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Tag: Billionaires

  • Video Timeline: Richest Billionaires Over The Last 10 Years

    Video Timeline: Richest Billionaires Over The Last 10 Years

    Forbes created a cool two-minute video timeline of the richest billionaires in America over the last ten years. The current wealthiest American, of course, is Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos who is worth $179 billion. He is followed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates who is only worth $111 billion. Interestingly, both of these billionaires would be even richer had Bezos not divorced and Gates didn’t give away a huge chunk of his fortune to his family foundation.

    Bezos’s divorce cost him $38 billion in stock at 2019 prices. If he had stayed married and held onto his shares he would be $57 billion richer and be worth an astounding $236 billion. Bill Gates has reportedly given away over $50 billion to charitable causes over the years. If he had held on to his Microsoft shares who knows, he might even be richer than Jeff Bezos!

    Rounding out the current Top Ten Richest American Billionaires are Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg at $85 billion, investor Warren Buffett at $73.5 billion, Oracle founder Larry Ellison and current potential TikTok investor at $72 billion, former long-time Microsoft CEO and current Clippers owner Steve Ballmer at $69 billion, PayPal-Tesla-SpaceX entrepreneur Elon Musk at $68 billion, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at $67.5 and 65.7 billion, and last but not least Sam Walton daughter and Walmart heiress Alice Walton at $62.3 billion. Notably, Alice Walton is the richest woman in the world.

    Video Timeline: Richest Billionaires Over The Last 10 Years

  • Liu Yiqian: Why Is Everyone Mad At This Chinese Billionaire?

    People are mad at Chinese billionaire Liu Yiqian and the reason may shock you.

    This wealthy individual decided to splash the cash a few days ago, spending a whopping $36 million for a 500-year-old artifact.

    The “chicken cup” as it’s known, is one of a few precious porcelain cups that remain from the Ming Dynasty.

    The cup earned its name from the image of a cockerel, hen, and chicks painted onto it.

    This item is considered the Chinese equivalent of the holy grail.

    Naturally, when a man dares to drink from such a rare and highly revered item, it’s going to cause some major backlash.


    Liu seemed oblivious to the possible negative response. He said, “Emperor Qianlong has used it, now I’ve used it.”

    While that may come off as particularly conceited, Liu insisted that it was “a simple thing”.

    A Sotheby’s staff member had prepared tea for Liu. It occurred to Liu that it would be a unique and wonderful experience if he were to enjoy his beverage from the multimillion dollar cup.

    “[I] excitedly poured some of that tea into the cup and drank a little…what is so crazy about that?”

    What’s crazy, in the mind of the disapproving bystanders, is that anyone would want to “desecrate” such a sacred artifact. One so rare that what few survived the Ming dynasty are locked away in museums.

    Said one angry commenter, “No people who are civilized would treat a cultural treasure like this. No wonder Chinese people are looked down on by other countries’ citizens.”

    However anyone feels about what Liu has done, one unshakable fact remains: He owns the artifact. It is his chicken cup and NOBODY else’s.

    Having paid the price of a small country to own the rare item, wouldn’t it be fair to say he should be able to use it accordingly?

    Well, the debate certainly rages on when it comes to major historical items and the reality of private ownership.

    Should Liu Yiqian have left the chicken cup as is or is he right to drink out of an item he rightfully owns? Comment below!

    Image via YouTube

  • Beanie Baby Creator: Feds Demand New Sentence

    Federal prosecutors are demanding a new sentence be handed to Beanie Baby creator Ty Warner, 69, after he was given probation for hiding at least $25 million from tax authorities in Swiss banks.

    In a 55-page appeal filed with the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, prosecutors suggest the tax evasion the billionaire pleaded guilty to called for at least some time behind bars.

    The appeal argues that letting the probation stand, “creates improper disparities between rich and poor defendants” and makes it more difficult to justify prison sentences for those who hide far less than the millions Warner concealed.

    “In the future, counsel for offshore-evasion defendants, and white-collar defendants in general, will certainly argue that since Warner received probation, their clients should as well,” the filing says.

