Big Spenders
On Mar 30, in category: LifestyleWhen talking lifestyle of the truly wealthy, it’s almost guaranteed that a certain few people will be mentioned. Anyone can make wealth, but so few know how to spend it…
Top prize goes to 38-year-old Russian oil baron Roman Abramovich. In the past two years he has dropped an estimated $700 million on several multimillion-dollar playthings, including England’s Chelsea Football Club ($290 million); the Pelorus, a 375-foot yacht outfitted with its own helipad ($100 million); a 325-foot yacht named Le Grand Bleu ($120 million); and a Boeing 767 jet ($100 million). Abramovich’s designers gutted the plane’s 350 passenger seats and reportedly installed a 30-seat dining room and a kitchen with gold-plated sinks.
Last year steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal paid $100 million for a 12-bedroom London estate situated between the royal family’s Kensington Palace and the Sultan of Brunei’s home. The property, which reportedly boasts Turkish baths and a 20-car garage, is the most expensive private residence in the world, excluding that of royalty.
Keeping up with the ultra-wealthy may have inspired Oracle CEO Larry Ellison to order a last-minute increase in the length of Rising Sun, his 450-foot luxury yacht. Estimated to cost at least $250 million, the soon-to-be-completed 70,000-ton behemoth will supplant Paul Allen’s 414-foot Octopus as the world’s biggest yacht.
News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch paid $44 million for a triplex on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue in December, setting a real estate record for amount paid for a city apartment. Its previous owner was Laurance Rockefeller.
E. Stanley Kroenke, owner of the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche team, bought the 145,000-acre Douglas Lake Ranch in British Columbia from former WorldCom (now MCI) Chief Executive Bernie Ebbers for $68.5 million last May. It’s the largest cattle ranch in Canada. (MCI’s bankruptcy trustees received the proceeds.)
