, King invested in ReResearch, Firefly Space Systems, Venturian, and so on and so forth. This shows hic inconsistency and instability of his decisions. Rumor has it that King has investments even in the DarkNet. Despite none of the investments worsened his reputation, it is the interest in space that changed his image.
Back to Space?
While not all of King’s projects were successful and resulted in, according to him, much money, he still managed to keep some savings to buy a ticket to space for 200, 000 dollars. Apparently, this was a sign of his renewed interest in space and everything related.
Virgin Galactic & Firefly Space Systems
PJ King appeared to be one of the venture investors to put their money to the Virgin Galactic. The infamous VSS Enterprise belonged to Virgin Galactic and was operated by its employees. He was also amongst the first 100 investors to purchase the tickets to space and become a part of the development team under the command of Richard Branson. VSS Enterprise required the final test launch before making its first commercial space tour which turned to be a disaster. One of the pilots got killed in the accident and other participants ended up being heavily injured. Ironically, despite his love for space and innovations, King was also amongst the first individuals who asked a refund on the failure after the incident. Though he received the refund and quit Virgin Galactic, his connection with the team members did not cease.
Together with two of the team members from Virgin Galactic, Kind decided to found a space-related company that was called Firefly Space Systems. PJ King, Tom Markusic, and Max Polyakov, with the participation of Michael Blum, got involved in the development of commercial space vehicles for orbital trips. Their intention was to use the little launch vehicles to set satellites on the orbit.
The founders raised over 20 million dollars for their startup, however, the issue aroused when a major financial investor decided to stop sponsoring the project. Firefly filed for bankruptcy, and all of its assets were set for sale at a public auction. Leaving the company, King refused to admit poor management and investment of the company, claiming that Firefly was simply “unlucky.” “It was nothing to do with us,” he told. His main reasoning was that the investors stopped financing at the wrong time, and this is them who should be blamed for the failure. “It’s unfortunate, but it happens in life,” were his words. Nevertheless, he preferred not to identify the investors.
Dark Controversial Stories
We mentioned the name of Michael Blum in the previous section on purpose. Though the rumors were not confirmed, they were both suspected of illegal actions. Namely, it was assumed that they organized and managed drug delivery and distribution and were engaged in the provision of illegal kinds of sexual entertainment to wealthy people of America. As such, King owns a boutique hotel called The Bobby Hotel that is located in Nashville. Rumor has it that this may be the perfect place for illegal sex services and drug product distribution that King may be involved in. King and Blum were suspected to use one and the same criminal connections to distribute porn and drugs. However, officially they were not noticed in dark deeds, and no American law enforcement agency confirmed the accusations. Therefore, the duo continues their business in other fields as well.
When Cryptocurrency Is Involved
What shows King and Blum’s connection to the world of illegal and immoral actions most of all is their relation to the investment in the cryptocurrency field. Rumor mills state that the amount of money they get from cryptocurrency business may be acquired only in illegal ways. Obtaining such a sum of money that they own is possible only if you are involved in some dark and ill-natured activities. King and Blum, however, neither confirm nor deny the rumors. Therefore, the bad reputation of both of them continued to grow. With time, both King and Blum received the titles of Kings of the Deep Web that only strengthened the rumors. Is it true or not, it is not clear yet. Nevertheless, the issue requires further study and analysis to make a final conclusion.
Regardless of the unpleasant claims about PJ King being one of the rulers of the dark world, he continues his business to date. No rumors were confirmed by the Interpol or other legality-related agencies of America. Despite all the conflicts and scandals, for many people, he continues to bear the image of a powerful venture investor and entrepreneur. They believe if he has made it on his own out of an ordinary family with no big money and high connections with important people, King definitely is “the good man.” Still, King’s controversial actions and implemented decisions require close attention. Usually, any rumor has some basis for it. If there is a strong belief that PJ King is a villain, then this issue should be thoroughly studied and either confirmed or denied by respective authorities. King is viewed as not only a great financial manager and manipulator but also a cunning individual cunning enough to protect his illegal activities away from the American lawmakers.
PJ King has been connected with multiple failures, bankrupt projects, “unlucky” businesses and remains a successful figure nevertheless. The thought that he may be connected with all of the negative outcomes and bear responsibility for them comes naturally. Therefore, despite his image of a great and inspirational investor and entrepreneur with many successful projects, the situation about PJ King remains unsolved. After the analysis, it is clear that, presently, his deeds can be hardly called good and caring for the future of society and space search development.