    At Warner’s sentencing in January, prosecutors asked for at least a year in prison. However, Judge Charles Kocoras sentenced him to two years’ probation and 500 hours of community service. Before the sentencing hearing, Warner agreed to pay $27 million in back taxes and interest, as we’ll as a civil penalty of more than $53 million.

    At sentencing, Kocoras praised Warner for his philanthropy and said society was better served by his freedom.

    “Mr. Warner’s private acts of kindness, generosity, and benevolence are overwhelming,” said Kocoras of Warner’s charitable donations of an estimated $140 million. “Never have I had a defendant in any case … demonstrate the level of humanity and concern for the welfare of others as has Mr. Warner.”

    Prosecutors argued against such reasoning stating that with a net worth of around $1.7 billion, the value of Warner‘s charitable giving as less than 2 percent of his wealth. The filing mentioned that some billionaires give away half their wealth.

    “Wealthy people commonly make gifts to charity. Warner is no Robin Hood,” the filing says. “His past charitable contributions were not so extraordinary, in light of his wealth, that they qualify as ‘a get-out-of-jail card.’

    Warner’s spokesman, Eric Herman, released a statement Friday defending the sentence.

    “Unfortunately, the government is spending resources to challenge a well-reasoned and careful sentence issued by a well-respected judge,” the statement said.

    Image via YouTube

  • Cecil Chao Doubles Offer to Any Man Who Weds Lesbian Daughter

    A Hong Kong real estate billionaire has doubled the reward amount to any man who is willing to win over his lesbian daughter’s heart.

    In 2012, Cecil Chao initially set the amount for $65 million after receiving news that his daughter, 33-year-old Gigi Chao, married her girlfriend of seven years.

    Cecil claimed last year that his daughter’s sexual orientation was none of his business or concern, but his actions reveal other wise.

    After 20,000 unsuccessful suitors, the billionaire has now doubled the amount to $120 million.

    “I would not force her to marry a man,” he said. “But obviously I would, from my point of view, prefer her to be married and to have grandchildren.”

    Cecil even stands by the assumption that his daughter is still single, although that’s clearly not the case. He believes that because she is still young that her sexual preference could somehow transform all of a sudden.

    Gigi is already a very successful career-driven humanitarian. As the executive director of her father’s property development company, she is also chair of the Faith in Love Foundation.

    Cecil has added the fact that he hopes to have his daughter inherit his business someday. How that has anything to do with her sexuality is unclear.

    Thus, Gigi HAS MADE IT CLEAR that she is very happy with her marriage and no man would ever be able to change that. (image)

    Shockingly, Gigi has stated that she is not at all upset by her father’s efforts to find her a man. She ultimately views it as “fatherly love;” a father’s sincere concern and willingness to do anything for his child.

    Gigi’s wife Sean Eav, however, is devastated by Cecil’s relentless offers to break their marriage apart.  In response, Gigi has asked her father to avoid reporting his “bounty” efforts to the press for the sake of her and Eav’s private relationship.

    “I understand that he loves me, it’s just he’s from another time and it’s difficult for him to understand the plight of the LGBT [community]. At the office it’s business as usual. At family gatherings we hug and dance. And we just agree to disagree on what marriage is and family is,” she reported to the South China Morning Post.

    Gigi is an LGBT advocate and leads her own gay rights group, which helps to alleviate discrimination against sexual minorities.

    As for the “bounty” award, it still stands. Hopefully someday Cecil will be able to accept and embrace his daughter’s lifestyle.

    Here is a full report done by ABC’s 2020 in 2012 :

    Image via Youtube, Youtube

  • Bill Gates Charity Criticized as “Worthless”

    Bill Gates is incredibly wealthy; in fact, he’s the most wealthy person in the world. The co-founder of Microsoft and a noted investor, Gates is also well-known for his philanthropy work, mainly through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has a hand in charitable donations to causes ranging from reducing HIV infections abroad to college-ready education and post secondary success here in the U.S. Overall, Gates is the recipient of much praise for his charitable work, but he is in the limelight recently because of one wealthy man’s criticism that Gates’ pledge is “practically worthless.”

