Uncivilised Rothschild / Bakrie Feud Blows Up On Twitter

There was a time when the Rothschild name was a byword for discretion in the world of high finance, a convenient shorthand for a particularly British variety of snobbish chivalry.

That proud tradition, however, came to a dramatic end yesterday when Nathaniel 'Nat' Rothschild, the hot blooded 42-year-old scion of the Rothschild clan, launched an extraordinary Twitter attack on his former business partner, Aga Bakrie, the son of the chairman of the powerful Indonesian Bakrie family business group, yesterday.

The exchange of insults came just hours after their corporate divorce – which involved the Bakrie family buying back their coal-mining interests from the husk of a disastrous joint venture company, Bumi, created with the Rothschilds in 2010 - was finalized. The new company has been renamed Asia Resource Minerals.

Both men appear to be relatively inexperienced Twitter users, with Rothschild having sent a lifetime total of 147 tweets and Bakrie having composed 163.

So, to save your eyes, I have therefore taken the liberty of correcting the worst of their amateur Twitter typos.

Hostilities were opened by Rothschild, who tweeted Bakrie, writing, “Thanks for buying back a worthless pile of  turd. I look forward to watching Bumi .. trading to zero.”

“Bumi resources back to Indonesia . . . Protect country resources from imperialist. Goodbye London . . . It was a bittersweet experience,” responded Mr Bakrie (this tweet has since been deleted).

“What about protecting minority shareholders from Bakrie? Why is investing $1.2b into Indo bad for Indonesia you dumb schmuck?!” retorted Mr Rothschild.

Bakrie replied, “Indonesia is an amazing investment haven make no mistake...It’s only bad when a minority try to take control by dirty tricks.”

Mr Rothschild then descended to the level of the playground and wrote, “Whilst your dad is an evil genius  (yes, I’m paying [him] a compliment)  the word on the street is that you are extremely DUMB!”

“Ha ha”, tweeted Mr Bakrie in response. “‘Dumb’ - I believe that’s the word that has been associated with you by most of the people that I have met.”

This was the moment at which Mr Rothschild threw all his toys out of the pram, firing off a volley of insulting messages to his former business partner

“No family has done more to blacken Indonesia 's investment climate than yours,” he wrote, before adding, in a succession of tweets, “Pls explain why Bakrie tel, Bakrie land, Bakrie bros, Bakrie palm, are all trading at zero. Zero equity value…all WORTHLESS public companies. Worth ZERO, NADA,NOTHING.”

Yes, he actually used capital letters.

It was left to Bakrie to bring the feud to a close with an iota of magnaminity: “I would like to say congrats on the separation, all the best for you, as we Indonesians say, “Selamat malam pak Nat”.