Quantcast
Channel: Celebrity Net Worth
Viewing all 22234 articles
Browse latest View live

Netsky Net Worth

0
0

Netsky net worth: Netsky is a Belgian drum and bass producer and musician who has a net worth of $12 million. Netsky was born in Edegem, Belgium in March 1989. He released his self-titled debut studio album in 2010. Netsky released the album 2 in 2012 which reached #1 in Belgium and his album 3 was released in 2016 and also reached #1 in Belgium. His single "Running Low" (featuring Beth Ditto) also reached #1 in Belgium. Netsky has collaborated with several artists including Jenna G, Digital Farm Animals, Paije, Lost Frequencies, A. CHAL, Danny Byrd, Metrik, Jauz, Lowell, and Chromeo. He has remixed songs for artists including Miike Snow, Swedish House Mafia, Madeon, Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, and more. Netsky's other singles include "Moving with  You" (featuring Jenna G), "Give & Take", "Come Alive", "Love Has Gone", "We Can Only Live Today (Puppy)" (featuring Billie), "Rio (featuring Digital Farm Animals), "Work It Out" (featuring Digital Farm Animals), and "Here with You" (featuring Lost Frequencies).

Read more: Netsky Net Worth


Charles Hurwitz Net Worth

0
0

Charles Hurwitz net worth: Charles Hurwitz is an American financier who has a net worth of $250 million. Charles Hurwitz was born in Kilgore, Texas in 1940. He is known for being involved in the Savings and loan crisis as well as the takeover of the Pacific Lumber Company. Hurwitz has had holdings in pari-mutual racing facilities in Texas as well as the Kaiser Aluminum Corporation, retail complexes in western New York, real estate in the Southwest and the Ozark mountains, a hotel/condominium resort in Puerto Rico, a golf resort in Florida, and more. One of his biggest investments is a $75 million resort/hotel located in Rancho Mirage, California. In 1982 he gained control of the United Savings Association of Texas. He was sued by the FDIC and was awarded $72 million in attorney's fees when the judge ruled in his favor. His company Pacific Lumber owned the largest grove of old growth redwoods trees in the state of California and the company's logging angered many people and the organization Earth First!.

Read more: Charles Hurwitz Net Worth

Miami Billionaire Charged In $27 Million Fraud Scheme

0
0

Phillip Frost is a Miami billionaire and one of 10 people the SEC charged with fraud on September 7th. He is accused of being a part of when the SEC calls a series of "classic pump and dump schemes" that generated more than $27 million. Frost is the founder of the pharmaceutical company OPKO Health. The SEC alleges that Frost and nine other investors manipulated the stock prices of three companies for their own gain.

Basically, the 10 investors allegedly promoted the companies without admitting that they owned a stake. Then they waited for the stock prices to rise and sold their shares. This meant that the so called retail investors were left holding stock that was nearly worthless. The group is accused of "brazen market manipulation that advanced their financial interests while fleecing innocent investors and undermining the integrity of our securities markets," said Sanjay Wadhwa, senior associate director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement.

BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP/Getty Images

Both Frost and OPKO Heath are named in the suit. The SEC believes that Frost allegedly participated in two of the three pump and dump schemes that earned him about $1.1 million. Frost has a net worth of $3.7 billion. In a statement, OPKO Health said that the SEC did not notify them of their plan to file a lawsuit and said the complaint was riddled with "serious factual inaccuracies." The company said that if the SEC had followed its own standard procedures, Frost and OPKO would have happily provided documentation that answered a number of the SEC's questions and cleared Frost and OPKO of the charges.

The pump and dump scheme was reportedly spearheaded by South Florida businessman Barry Honig. He is one of the biggest shareholders in the cryptocurrency company Riot Blockchain Inc. The virtual currency company's stock took a nosedive of 24.3% after the news of the fraud charges broke. Riot Blockchain was subpoenaed in April as part of a formal SEC investigation. Honig is believed to be the primary ringleader who asked the other defendants in the case to buy or sell stock, engage in promoting the companies, among other things. Honig allegedly made more than $3.4 million while running the pump and dump scheme.

Read more: Miami Billionaire Charged In $27 Million Fraud Scheme

OxyContin Billionaire Dr. Richard Sackler Patents New Drug For Opioid Addiction

0
0

Dr. Richard Sackler is a billionaire whose family owns Purdue Pharma, the pharmaceutical company which he once served as chairman and president. Purdue is the company that brought OxyContin to the world, one of the key substances in the ongoing opioid crisis in the United States. So it's easy to see why many are outraged that Sackler was recently granted a patent for a new drug that will reportedly be used to treat opioid addiction. One such person is Luke Nasta, director of New York addiction treatment center Camelot, who's quoted in the Financial Times' original report on the patent: "It's reprehensible what Purdue Pharma has done to our public health" adding that Sackler and Purdue "shouldn't be allowed to peddle any more synthetic opiates—and that includes opioid substitutes."

Sackler is part of a team whose application for a patent on a new kind of buprenorphine was granted back in January. Buprenorphine is a mild opiate used to control addicts' cravings and wean them off of stronger drugs (like OxyContin), and this new form comes in a wafer that dissolves underneath the user's tongue.