    When Gates asked Robert W. Wilson to sign The Giving Pledge back in 2010, Wilson had a few choice, unsavory words to say on the matter. The charity, which is founded by Gates, asks pledgers to give the majority of their wealth to charity, whether it be during their lifetime or through the use of a will. When Wilson was approached, he declined the offer, saying that the pledge was “practically worthless” and critiquing a loophole in the pledge that allowed pledgers to donate to family-owned charities and foundations.

    “And these foundations become, more often than not, bureaucracy-ridden sluggards,” Wilson went on to say in an email sent out in June of 2010, which was addressed to Gates. A copy of the email found its way to the internet, showing up on websites such as BuzzFeed. Wilson also said that he was “going to stay away from [Gates’] effort” in the same email. In a reply email, Gates wrote that pledge signers would “benefit greatly from [Wilson] joining in,” and that he might inspire younger generations to also give to charitable causes. In response to this, Wilson wrote, “You, being a liberal, think you can change people more than I think… When I talk to young people who seem destined for great success, I tell them to forget about charities and giving. Concentrate on your families and getting rich — which I found very hard work. When people reach 50 and are beginning to slow down is the time to begin engaging them in philanthropy.”

    Sadly, Wilson took his own life just a week ago, jumping from luxury high rise after suffering from a severe stroke. He donated millions to charity before jumping from the building and ending his life. The Gates Foundation has not released any further word on the situation as it comes to light under such solemn circumstances.

    Image courtesy of this Tweet from the official Bill Gates Twitter page.

  • African Billionaires Numbered at 55

    In a recent study conducted by Ventures magazine, a Nigerian business magazine which champions capitalist developments in Africa, has identified at least 55 billionaires on the continent of Africa. While this number is a conservative estimate, according to founder Chi-Chi Okonjo, it is still a drastic increase 16, from the number formerly reported by Forbes.

    Chi-Chi Okonjo contributes the under-reporting to the rampant corruption the country faces: “People are not comfortable disclosing their wealth.” OozoEewala, Ventures’s editor-in-chief, says that Africa is a “…culture of you don’t necessarily want to show your wealth, considering the gap between rich and poor.”

    Most of the 55 people on the billionaire list have accumulated their wealth through the abundant resources that are available in certain areas of the country. Nigerian manufacturer Aliko Dangote is listed as the richest man on the continent, topping the list with a wealth of $20.2 billion. Dangote earned his money through a lucrative cement business, and then expanded his talents to include flour and sugar businesses. Dangote also has a massive oil investment.

    Oil is the most lucrative business in Africa. The youngest billionaire on the list is a 38 year old Nigerian oil trader. The Nigerians, who comprise the majority of the list, make most of their money through the oil business.

    The richest woman in Africa, Nigeria’s Folorunsho Alakija, started her career much like Dangote. Alakija was educated in the fashion industry in London, and then returned to her homeland to find work. In Nigeria, she designed clothes for Maryam Babangida, the wife of former Nigerian military leader and ruler Ibrahim Babangida. Through this connection, Alakija was able to acquire an off-shore oil block for a cheap price; business has been booming ever since.

    While the population of those in poverty has increased from 205 million to 441 million in Sub-Saharan Africa over the past 30 years, there have still been improvements. One of the members of the billionaire list, 38 year old Tanzanian Mohammed Dewji, is a Sub-Saharan man that has been able to make his fortune through a vast trading company.

    Dewji’s success is an indicator of economic improvement in Sub-Saharan Africa. The World Bank has reported a 4.9% increase in economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa this year. The bank’s biannual publication, Africa Pulse, estimates growth in Sub-Saharan Africa to reach 5.3% in 2014 and 5.4% in 2015.

    Africa’s increasing wealth has also led to increasing philanthropy. Dangote donated more than $100 million toward the causes of education, healthcare, and disaster relief in Nigeria last year. Nigerian banking billionaire Jom Ovia donated $6.3 million toward ICT training, and Zimbabwean telecoms mogul Strive Massiyiwa pay the school fees for approximately 14,000 children.

