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Business English: Somewhere over the rainbow
Extreme wealth can buy a lifestyle of understated good taste, a spaceflight, or a wedding featuring a Bollywood drama. Business billionaires may have expensive hobbies and passions but they are essentially savvy and sensible.Billionaires and their cash are a big draw for the luxury goods market, with gem-encrusted mobile phones and gold computer gaming machines among the extravagant goodies on offer to the super-rich. But many of these ultra-high-net-worth individuals have pretty straightforward tastes, and a luxury yacht still seems to come top of many "must-have" lists. Chartering a professionally crewed yacht costs up to a million dollars a week, so some billionaires prefer to buy their own. Russian steel mogul and Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich has a fleet with luxuries such as helicopter landing pads and a cinema.
But the biggest thrill for voyeurs of excess is in reading about those who pump cash into one-off extravaganzas. Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal reportedly spent at least £30m on his daughter Vanisha's wedding in 2004. The wedding was a five-day event set at a chateau outside Paris, featuring a Bollywood-style drama depicting the romance between his daughter and her groom, written, directed and choreographed by some of the biggest names in the business.
Even more stellar, Microsoft's Paul Allen was the sole investor behind the SpaceShipOne programme, which pioneered privately funded sub-orbital space flights. In 2008 its successor, SpaceShipTwo, will accommodate six passengers at a ticket price of about $200,000 each. The whole experience will last just three hours and can promise only a few minutes of the "out of this world" feeling of being in space. Behind the venture this time is another billionaire, Virgin's Sir Richard Branson. According to Virgin Galactic, 220 eager flyers have already paid $16m in advance deposits. And they could be taking off close to home - Virgin Galactic is looking at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland as a likely base for its project.
Business billionaires may have expensive hobbies and passions but they are essentially savvy and sensible. Few can compete with rich celebrities when it comes to fabulously pointless spending habits. The world of glitzy jewellery - "bling" - is a perfect example. The newest trend is the "grill", diamonds that cover your teeth. Leading the way in sales is Houston-based rapper and jeweller Paul Wall. He can coat your teeth in a "Money in your Mouth" grill, consisting of 14-carat gold and diamond caps, for $800 a tooth. A set of 10 teeth - the only proper way to wear a grill - would be $8,000.
The ultra-luxury goods market relies on novelty, and there is a relentless turnover of all-the-more seductive gadgets on offer. For example, there are only three diamond-encrusted Piece Unique mobile phones in existence, hand-crafted by Goldvish, based in Geneva. This phone was officially pronounced the world's most luxurious - and expensive - at E1m.
Aspreys once crafted a bespoke $25,000 Nintendo Gameboy, covered in 18-carat gold and with diamonds around the screen. New York toy store FAO Schwarz now has replicas of its famous dance-on piano, as seen in the 1988 film Big, for sale. With a 22ft keyboard, the piano costs $250,000. And Disney aficionados can rush to register bids for the ultimate Mickey Mouse memorabilia - a 2ft-tall, 100lb, 24-carat gold "Celebration Mickey" sculpture. Only one is available, and it is valued at $4m.
But enormous houses still have limited cupboard space, and sometimes even high-spending celebrities have to declutter. Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish, in an event entitled "Elton's Closet", sold almost 10,000 personal items to raise money for Sir Elton's Aids Foundation. The singer auctioned off a huge range of clothes, mostly menswear from top designers, and then topped this off by putting his red Yamaha piano up for auction on eBay.
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FTD.de, 11.10.2006
© 2006 Financial Times Deutschland,
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Börsen- und Finanzmarktdaten:
Bereitstellung der Kurs- und Marktinformationen erfolgt durch die Interactive Data Managed Solutions AG. Es wird keine Haftung für die Richtigkeit der Angaben übernommen!
Über FTD.de | Impressum | Datenschutz | Disclaimer | Mediadaten | E-Mail an FTD | Sitemap | Hilfe | Archiv
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