Darren McCollester/Getty Images

The patent itself contains an acknowledgement of the US opioid epidemic, but does not mention anything about Sackler or Purdue's own connection to it. Purdue has reportedly faced more than a thousand lawsuits for its role, while the Massachusetts attorney general has said that the company used "a deadly, deceptive scheme to sell opioids." The company has denied this, but in 2007 the company had to pay a $635 million fine for inaccurate branding of OxyContin regarding its potentially addictive nature.

The new patent could end up being part of Purdue's own attempts at public rehabilitation in the wake of the opioid epidemic, which include agreeing to cease marketing its OxyContin product, paying to train first responders to treat opioid overdoses, and funding various anti-addiction campaigns in the US.

Read more: OxyContin Billionaire Dr. Richard Sackler Patents New Drug For Opioid Addiction

Auburn's Gus Malzahn Just Donated $2 Million To Help His Football Team

0
0

There's an old saying that if you want something done the right way, you have to do it yourself. Well, Auburn coach Gus Malzahn is taking that to heart. After nearly making the College Football Playoff last season, Malzahn hopes his latest move can put his team over the top.

Malzahn and his wife Kristi made a $2 million donation towards a football-only complex at Auburn. The facility has been a topic of discussion for years, and Malzahn is working to make his dream a reality.

The coach recently signed a seven-year, $49 million deal. His donation would go towards either an existing facility or a completely new building. Auburn's current athletics complex was built in 1989.

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Auburn's board of trustees received a document with a preliminary budget of $30 million to build a facility, though no actual construction has started.

Several other SEC schools have their own complexes devoted entirely to football. As one of the conference's top teams, Auburn may soon join them, thanks in part to Malzahn.

In the meantime, Malzahn and the Tigers will look to build on last year's 10-4 finish. The team has had a winning record in all five of Malzahn's seasons, but is just 1-4 in the postseason.

Maybe a new facility can change that, and help bring Auburn its first championship since 2010.

Read more: Auburn's Gus Malzahn Just Donated $2 Million To Help His Football Team

Which Hip Hop Acts Made The Most Money This Past Year?

0
0

One of the overarching themes of hip-hop is rappers talking about how much money they have. But which hip hop acts actually put their money where their mouth is? Take a look at the list below to see which artists made the most money over the past year.

19. Swizz Beatz ($15 million, tie)

19. Russ ($15 million, tie)

19. Meek Mill ($15 million, tie)

18. Logic ($17 million)

17. Lil Wayne ($19 million)

16. Lil Uzi Vert ($19.5 million)

15. Birdman ($20 million)

14. Travis Scott ($21 million)

13. Chance The Rapper ($21.5 million)

12. Eminem ($23 million)

11. Migos ($24.5 million)

10. DJ Khaled ($27 million)

9. Kanye West ($27.5 million)

8. Future ($30 million)

7. Pitbull ($32 million)

6. Nas ($35 million, tie)

6. Dr. Dre ($35 million, tie)

5. J. Cole ($35.5 million)

(Robin Marchant/Getty Images for ESPN)

4. Drake ($47 million)

(Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

3. Kendrick Lamar ($58 million)

(Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images for Turner)

2. Diddy ($64 million)

(Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

1. Jay-Z ($76.5 million)

(Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

Read more: Which Hip Hop Acts Made The Most Money This Past Year?

The Most Embarrassing Private Jet Flight Of All Time

0
0

Before a company goes public, the highest level executives embark on a multi-city tour with their investment bankers to drum up support for the upcoming IPO. This trip is called a roadshow and since the group will typically visit dozens of cities on a tight schedule, a private jet is the preferred means of transportation. During a roadshow, it's not unusual to visit two or three cities in a single day so work starts at the crack of dawn. That doesn't mean the group goes to bed early. Every night, the bankers treat their clients to a wild night out in whatever town they are in, complete with thousand dollar dinners and endless alcohol. No matter how hard the group parties the night before, the private jet will lift them off to their next destination very early the next morning.

Just for a minute, pretend you're an investment banker traveling with some very important clients on one of these roadshows. Now imagine that you spent the previous night drinking way beyond your limit only to be startled out of bed by a piercing 6:30 am wake up call. In an attempt to get your head and body feeling remotely human again, you scarf down some waffles, eggs, bacon and at least two glasses of coffee at the hotel's breakfast buffet before jumping on the shuttle to the private airport. Within a few minutes of arriving at the airport, your entire group is seated and the plane begins to taxi down the runway. At this point you might feel a bit of relief as the morning's blur subsides. All you have to do is sit back and relax for the one hour flight to the next city.