    While almost 1 in every 2 people live in abject poverty in Africa, the economic status of the continent continues to see positive improvements. One cannot expect a country devastated by extremely invasive imperialism for multiple centuries to rebound overnight. Since Europe and North America have left the continent to its own devices, Africa has continued to make steady improvements. Let’s hope that the spirit involved in economic growth and increased philanthropy also carry over to the humanitarian troubles of the continent.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Janet Jackson, Billionaire, Working On New Album

    Janet Jackson has now officially become a billionaire.

    The pop star has earned $260 million in album sales since she debuted in the early ’80s, $81 million from music and book publishing fees, $500 million on her sold-out world tours and related tour sponsorships, and over $300 million from movie roles. Now that she’s happily married (to businessman Wissam Al Mana), she’s ready to get back in the studio.

    “I am working on a new project now. We are creating the concept and initial thoughts on the music,” she said.

    Jackson, who has always been intensely private about her personal life, managed to marry Al Mana in a secret ceremony last year, months before any of the media got wind of it. Her fans now have something to look forward to as she puts together new songs; as one of the best-selling artists of all time, she has quite a rep to live up to.

  • Earl Holding Dies; Billionaire Was 86

    Earl Holding Dies; Billionaire Was 86

    Robert Earl Holding, an American businessman and billionaire, has died at the age of 86.

    According to a Salt Lake Tribune obituary, Holding died on Friday, April 19. The details of his death have not been released, though it is known that Holding had been suffering complications from a stroke he endured in 2002. Holding had continued to operate his business interests for years following his stroke.

    Holding was worth an estimated $3.2 billion at the time of his death, making him the 423rd richest person in the world, according to Forbes. He was the owner of many businesses, chief among them Sinclair Oil, which he bought in 1976. Holding also owned the Grand America Hotel, Little America Hotels, the Westgate Hotel in San Diego, and two ski resorts, Sun Valley and Snowbasin.

    Holding lived in Utah and is credited with helping to bring the 2002 Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City. Holding was inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2010.

  • Mark Cuban Admits He Lost Money on Facebook

    On the eve of Facebook’s big IPO, Mark Cuban predicted that the public offering could be the “most important” in history – but not for the reasons you might think. Cuban thought brand excitement would bring in retail investors who wouldn’t read the prospectus, and would then be chewed up by high frequency/algorithmic traders, who would “attack this stock like a pack of wolves.”

    Today, with Facebook stock creeping to under half of its initial offering price, Cuban admits that even he lost money trading Facebook stock. Like many others, Cuban expected Facebook stock to bounce upward, which never happened. From a post on Cuban’s blog:

    I bought and sold FB shares as a TRADE, not an investment. I lost money. When the stock didn’t bounce as I thought/hoped it would, I realized I was wrong and got out. It wasn’t the fault of the FB CFO that I lost money. It was my fault. I know that no one sells me shares of stock because they expect the price of the stock to go up. So someone saw me coming and they sold me the stock. That is the way the stock market works. When you sit at the trading terminal you look for the sucker. When you don’t see one, it’s you. In this case it was me.

    In that same post, Cuban made it clear that he doesn’t begrudge Facebook its high initial offering price, the way many investors now do. He points out that the Facebook CFO was right to price the stock as high as possible, as Facebook ended up raising $10 billion. Cuban blames individual investors and brokers who didn’t read the prospectus for their own losses, and states that no one cares about traders, like himself, who were “hoping for a pop.”

  • Russian Billionaire Wants Other Billionaires To Fund His Immortality

    Russian Billionaire Wants Other Billionaires To Fund His Immortality

    You may recall a super crazy plan from one Russian billionaire that’s hoping to fund the first immortality project. Dmitry Itskov is pretty young at 31, but he hopes to live forever with the help of science and robotics. He needs help, however, from the billionaire community to complete his objective – becoming immortal by 2045.

    In an open letter from Itskov, he implores billionaires to start funding “cybernetic immortality and the artificial body.” For you see, Itskov doesn’t want to make an immortal body. It’s impossible to stop aging as our bodies will just wither and die sooner or later. His plan involves something far more sci-fi and it’s way cooler as a result.

