Haaretz: How a tycoon turned Israel’s natural-gas industry into a monopoly

This story has been told a number of times, but the decision by Antitrust Commissioner David Gilo two weeks ago to retreat from the agreement that would perpetuate Yitzhak Tshuva and Noble Energy's monopoly in the Israeli natural-gas industry provides the Tshuva story in a different context. And that story can teach us a lot.

Tshuva is an entrepreneur and a businessman always looking for opportunities. He has had his ups and downs, and we’ve seen how he has exploited these chances.

Some of them were opportunities that the government laid at his doorstep, first when he was a young contractor who made his early fortune doing work building the Bar Lev Line near the Suez Canal more than 40 years ago. Later the state reformed the fuel industry and brought in new players to increase competition.
MORE