Most Embarrassing Private Jet Flight

Most Embarrassing Private Jet Flight / Steve Parsons-Pool/Getty Images

There's just one problem. In your rush to get out of the hotel, down to breakfast and onto the plane you forgot to do one very crucial thing. Go to the bathroom. And I'm not talking about peeing. You have a stomach full of dinner, desert, drinks, eggs, waffles and coffee churning around your lower intestine at 30,000 feet. But that's not the worst part. True horror sets in when you realize you're not on a spacious 20 person G5 with couches, beds, lay-z boys and a fully tucked away private bathroom. No, on this day you are traveling on a six-person puddle jumper sitting shoulder to shoulder with your clients and co-workers. But wait, somehow the story gets even worse…

This following nightmare is a 100% fully verified true story. It that happened to a very unlucky investment banker who has asked to remain anonymous for obvious reasons. He sent the story in to the amazing satirical twitter page "Goldman Sachs Elevator" (@GSElevator) which you need to follow immediately if you aren't already. GSElevator was kind enough to let us re-post the full account of this incredible real life horror story below…

The Most Embarrassing Private Jet Flight Of All Time:

Just over halfway through the flight, all the coffee in my stomach feels like it's percolating its way down into my lower intestine. I hunker down and try and focus on other things. What feels like an hour, but probably isn't more than twenty minutes, passes. We then enter what turns out to be pretty violent turbulence. With each bounce, I have to fight my body, trying not to shit my pants. "Thirty minutes to landing, maybe forty five" I try and tell myself, each jostle a gamble I can't afford to lose. I signal to [the flight attendant] and she heads toward me.

"Excuse me, where is the bathroom, because I don't see a door?" I ask while still devoting considerable energy to fighting off what starts to feel like someone shook a seltzer bottle and shoved it up my ass. She looks at me, bemused, and says, "Well, we don't really have one per se." She continues, "Technically, we have one, but it's really just for emergencies. Don't worry, we're landing shortly anyway."

"I'm pretty sure this qualifies as an emergency," I manage to mutter through my grimace. I can see the fear in her face as she points nervously to the back seat. The turbulence outside is matched only by the cyclone that is ravaging my bowels. She points to the back of the plane and says, "There. The toilet is there." For a brief instant, relief passes over my face. She continues, "If you pull away the leather cushion from that seat, it's under there. There's a small privacy screen that pulls up around it, but that's it." At this point, I was committed. She had just lit the dynamite and the mine shaft was set to blow.

I turn to look where she is pointing and I get the urge to cry. I do cry, but my face is so tightly clenched it makes no difference. The "toilet" seat is occupied by the CFO, i.e. our fucking client. Our fucking female fucking client!

Up to this point, nobody has observed my struggle or my exchange with the flight attendant. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." That's all I can say as I limp toward her like Quasimodo impersonating a penguin, and begin my explanation. Of course, as soon as my competitors see me talking to the CFO, they all perk up to find out what the hell I'm doing.

Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images

Given my jovial nature and fun-loving attitude thus far on the roadshow, almost everybody thinks I'm joking. She, however, knows right away that I am anything but and jumps up, moving quickly to where I had been sitting. I now had to remove the seat top – no easy task when you can barely stand upright, are getting tossed around like a hoodrat at a block party, and are fighting against a gastrointestinal Mt. Vesuvius.

I manage to peel back the leather seat top to find a rather luxurious looking commode, with a nice cherry or walnut frame. It had obviously never been used, ever. Why this moment of clarity came to me, I do not know. Perhaps it was the realization that I was going to take this toilet's virginity with a fury and savagery that was an abomination to its delicate craftsmanship and quality. I imagined some poor Italian carpenter weeping over the violently soiled remains of his once beautiful creation. The lament lasted only a second as I was quickly back to concentrating on the tiny muscle that stood between me and molten hot lava.

I reach down and pull up the privacy screens, with only seconds to spare before I erupt. It's an alka-seltzer bomb, nothing but air and liquid spraying out in all directions – a Jackson Pollock masterpiece. The pressure is now reversed. I feel like I'm going to have a stroke, I push so hard to end the relief, the tormented sublime relief.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." My apologies do nothing to drown out the heinous noises that seem to carry on and reverberate throughout the small cabin indefinitely. If that's not bad enough, I have one more major problem. The privacy screen stops right around shoulder level. I am sitting there, a disembodied head, in the back of the plane, on a bucking bronco for a toilet, all while looking my colleagues, competitors, and clients directly in the eyes. "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" briefly comes to mind.

I literally could reach out with my left hand and rest it on the shoulder of the person adjacent to me. It was virtually impossible for him, or any of the others, and by others I mean high profile business partners and clients, to avert their eyes. They squirm and try not to look, inclined to do their best to carry on and pretend as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening, that they weren't sharing a stall with some guy crapping his intestines out. Releasing smelly, sweaty, shame at 100 feet per second.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry" is all the ashamed disembodied head can say…over and over again. Not that it mattered.

Wow. This is probably the most humiliating social situation I could ever possibly imagine. Do you think you could recover from this? Or would you need to change your name and find a new line of work? If you do happen to find yourself on a private jet needing to use the bathroom, hopefully the interior looks more like this:

Read more: The Most Embarrassing Private Jet Flight Of All Time

Conor McGregor Has Signed A (Reportedly) Enormous Six-Fight Deal With The UFC

0
0

Conor McGregor must love getting hit in the face in front of millions of people. Which is weird because his net worth is $85 million. Why not go retire on a beach somewhere and live the good life? Maybe he's just addicted to the spotlight. Or maybe he just really really loves making tons and tons of money because the Irishman just announced that he has signed a brand new six-fight deal with the UFC. Dana White confirmed the deal today.

Terms were not revealed for their deal, but considering Conor's star power one must assume it's enormous. How big? Well, consider this –

The most popular UFC event of all time had 1.6 million pay per view buys. That fight was the rematch between Conor and Nate Diaz at UFC 202. Conor earned $25 million off the match between guaranteed money and pay per view bonuses.

