When you talked about your work you mentioned that rich people got up to some weird stuff. What’s the weirdest stuff you’ve learned about the super rich people you research?

copperbadge:

I guess it sometimes depends on how we define weird. Like…rich people get really obsessed with really inconsequential shit. In the words of Rex Stout, “People who aren’t often annoyed annoy easily.”

As an example, Larry Ellison owns a home out in the wilderness somewhere (I used to know where) and there was an issue with a tree – his neighbors had this really tall tree that was obstructing his view of The Wilderness, and there was maybe a lawsuit? But the point of this story is not the tree, the point of this story is that it led to rumors that Larry Ellison has a lawyer specifically and solely designated to handle Legal Tree Issues, a Tree Lawyer. And he has vehemently denied this.

Larry Ellison is worth upwards of forty billion dollars. Forty billion. With a B. He doesn’t mind the rumor that he flew a private jet under the Golden Gate Bridge. But he is VERY INSISTENT that we all know that he does NOT HAVE A TREE LAWYER. 

(Incidentally he is also very into becoming an immortal. He’s 72 and apparently realizing he can’t take it with him, so I suppose it stands to reason.)

 

On the other end of the “fucking wild” spectrum is Nicolas Berggruen, who several years ago decided he was done with…home ownership. He got rid of all his personal real estate and reportedly most of his belongings, bought a jet, and spent years living on his jet and in hotels, traveling the world with a duffelbag (which apparently included stuffed animals). He kept clothing at all the hotels where he regularly stayed, but otherwise didn’t own much. (Other than, you know, a jet and a real estate investment empire he grew to $2.5B out of a $250K inheritance.) 

The thing is, I love Nicolas Berggruen, because he’s lived a life that compared to his peers has done little harm. He traveled the world with the goal of “having lunch with an interesting person every day” and shopping for paintings to buy and give to the LA County Museum of Art. For years he was known as the “Homeless Billionaire” until he got word of the nickname and decided to buy a home so they couldn’t call him that anymore.

Then there was Barre Seid, who tried to covertly buy a small liberal arts college so he could turn it into a libertarian paradise, and was foiled by the school’s own students. (He’s also a frothing Islamophobe but I find his UTTER DESTRUCTION at the hands of college sophomore Allie Peluso is a much more uplifting story to tell.) I had to go to my boss and be like “So…can I talk to the person who suggested we ask this guy for money? I need to grab them by the lapels and yell NO in their face really loudly.”

I’ll close with this one, because I think it’s charming: we have one prospective donor, she’s the daughter of a prominent foreign businessman and worth billions. We know quite a bit about her, especially since she does a lot of charity work. She’s married to a man who seems nice, he’s pretty invested in charitable work too, but we can’t find out a fuckin’ thing about him. Our best guess at him is that he’s “probably French and possibly Buddhist”. I am delighted by how this princess apparently married the most amiable, anonymous peasant she could possibly find. He looks nice! (But we have no way of knowing.)