{"id":1246,"date":"2016-09-06T12:02:56","date_gmt":"2016-09-06T12:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/?p=1246"},"modified":"2021-11-29T19:04:46","modified_gmt":"2021-11-29T19:04:46","slug":"12-facts-billionaires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/12-facts-billionaires\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Interesting Facts About Billionaires"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the entire work has roughly more than 2000 billionaires, according to Forbes the only ones whose wealth can be accounted for are 1,426 which represents about 75% of the total number and a meager percentage when compared to the total world population. Altogether, these people control a massive $33 trillion, which is such an enormous monetary figure. This implies that it is only a small percentage of people who live a life that a vast majority in the rest of the world can only dream of. They live a life that is simply beyond the grasp of the ordinary person but it is through sheer hard work and determination that they are the very top. There are some very intriguing facts<\/a> about the life these people live and their day to day activities.<\/p>\n

1. Do You Know the Name of the World\u2019s Richest Person?<\/h2>\n
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courtesy of: www.techworm.net<\/p><\/div>\n

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The mere thought of being at the very top of the listing when it comes to the amount of wealth amassed sparks imagination and thoughts of how it really feels being at the helm of it. Currently, the man who enjoys that nature of stature is none other than Microsoft founder, Bill Gates. He became a millionaire by the age of 30. He has been at the top of that list for twenty years straight and that is no mean feat. He has a net worth of US$ 72 billion. He is of a philanthropic nature and most of his wealth goes to charities and humanitarian efforts throughout the world.<\/p>\n

He has three children who will inherit US$ 10 million each with the rest of the money going towards humanitarian efforts especially through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a charity he started together with his wife, Melinda Gates whose main efforts are aimed at improving the status of education, health and poverty eradication among the disadvantaged in different parts of the world.<\/p>\n

2. Who Was The First to Become a Billionaire<\/h2>\n
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courtesy of: money.cnn.com<\/p><\/div>\n

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The first person to achieve billionaire status in the world was John D Rockefeller who had a net worth of US$ 1.4 billion by the time he died in 1937. Since then the economic times have changed and the value of the dollar has been on a steady rise. If Rockefeller was alive today he would simply be the richest person in the world. This is because in today\u2019s economy, he would have a staggering US$ 663.4 billion according to the prevailing dollar rate in the year 2007. That is an enormous figure implying how times have really changed.<\/p>\n

3. Making Millions With a Pen<\/h2>\n
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courtesy of: www.techinsider.io<\/p><\/div>\n

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In the world of writing, it is hard to achieve the billionaire status without incorporating other business ventures and endeavors but there is one writer who defied the odds to become a billionaire by solely writing.<\/p>\n

J.K Rowling, the author of Harry Potter series became a billionaire by only writing. The Harry Potter books are the ones which elevated her to that status. She became wealthier than the Queen of England but she ultimately lost the billionaire status since she donated most of her money to charity.<\/p>\n

4. Wrong Identity Lawsuit<\/h2>\n
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courtesy of: www.salon.com<\/p><\/div>\n

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Donald Trump<\/a>, a vocal US billionaire never shies away from controversy. In 2007, Donald Trump sued an author by the name Timothy O\u2019Brien on defamation grounds. This was after the aforementioned author estimated the net worth of the real estate magnate to be between US$ 150 million and US$ 250 million when in essence he was a billionaire. He assumed the term millionaire to be of a lower stature in regard to his real wealth.<\/p>\n

5. The Most Luxurious Places for Living<\/h2>\n
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courtesy of: gabinetedeprotocolo.blogspot.com<\/p><\/div>\n

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In Manhattan, there is a world class luxurious and powerful residential area that is home to an elite class of individuals. There are a couple of billionaires who live in 740 Park.<\/p>\n