On October 6, Conor is fighting Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 206. According to UFC President Dana White, they are already on pace for 2.5 million pay per view buys.

Would it be safe to assume that Conor would demand $30 million per fight with the UFC? Which would be a total deal value of $180 million. Shall we call it $200 million? And honestly that might even be super conservative.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Speaking to ESPN, Dana White announced:

"It's not hard to do a deal with Conor McGregor because we know what he's worth."

As part of the deal, Conor's new whiskey brand Proper Whiskey will be a main sponsor at each of his events and will have prominent logo displays in the octagon.

Conor's fight on October 6 will be his first time back fighting in the UFC in two years. His last professional bout was one year ago in the boxing ring when he fought Floyd Mayweather. That event had 4.3 million pay per view buys. Conor earned $100 million.

Read more: Conor McGregor Has Signed A (Reportedly) Enormous Six-Fight Deal With The UFC


Kevin J. O'Connor Net Worth

0
0

Kevin J. O'Connor net worth: Kevin J. O'Connor is an American actor who has a net worth of $1 million. Kevin J. O'Connor was born in Chicago, Illinois in November 1963. He has starred in several films including One More Saturday Night, Peggy Sue Got Married, Candy Mountain, The Moderns, Signs of Life, Steel Magnolias, Love at Large, F/X2, Equinox, Hero, No Escape, Color of Night, Canadian Bacon, Virtuosity, Lord of Illusions, Chicago Cab, Amistad, Gods and Monsters, Deep Rising, The Mummy, Chill Factor, If… Dog… Rabbit…, Van Helsing, Kettle of Fish, Seraphim Falls, Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on  a Plane, There Will be Blood, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, The Master, The Cleanse, and more. He has had recurring roles in the TV series Tanner '88, Birdland, The Others, The Beast, The Mob Doctor, Chicago P.D., and 11.22.63. He often appears in films by writer and director Stephen Sommers.

Read more: Kevin J. O'Connor Net Worth

Kathy Mattea Net Worth

0
0

Kathy Mattea net worth: Kathy Mattea is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has a net worth of $3 million. Kathy Mattea was born in South Charleston, West Virginia in June 1959. Her styles include country and bluegrass and she plays the guitar. Mattea released her self-titled debut studio album in 1984. She released the albums From My Heart in 1985, Walk the Way the Wind Blows in 1986, and Untasted Honey in 1987. Kathy Mattea released the album Willow in the Wind in 1989 which reached #6 on the US Country chart. She released the albums Time Passes By in 1991, Lonesome Standard Time in 1992, and Walking Away a Winner in 1994. She wen to release the albums Love Travels in 1997, The Innocent Years in 2000, Roses in 2002, and Right Out of Nowhere in 2005. Kathy Mattea released the album Coal in 2008 which reached #1 on the US Bluegrass chart. Her album Calling Me Home was released in 2012 and reached #1 on the US Bluegrass chart and she released the album Pretty Bird in 2018. She has had #1 hits on the US Country chart with the singles "Goin' Gone", "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses", "Come from the Heart", and "Burning' Old Memories". She has won two Grammy Awards.

Read more: Kathy Mattea Net Worth

Ruth Pointer Net Worth

0
0

Ruth Pointer net worth: Ruth Pointer is an American singer who has a net worth of $8 million. Ruth Pointer was born in Oakland, California in March 1946. She is the eldest member of the vocal group The Pointer Sisters. The group formed in 1969 and consists of sisters Ruth Pointer, Issa Pointer, and Sadako Pointer and formerly consisted of Bonnie Pointer, Anita Pointer, and June Pointer. Their self-titled debut studio album was released in 1973 and reached #3 on the US R&B chart. The Pointer Sisters have released 16 studio albums and their album Break Out was released in 1983 and reached #8 on the Billboard 200 and #6 on the US R&B chart as well as #4 in Canada and was 3x Platinum in the US and 4x Platinum in Canada. Their Top 20 singles include "Yes We Can Can", "Fairytale", "How Long (Betcha' Got a Chick on the Side)", "Fire", "He's So Shy", "Slow Hand", "Automatic", "Jump (For My Love)", "I'm So Excited", "Neutron Dance", and "Dare Me".

Read more: Ruth Pointer Net Worth

Gillian Welch Net Worth

0
0

Gillian Welch net worth: Gillian Welch is an American singer and songwriter who has a net worth of $1 million. Gillian Welch was born in New York City, New York in October 1967. Her styles include America, bluegrass, folk, country, and more and she plays the acoustic guitar, banjo, and drums. She is known for her musical partnership with David Rawlings. The duo has released five albums under her name and two others under the name Dave Rawlings Machine. Gillian Welch released her debut studio album Revival in 1996 and the album Hell Among the Yearlings in 1998. Her album Time (The Revelator) was released in 2001 and reached #7 on the US Indie chart. Gillian Welch released the album Soul Journey in 2003 which reached #3 on the US Indie chart. Her album The Harrow & The Harvest was released in 2011 and reached #1 on the US Folk chart, #3 on the US Indie chart, and #20 on the Billboard 200. In 2002 she won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year for O Brother, Where Art Thou?.

