But times have changed and, you’d be happy to know, myself included, so has my perception on this trivial but amusing phenomenon. Could I have grown to appreciate people’s obsession with personalised number plates, yellow-only Skittles, or even how many bottles of Cristal their new Sub-Zero could chill? Not really. But someone with many more years of critical credibility once said, “Ours is an age that is characterised by a bulimic appetite for novelty, and an insatiable hunger for neologism.” In layman’s terms, “You don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got the bling.”
How do they spend their money? Those of us in the luxury business know that the über-wealthy nurture quirky obsessions because it separates them from the masses. When an item is rare, you can bet that it jumps to the top of their must-have list. Recently, I was able to source for a 22-year-old client a rare and much-coveted Hermès Birkin handbag. At only 30cm long, it was made of orange ostrich skin and was sold for over 40,000 USD –more than 10 times its original value. Another one, simply made of black shiny crocodile leather, but paved with over 12 carat diamonds, sold for over, cue the violins, 220,000 USD. Grab one’s hair… aim accordingly… commence banging motion.
The youngest billionaire is German prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis. The 23-year-old monarch first made the list at age eight when his father died. Interesting coincidence: his mother Gloria asked her friend, Swatch’s Nicolas Hayek (also a billionaire) to manage her son’s fortune until he turned 18. These days, the eligible bachelor lives in the family castle but is often away racing cars with the Italian auto-racing league. At 35, Russian coal magnate Andrei Melnichenko has made headlines for much more than his energy and banking deals. He reportedly spent two million USD to hire J-Lo to sing at his wife's birthday party in April 2007.
Exception to the rule Hind Hariri, the youngest child of business tycoon and slain Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, also makes it, however briefly on the youngest billionaire list with a reported 1.4 billion USD to her name. Tastefully and in keeping with her low-key nature, her spending sprees remain under close wraps.
Billionaire rivalries can reach mammoth levels, spurring on appetites for spending. Roman Abramovich, possibly the most elusive billionaire this side of Tinsel Town has four yachts, worth in excess of 400 million USD. As if that was not enough, he has another ‘mega-yacht’ on order, which is rumoured to be even larger than the Dubai, owned by the Crown Prince of Dubai, which at 525ft, was designed to be the biggest private yacht in the world. At 200 million USD, Abramovich’s new yacht will cost nearly as much as he paid for Chelsea Football Club. Grab a brick…aim accordingly…you get the picture.