    If you’re familiar with the idea of transferring consciousness to a machine, then you already have a leg up on understanding what Itskov hopes to do. His plans for 2045 involve transferring the human consciousness to a machine and preserving said consciousness. It would essentially mean transferring the consciousness in our brain to a synthetic brain. Our humanity would be supposedly intact, but none of our original body would remain.

    Of course, that’s still quite a ways off. For now, he’s hoping to have some other exciting technology available by the year 2015. He calls them “android avatars” that are controlled via a “brain-computer.” You’re no doubt thinking of James Cameron’s Avatar films and that’s exactly what Itskov has planned. He hopes to use these “android avatars” to help people “work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations, etc.” He also hopes the technology would allow people with disabilities to walk again or experience lost senses.

    You might think that sounds a little bit too much like sci-fi. Surprisingly enough, the technology is almost here and will be readily available later on down the road. It’s actually the least sci-fi of all the milestones that Itskov has planned.

    Take for instance his plans for 2025. He hopes to create a robot that can take in the brain of an otherwise damaged beyond repair body. It’s not exactly the transferring of human consciousness as the machine would still be dependent on the brain. It’s still crazy sci-fi techno-magic and a lot of people would disagree with his timetable.

    His goal for 2045 isn’t simply immortality. That plays a large role in it, but Itskov sees it as the next step in human evolution. In his mind, death is but a genetic defect that needs to be eradicated. There are plenty of scientists who would disagree with that statement, but let Itskov have his fun. He hopes that the immortality project will advance humanity to new plateaus of “energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.”

    Of course, when you’re immortal and in the body of a super robot, a lot of things could get done. It’s an exciting thought, but one that we must temper into reality. The human consciousness and its relationship with the brain is still something that’s not understood completely. We’re making progress all the time, but I doubt that we’ll able to transfer the human consciousness, independent of the brain, to a synthetic one in the next 33 years.

    Russian Billionaire Immortality

    Itskov is a dreamer and I admire him for that. He hopes that there are other billionaires out there who want to dream with him. That’s why he’s offering to “coordinate your personal immortality project entirely free of charge” to anybody who’s willing to pony up the funds to continue the research. I’m sure that there are a lot of billionaires who would want to live forever, but Itskov must take into account that people would use this technology for nothing but evil. The one assurance we have is that evil men will die. If Itskov succeeds, we may no longer have that assurance.

  • Bill Gates Is Still Incredibly Rich

    Bow down to the richest person in America. Again. That’s right, folks. Bill Gates is back on top of the newest Fortune 400 list for richest people in the United States. The Microsoft founder has long flirted with the top of this list, and, in fact, he was number one on the Forbes list from 1995 to 2009, although, in 2008, he relinquished his spot to let someone else enjoy the glow.

    But now Gates is back at the top, even though he’s technically no longer with Microsoft. Keeping those common stocks was clearly a good idea. According to the newest list from Forbes, Gates’ worth is $59 billion, which is $20 billion more than the second place entry, Warren Buffet. Beyond that, however, is the sheer amount of tech industry mavens are on the Forbes list. In fact, the top 20 or so is absolutely littered with people who made their money with the computers and/or the Internet.

    Some examples include:

    • Larry Ellison, co-founder and CEO of Oracle, is in fourth place with $33 billion
    • Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is in 13th place with $19.1 billion
    • Mark Zuckerberg ($17.5 B), Sergey Brin ($16.7 B), and Larry Page ($16.7 B) follow Bezos at 14, 15, and 16
    • Michael Dell comes in at 18th with a worth of $15 billion
    • Steve Ballmer follows Dell at 19 with $13.9 billion

    Clearly, the lesson for all you youngsters wondering what field you should study is to look towards the computer/tech industry. It can make a billionaire out of you. Oddly enough, the last place person on Forbes’ list is Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder. While Snyder may not have the net worth of the people in front of him, he’s still worth over $1 billion, something I’m sure will manage to keep him warm at night.

    And for all those worried about Yahoo, Jerry Yang, co-founder and ex-CEO of Yahoo, is also on the list with a worth of $1.1 billion.