Read more: Gillian Welch Net Worth

The Rich Keep Getting Richer: The 30 Top Earning Billionaires Of The Year

0
0

You know the old sayings; It takes money to make money; The rich keep getting richer. They are clichés because they are true. These sayings are especially true for billionaires. The 30 billionaires on this list certainly know how to grow their wealth. The world's billionaires have collectively seen their net worth grow by 24% since last year.

We took a look at the world's richest billionaires and how much they earned in the past year. We looked at the difference between the 2017 and 2018 net worths for each of the 30 billionaires on our list. Francois Bettencourt and Giovanni Ferrero were not included because they just inherited their multi billion fortunes in the last year.

The billionaire who earned the least on this list is Bill Gates. He "only" made $4 billion over the past year. The highest-earning billionaire is Jeff Bezos. He grew his net worth by $40 billion in the last year.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

#30. Bill Gates – $4 billion
Current billionaires rank: 2

#29. Susanne Klatten – $4.6 billion
Current billionaires rank: 32

#28. Georg Schaeffler –  $4.6 billion
Current billionaires rank: 31

#27. Lee Shau Kee –  $5.9 billion
Current billionaires rank: 24

#26. Larry Ellison – $6.3 billion
Current billionaires rank: 10

#25. Thomas Peterffy – $6.5 billion
Current billionaires rank: 47

#24. Serge Dassault – $6.5 billion
Current billionaires rank: 41

#23. Sergey Brin – $7.7 billion
Current  billionaires rank: 13

#22. He Xiangjian – $7.8 billion
Current billionaires rank: 50

#21. Lui Che Woo – $8 billion
Current billionaires rank: 50

#20. Larry Page – $8.1 billion
Current billionaires rank: 12

#19. Sheldon Adelson – $8.1 billion
Current billionaires rank: 21

#18. Steve Ballmer – $8.4 billion
Current billionaires rank: 22

#17. Warren Buffett – $8.4 billion
Current billionaires rank: 3

#16. Dietrich Mateschitz – $9.6 billion
Current billionaires rank: 37

#15. Jack Ma – $10.7 billion
Current billionaires rank: 20

#14. Francois Pinault –  $11.3 billion
Current billionaires rank: 30

#13. David Koch – $11.7 billion
Current billionaires rank: 8

#12. Charles Koch – $11.7 billion
Current billionaires rank: 8

#11. Rob Walton – $12.1 billion
Current billionaires rank: 15

#10. Alice Walton –  $12.2 billion
Current billionaires rank: 16

#9. Jim Walton – $12.4 billion
Current billionaires rank: 14

#8. Carlos Slim Helu – $12.6 billion
Current billionaires rank: 8

#7. Yang Huiyan – $12.9 billion
Current billionaires rank: 43

#6. Mark Zuckerberg – $15 billion
Current billionaires rank: 5

#5. Mukesh Ambani – $16.9 billion
Current billionaires rank: 19

#4. Hui Ka Yan – $20.1 billion
Current billionaires rank: 24

#3. Ma Huateng – $20.4 billion
Current billionaires rank: 17

#2. Bernard Arnault – $20.5 billion
Current billionaires rank: 4

#1. Jeff Bezos – $39.2 billion
Current  billionaires rank: 1

Read more: The Rich Keep Getting Richer: The 30 Top Earning Billionaires Of The Year

Take A Rare Drone Video Tour Of Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch – Which Just Got A $33 Million Price Reduction

0
0

As you probably know, Michael Jackson lived much of his adult life at a sprawling estate that he dubbed Neverland Ranch. Located in Los Olivos, California, in Santa Babara County, Neverland has been on the market since 2015. Unfortunately, it has struggled to find a buyer even after being renovated, renamed and reduced (in price). Here's a brief history of Neverland and a rare drone video tour courtesy of the real estate agent…

Michael Jackson purchased Neverland Ranch in 1987 for $19.5 million. That's the same as around $44 million in today's inflation-adjusted dollars. After acquiring the 2700 acre property, Jackson proceeded to build an elaborate fantasy land complete with an amusement park, exotic animals and a working train. The upgrades and additions cost him millions of dollars. The property was built in a Peter Pan theme, a nod to Michael's feelings about his own arrested development thanks to early fame and lost childhood.

He threw lavish parties for friends, family and even strangers at the house. Kim Kardashian's 14th birthday was held at the ranch thanks to her dad's business connections to Michael. Elizabeth Taylor got married there in 1991.

The main residence of the property is a 12,600 square foot French-Normandy style mansion. The house features 5 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, a dance studio, a 50-person movie theater and much more. There's a four acre lake, tennis courts, a basketball court, barns and multiple guest/staff houses. In total there are 22 structures on the property.

After Michael faced child molestation charges in 1993 and then again in 2003, Michael's career and liquid financial status were permanently damaged. He no longer had the income that was necessary to pay the mortgage and the estimated $1 million per year in upkeep costs. At one point he defaulted on what had ballooned to a $25 million debt connected to the property.

In 2008 Michael was facing foreclosure. His bank sold the $25 million debt to a private equity firm called Colony Capital for $23 million.