This list includes he founder of Blackstone, Steve Schwarzman, who lives in the best triplex worth $ 30 million. The luxurious house was once home to the world\u2019s first billionaire. Ronald Lauder also calls 740 Park home. The influential cosmetics merchandise heir lived in a duplex was considered the best spot in the entire building. Unfortunately, he moved out in 2010 after a bitter split with his wife. The other famously rich to inhabit the building are Hedge fund billionaires, Charles Stevenson and David Ganek. The former owns a $9 million apartment and sits on the co-op board. The latter owned a $19 million duplex previously occupied by ITT chairman Rand Araskog in the year 2005. However, David had his hedge fund liquidated after an unexpected FBI raid. The above business magnates are mostly in the finance sector but there is one billionaire who lives in 740 Park and whose wealth is not in the finance industry. Fashion designer Vera Wang paid for her father\u2019s $23.1 million apartment in the same building after he died in the year 2007. Those are some of the influential people in the business world who refer to the elite 740 park as home and it is quite evident that it has housed the who is who especially in its native New York city which has the highest number of billionaires.<\/p>\n

6. The Second City that has the Most Billionaires in the World<\/h2>\n
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courtesy of: www.themalaymailonline.com<\/p><\/div>\n

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Asia as a continent does not have many billionaires but there is a city by the name Hong Kong that has 75 billionaires residing there. It is the second city after New York to have a large number of billionaires.<\/p>\n

7. The Richest Criminal in the World<\/h2>\n
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courtesy of: www.businessinsider.com<\/p><\/div>\n

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In the 90\u2019s there existed a notorious drug kingpin by the name Pablo Escobar. He was a Colombian by origin and he mastered the trade in his native Colombia before setting out to the United States where he became a household name. In his heyday, he made so much money that he spent $2,500 each month on rubber bands used to bundle up his cash stacks. Annually, he lost 10% of his earnings to spoilage and due to rodents and moisture destroying the vast cash reserves in his warehouses. When he was in hiding, he used to burn up dollar notes to keep his sick daughter warm.<\/p>\n

8. How Wealthy Henry Ford Would be today?<\/h2>\n
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courtesy of: www.salon.com<\/p><\/div>\n

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Henry Ford is the founder of the Ford motor company. He became a billionaire in the year 1920. In today\u2019s monetary terms and putting into consideration the Gross Domestic Product and inflation, Henry Ford would be worth a whopping $194 billion. This figure would comfortably place him as the 7th richest person in the world.<\/p>\n

9. Philanthropic Billionaires<\/h2>\n
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courtesy of: www.salon.com<\/p><\/div>\n

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Recently, a small group of billionaires has signed an agreement that indicates they pledge to give away half of their fortune during their lifetime. This means that there are billionaires out there who still care about the welfare of the less advantaged people in different parts of the world. The number is slightly below 100 but it could rise in the future.<\/p>\n

10. World\u2019s Youngest Billionaire<\/h2>\n
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courtesy of: curiouspost.com<\/p><\/div>\n

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Until recently, Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook, had always been referred to the youngest billionaire. This was until it was later discovered that it is his former college roommate, Dustin Moskovitz who is the world\u2019s youngest billionaire. Dustin is a few days younger than Mark Zuckerberg and also happens to have made his fortune in Facebook.<\/p>\n

11. The Tale of a Riyadh Schoolboy<\/h2>\n
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courtesy of: www.biography.com<\/p><\/div>\n

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It would be hard to imagine a billionaire\u2019s son choosing to ignore an academic or business path I life but rather he chooses to follow a path that is hard to imagine. That was the case with Osama Bin Laden whose father was a billionaire. Instead of following in his father\u2019s footsteps, Osama chose to become one of the most notorious terrorists and lead one of the largest terrorist groups, Al Qaeda. His father had 54 children and his homeland was Riyadh where he had the chance to enjoy the finest things in life bust instead he chose to become a terrorist. Strange as it seems it is the utter truth about Bin Laden\u2019s background.<\/p>\n

12. Domain Millionaires<\/h2>\n
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courtesy of: buzztache.com<\/p><\/div>\n

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There is a billionaire in Kuwaiti who owns a portfolio of several website domains and refuses to sell or liquidate them. They are worth $3 billion. Perhaps he does not really need the money after all!! Strange indeed.<\/p>\n

If you’ve enjoyed reading this content follow 12facts.com on facebook<\/a> for more…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the entire work has roughly more than 2000 billionaires, according to Forbes the only ones whose wealth can be accounted for are 1,426 which represents about 75% of the total number and a meager percentage when compared to the total world population. Altogether, these people control a massive $33 trillion, which is such an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[208],"tags":[203,50,207,204,205,206],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1246"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40344,"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1246\/revisions\/40344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}