A French Army photo shows French commandos board the Tanit during an operation to rescue hostages seized by Somali pirates off the coast of Somalia. French special forces stormed a yacht taken over by Somali pirates, but one of the hostages and two pirates were killed in the operation. (AFP/Ecpad/File)From Time Magazine:
Errol Flynn never had it this good in Captain Blood.
Being a Somali pirate looks like a profitable business from the outside and it is. The margins are as attractive as those in the software industry. Microsoft still makes 60% or better margins on its core Windows, business, and server operations. With the risks that the pirates take, they ought to do as well as that.
The New York Times did a piece last year in which it estimated that the pirates would bring in $50 million in 2008. That number will be higher this year, by as much as four times.
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My Comment: The key phrase from the author of this article .... "The pirate business is not going away. It is too profitable".