After Jackson died in 2009, Colony spent millions on upgrades intending to sell the property as soon as possible. They changed the name from Neverland Ranch to Sycamore Valley Ranch. They listed it for $100 million.

That was nearly 10 years ago.

Maybe it's bad vibes from the former owner, maybe the price was too high, but potential buyers have not shown much interest in the property. Recently Colony reduced the price to $67 million. If that sounds enticing to you, check out this rare drone video tour of the property from the real estate agent and maybe you can set up an in-person tour!

Read more: Take A Rare Drone Video Tour Of Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch – Which Just Got A $33 Million Price Reduction

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani Is Now The Richest Sports Team Owner On Earth

0
0

All over the world, there are currently 62 billionaires who own at least one professional sports team. Of this select group, India's Mukesh Ambani is the wealthiest, with a net worth of $47.7 billion. He's the owner of the Mumbai Indians, a team affiliated with Indian Premier League cricket.

That's right, the richest sports team owner in the world doesn't own a US or European football team, but a Mumbai cricket club. But a recent CNBC profile tells the tale of how Ambani made his billions through Reliance Industries, the huge conglomerate based in Mumbai that he owns. Reliance is a massive entity now, with companies in the fields of energy, retail, telecommunications, and textiles, but it began as a small company in the latter field when the company was started by Ambani's father. When it came time for his father to decide how he wanted his children educated, he brought them up in a somewhat unusual way. Having never finished high school himself, he thought it important that his kids get firsthand experience of the real world. As Ambani explained in a New York Times interview in 2008:

"We never studied. We went out and learned how to play hockey. And we went by bus, and we went by train, and we said, 'This is what life looks like.'"

MANPREET ROMANA/AFP/Getty Images

Flash forward to Ambani's acceptance into the Stanford MBA program, and his father calls him back to his home to run a "yarn manufacturing project" at Reliance. From there, the company continued to grow to its present stature, with a galaxy of companies under its umbrella, and Ambani is its largest shareholder with a 40 percent stake.

Ambani purchased the Mumbai Indians for a little over $100 million in 2008, acting through a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. At the time, that made him the wealthiest owner in cricket, but now his wealth has grown to surpass even that fiscal accomplishment.

Read more: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani Is Now The Richest Sports Team Owner On Earth


Marc Benioff Bought Time Magazine For $190 Million – He Did Not Buy Sports Illustrated Or Fortune… And For Good Reason

0
0

Meredith Corporation is the company that owns TIME magazine, as well as a plethora of other magazines like Fortune, Money, Sports Illustrated, People, and many more. Recently, it came out that Salesforce billionaire Marc Benioff was preparing an offer to buy off one of the TIME Inc magazines Meredith was looking to unload: TIME, Fortune, Money, Sports Illustrated, or possibly a combination of those four. As it turns out, Benioff is indeed buying up TIME for $190 million in cash, but the question remains what will happen to those other three titles.

A recent Recode story speculates a "best case scenario" for TIME magazine that's reminiscent of what Amazon's Jeff Bezos did for The Washington Post:

"We'll hear and see what Benioff does with Time over the coming months. The best-case scenario is a Bezos/Washington Post scenario, where he reinvigorates the aging property with a combination of money, aggressive growth goals and a relatively hands-off approach. The downside: Even a billionaire may be frustrated at how difficult it is to turn around a property that peaked decades ago."

Charley Gallay/Getty Images

How difficult? You never know these days when a formerly stagnant property becomes newly hot stuff, but for the time being, recent revenue figures for formerly lucrative print institutions are not particularly sunny. Take Sports Illustrated ("please!," its current owners might say), a former powerhouse that still has plenty of popular familiarity and a decent sized cultural footprint. Here are some revenue figures for the last three years, via the property's bankers at Houlihan Lokey:

-2015: $239 million

-2016: $212.3 million

-2017: $184.8 million

That's a steady decline, and unfortunately par for the course in most of the magazine industry these days. Meredith Corp is reportedly seeking out $150 million for its Sports Illustrated holdings, but so far no Benioff or Bezos-like figures have stepped up to the plate.

Read more: Marc Benioff Bought Time Magazine For $190 Million – He Did Not Buy Sports Illustrated Or Fortune… And For Good Reason

How The Pritzkers Became One Of The Wealthiest Families On The Planet With A Combined Net Worth of $33.5 Billion

0
0

We live in an era of truly incredible wealth and vast inequality between the richest billionaires and every day middle class people. The 25 richest families in the world have a combined net worth of $1.1 trillion. The Pritzker family is the 15th wealthiest family in the world, with a combined $33.5 billion net worth. A.N. Pritzker was the son of Ukrainian immigrants. He began investing in real estate and companies in trouble while he worked for his dad's law firm. Those original investments started the fortune of one of America's oldest dynasties. The modern Pritzker family fortune is tied to the Hyatt Hotel chain and the Marmon Group, a conglomerate of industrial service and manufacturing company which was sold to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. Past holdings have included the Superior Bank of Chicago (which collapsed in 2001), Braniff airlines, McCall's magazine, the Trans Union credit bureau, and Royal Caribbean cruise line.

The Pritzker family is based in Chicago and has 11 billionaire members. Many still have stakes in the publicly traded Hyatt Hotel chain. Only Thomas, the hotel's executive chairman still works for the company. The rest of the family has mainly diversified after spending most of the 2000s fighting over various family trusts.

A.N. "Abram Nicholas" Pritzker was born January 6, 1896. He was the son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants who moved to Chicago from Kiev in 1881. His father Nicholas worked as a pharmacist and later as an attorney. A.N. graduated from Harvard Law School and joined his father's law firm, Pritzker & Pritzker, along with his brothers Harry and Jack. In 1936, A.N.  and Jack left the law firm to invest in real estate and small companies in the Chicago area. Harry continued to run the law firm—which eventually became an in-house firm that dealt solely with the needs of the Pritzker family and their businesses. The family shielded their earnings from taxes through a complicated network of trusts, which allowed them to distribute money as they chose. After A.N.'s son Jay Pritzker died in 1999, those trusts became the subject of a more than decade long legal fight between various members of the family—but we'll get to that in a minute.

JB Pritzker (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

A.N. and his wife Fanny had three children: Jay, Robert, and Donald. Jay Pritzker was admitted to the University of Chicago at the age of 14. He graduated from Northwestern University School of Law in 1947.

In 1957, Jay and his brother Robert founded the Hyatt Hotel chain. The first Hyatt was the Hyatt House at Los Angeles International Airport, which Pritzker purchased on September 27, 1957. It was a motel that had been open since 1954. Jay and Robert purchased it for $2.2 million. The brothers quickly realized that the growing use of air travel for business would make having a high quality hotel near major airports a valuable strategy. By 1959, Jay and Robert opened Hyatt House motels near San Francisco International Airport and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Over the ensuing decade, the Pritzker brothers made a number of acquisitions and became the fastest growing hotel chain in the U.S. In 1967, the iconic Hyatt Regency Atlanta opened. In 1969, the first Hyatt outside of the U.S. opened when the company acquired the President Hotel in Hong Kong and renamed it the Hyatt Regency Hong Kong. As of late March 2018, Hyatt has 777 properties in 54 countries and annual revenue of nearly $5 billion.

By the time of his death in January 1999, Jay Pritzker had built an empire of more than 200 companies with $15 billion and a network of 1,000 family trusts. Jay had told his family that the family trusts were not to be broken up until the law governing trusts required it—which was estimated to be 2042. He and his wife Cindy had five children: Nancy (who committed suicide in the early 1970s), Thomas, John, Daniel, and Jean "Gigi".

Prior to his death, Jay outlined a series of lump sum payments and allowances that would be paid out to his family. Starting when they graduated from college, each cousin would get a yearly allowance paid retroactively that started at $100,000 and climbed to $1 million a year at the age of 40. The family members would also receive lump sum payments for passing milestones in their lives—graduating from college, turning 30, and so on. By the time they turned 45, each cousin would have received $25 million.

That wasn't what Jay's heirs decided to do, however. In 2001, Jay Pritzker's children, his nieces and nephews, and his cousin Nicholas had decided on a decade long plan to break up the family's business empire and split the assets among themselves. Each of those participating in the agreement would receive $1.4 billion each. Jay Pritzker's niece Liesel and nephew Matthew were the only cousins left out of the agreement. As you can imagine, they did not take the news well. Led by Jay's younger sons John and Daniel, one group of cousins turned on the other pitting brothers against sisters and forced them to do what Jay never ever wanted his family to do: grab the family's money for themselves.

Liesel, 19 at the time, filed a lawsuit against her aunts and uncles and cousins. She accused her family of looting her trust and her brother's trust. She claimed that $1 billion was stolen from her trust and she not only demanded it be returned, she also asked the court to award her $5 billion in punitive damages.

The lawsuit dragged on for roughly a decade. The family eventually divided up the fortune anyway with 11 members getting about $1 billion each.

All of that drama aside, the Pritzker family counts among its ranks, the first transgendered billionaire.  Jennifer Pritzker was born James in 1950 to Audrey and Robert Pritzker. Pritzker enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1974. She served at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in the 82nd Airborne Division. Jennifer attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel during her 11 years of active duty. Over the course of Jennifer's military career, she also served in Germany and spent 16 years in the Army Reserves and Illinois National Guard. Pritzker's military career was quite decorated.

Jennifer completed her active duty in 1985 and retired from 16 years in the Army Reserves and Illinois National Guard in 2001. In 2003, Pritzker founded the Pritzker Military Library. She is on the board of Squadron Capitol LLC, a private-equity firm in Connecticut. Pritzker also founded the Tawani Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at enhancing the awareness and understanding of the importance of the Citizen Soldier and to foster projects that improve the quality of life of military personnel. The Tawani foundation made a $1.35 million dollar donation to the University of California, Santa Barbara's Palm Center for a feasibility study on the viability of transgender people serving in the military, on police forces, and in fire departments. In 2013, Pritzker donated $25 million to Norwich University in Vermont, the birthplace of the first ROTC program in the U.S.

Pritzker is divorced with three children, has been a lifelong philanthropist, and is an extremely private person. In August 2013, Colonel Pritzker issued a memo to the employees of the Pritzker Military Library, Squadron Capital, and Tawani Enterprises stating that she is now living as a woman named Jennifer Natalya Pritzker. Pritzker legally changed her name to Jennifer on August 16, 2013. The statement she issued via email stated that this name change is a truer reflection of who Pritzker truly is. She will now be identifying as a woman for all business and personal aspects of her life.

Read more: How The Pritzkers Became One Of The Wealthiest Families On The Planet With A Combined Net Worth of $33.5 Billion

The Winner Of Tiger Woods And Phil Mickelson's Head-to-Head Match Will Make Nearly As Much As If He Won The FedEx Cup Playoffs

0
0

Picture this: You're a golfer on the PGA Tour. You work hard all year long, finishing in the top 10 in a number of events, and maybe even winning a few. You qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, a series of four tournaments to determine the season champion, and ultimately win the entire thing. Then you take home a cool $10 million, and life is good.

Or, you can be Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson and just play one match for the chance to win almost as much.

Woods and Mickelson are participating in a head-to-head pay-per-view match in Las Vegas during Thanksgiving weekend. "The Match" will also be available via premium streaming services. The winner will take home $9 million.

And of course, because Vegas is involved, you can expect plenty of prop bets.

Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

According to the event's press release, Woods and Mickelson "will selectively make side-challenges against one another during the match." These include things like longest drive or closest to the pin challenges.

While the winner of the match will make $9 million, money earned from the side challenges will go to the player's charity of choice.

Woods and Mickelson have often been linked together as rivals. However, when you look at the numbers, it really hasn't been close. Woods has 79 Tour wins to Mickelson's 43. Tiger has 14 major titles to Phil's five.

But all sports love a good rivalry story, so golf will continue to push it. And it's going to make one of these guys millions of dollars. Sure beats putting in all the work for a full season, huh?

Read more: The Winner Of Tiger Woods And Phil Mickelson's Head-to-Head Match Will Make Nearly As Much As If He Won The FedEx Cup Playoffs

SpaceX Announces First Private Moon Tourist: Japanese Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa

0
0

The deposit has been made, the ticket booked, and everything (well, except a few small details) is in place, and SpaceX officially has its first private space tourist all ready to go. It's Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, who in 2023 wants to take between six and eight artists with him on an almost week-long trip around the moon, according to CNBC.

The trip, the first made to the moon since the last Apollo mission in 1972, will be made on one of SpaceX's Big Falcon Rockets, which the company is said to be currently developing in the hopes that they will eventually take passengers not just to and from the orbit of the moon but to Mars as well. Maezawa says it's a trip he's been wanting to take for a very long time:

"Ever since I was a kid, I have loved the moon. It's always there and continues to inspire humanity."

Maezawa and SpaceX have christened the project #DearMoon, and it's clear from Maezawa's intention to bring artists rather than scientists along that it's a little different in spirit from previous trips to the moon:

"I choose to go to the moon with artists. In 2023, as the host, I would like to invite 6 to 8 artists from around the world to join me on this mission to the Moon."

DAVID MCNEW/AFP/Getty Images

While it might be different in spirit from other trips to the moon, at least two familiar factors will still be present: Cost, and potential dangers. While SpaceX's Elon Musk has declined to reveal the exact ticket price for the trip, or the amount Maezawa put down as a deposit, he did speak briefly on the latter element:

"To be clear. This is dangerous … it's not a sure thing … there are some chances things could go wrong."

Hopefully for Maexawa and whoever gets to go along with him, those chances will be reduced as much as possible between now and 2023.

Read more: SpaceX Announces First Private Moon Tourist: Japanese Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa

A Bugatti Veyron Costs About $1.7M… And You Won't Believe How Much It Costs To Get The Oil Changed

0
0

When you spend seven figures on a car, it's a given that you won't be taking it into Jiffy Lube for any quick oil changes while you wait. But the actual price estimate on how much it costs to get an oil change for a Bugatti "hypercar" might still surprise you. A recent YouTube video from luxury car rental service Royalty Exotic Cars tells the tragic tale: An oil change for a $1.7 million Bugatti Veyron (the least expensive bargain choice of the Bugatti line) is said to cost about $21,000.

For some probably unnecessary perspective, that's more than enough to purchase an actual car of your own. But Bugatti owners are big spenders by default, and as Royalty Exotic Cars CEO Houston Crosta told CNBC Make It, it's the limited nature of that club that keeps costs so high:

"Bugatti services are so expensive because of the exclusivity of the product. Only select individuals own a Bugatti and the owners tend to have one or more Bugattis."

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Another reason an oil change sets Bugatti owners so far back is that it's a much more elaborate process than an oil change for a normal car. Per CNBC:

"The Veyron uses a dry-sump oiling system with 16 different drain plugs, accessible after intricately removing parts of the underbody, which takes hours. Refilling requires removing the car's grill, rear fender liners and rear deck."

Conventional wisdom recommends an oil change every three months or 3,000 miles, but the Bugatti standard has different conventional wisdom on that note as well. Luckily for thrifty Bugatti owners (if there are any), oil changes are only recommended as a once-a-year procedure, whether the car has been driven thousands of miles or no miles at all. And you're not going to be able to get any savings in the tires either, as Costa says that a set of tires for Bugatti automobiles come to about $38,000.

Read more: A Bugatti Veyron Costs About $1.7M… And You Won't Believe How Much It Costs To Get The Oil Changed

Viewing all 22234 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images