Words: Tom Ward
Covid has been good for the rich, with fortunes soaring – a fact confirmed by the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index which this week confirmed Jeff Bezos as the world’s wealthiest person.
Bezos’ net worth now stands at a staggering $197.9 billion after frantic online shopping through his company Amazon during the Covid 19 lockdowns saw his fortune by $48 billion.
The Amazon mogul’s ever-expanding wealth perhaps comes as no surprise. What is notable, however, is that Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have joined him in the fabled ranks of the uber-uber-(uber)-rich.
The pair are now worth $103.6 billion and $100.2 billion respectively, thanks to a surge in tech stocks.
This makes Page and Brin the newest member of an exclusive club with only eight members in the world: The Centibillionaires.
Already sitting comfortably in the club are: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gate, LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett.
Notably, it’s a list heavy in American tech investors, with only Arnault and Buffett having made their money in more traditional ways (luxury goods and property). In a blow to equality, it is also notable that the richest people in the world are all men, and all white.
But, how much do we really know about these men and how they amassed such massive fortunes? From dorm-room innovations to nepotism, let’s take a look.
Larry Page
Larry Page
The Google co-founder has seen his worth increase by $21.1 billion over the previous financial year, taking his total bank balance to $103.6 billion. Not bad for someone who described his childhood home as “was usually a mess, with computers, science, and technology magazines and Popular Science magazines all over the place”.
Background:
Page’s father held a PHD in computer science, perhaps foreshadowing Larry’s future path. Born in Michigan in 1973, Larry did indeed go on to study computer engineering at the University of Michigan before continuing his studies at Stanford.
Golden ticket:
The spark of what would become Google was born when Page decided to chart the link structure of the World Wide Web, with a focus on finding out which pages linked to other pages for his dissertation at Stanford.
Breakthrough moment:
That would be teaming up with a fellow undergraduate named Sergey Brin on the project (more on him below). Together they developed the idea to eventually found Google in 1998. Twenty three years later, the company (owned by Alphabet Inc, which Brin and Page served as executives of until December 2019) boasts total assets worth $319,616,000,000 and is the world’s preeminent way of finding out information on any topic, any time, any where.
Eccentricities:
Page married Lucinda Southworth, a research scientist in 2007. As befits a centibillionaire, in 2011, he splashed out on the $45-million 193-foot superyacht Senses. His other purchases include property. Lots of property…
Controversies:
In 2009, Page began purchasing properties and tearing down homes adjacent to his home in Palo Alto to make room for a large ecohouse. Rather than a controversy, the project actually saw Page work with an arborist to save some trees as well as install eco-concious features such as zinc cladding, low volatile organic compound paint, and a pervious pathway winding among the trees on the property.
What next?
Page remains an Alphabet board member, employee, and controlling shareholder.
Sergey Brin
Sergey Brin
The Google co-founder added a further $20.4 billion to his net worth in the financial year ending April 2021, making him the 8th richest person in the world.
Background:
Born in 1973, Brin emigrated to the US from the Soviet Union at the age of six before going on to earn a bachelor’s degree at the University of Maryland where he studied mathematics and computer science.
Golden ticket:
Meeting Larry Page at Stanford sparked the idea for what would eventually become Google, and build both men’s fortunes. Not bad as golden tickets go.
Breakthrough moment:
Brin and Page’s first project was dubbed BackRub. They used it to determine how important a given webpage was to potential customers, then developed an algorithm to rank pages in that way. It’s very much the basis of how Google still works today. They then set about salvaging spare parts from computers to build a machine laboratory in Page’s dorm-room. Which is very much not how Google Campus works today.
Eccentricities:
Though divorced, Brin and his ex-wife Anne Wojcicki, jointly run The Brin Wojcicki Foundation and have donated to causes including The Michael J. Fox Foundation the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.
Controversies:
Brin married biotech analyst Anne Wojcicki in 2007 but divorced in 2015 after Brin had an affair with Google Glass’s marketing director Amanda Rosenberg.
What next?
Brin and Page have stepped away from the day-to-day at Google but continue to explore alternative and renewable energy technologies with Google’s philanthropic arm, google.org. It’s aim is “to solve really big problems using technology.”
Jeff Bezos
The man who founded Amazon is the richest man the world has ever seen. Rumours that he runs the company from a secret volcano lair are unsubstantiated.
Background:
Unsurprisingly, Bezos, born in New Mexico in 1964, wasn’t born uber rich. In fact, at the time of his birth, his mother was a 17-year-old high school student and his father was just 19. Bezos got his start at Princeton University, graduating in 1986 with a degree in electrical engineering and computer science.
Golden ticket:
Amazon lore is much established, but as a quick reminder: Bezos had the idea for an online bookstore in 1993 and wrote out its business plan on a cross-country drive from New York City to Seattle. He founded the company in July 1994. A $300,000 loan from his parents help him get the ball rolling.
Breakthrough moment:
Bezos took Amazon public in 1997. At the same time, he was taking fire from traditional bookstores, but maintained that the internet would eventually overtake competition from large, traditional book retailers. He was right, and Amazon has a total equity of $93.404 billion and 1,298,000 employees worldwide.
Eccentricities:
Bezos played a Starfleet official in the movie Star Trek Beyond (2016), before joining the cast at San Diego Comic-Con screening after lobbying Paramount Studios for the role. Bezos has said that his goal in creating Amazon home hub Alexa was to re-create “the Star Trek computer.”
Controversies:
Bezos considered building Amazon’s headquarters on a Native American reservation in order to avoid paying taxes before deciding against it. The biggest controversies have been around Amazon’s detrimental impact on traditional retailers, and its “gruelling” warehouse conditions (including, in some cases a reported 15 minute walk to a bathroom for workers), long hours and low pay.
What next:
On February 2, 2021, Bezos announced that he will step down as the CEO of Amazon in Q3 this year, moving over to the role of executive chairman.
Elon Musk
The Grimes-dating, star-reaching CEO has pocketed a personal net worth of $175 billion through his work with SpaceX and Tesla.
Background:
Born in South Africa in 1971, Musk grew up in Pretoria and developed his interest in computing at the age of 10. He arrived in Canada in 1989 before studying at the Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1997 with degrees in economics and physics.
Golden ticket:
Musk and his brother Kimbal, plus friend Greg Kouri, founded software company Zip2 in 1995. The software was designed to offer a city guide for the newspaper industry, complete with maps and directions. The group could only stretch to a single computer, and, according to Musk, “The website was up during the day and I was coding it at night, seven days a week, all the time.” The company was sold for $307 million in February 1999.
Breakthrough moment:
In 1999, Musk co-founded online bank X.com. In 2000, the company merged with another online bank, Confinity to eliminate unnecessary competition. Founded by Max Levchin and Peter Thiel, the company’s money-transfer service, PayPal, proved more popular. In the following years power struggles ensued, but long story short, Musk left the company with over $100 million when it was sold to eBay in 2002. Musk began the company that would become Space X in 2001, and went on to found Tesla in 2003.
Eccentricities:
Among Musk’s many eccentricities, he founded The Boring Company in 2016 to construct tunnels, releasing 2,000 novelty flame-throwers as a merchandising and publicity stunt in 2018. In 2019 he released a rap track “RIP Harambe”, on SoundCloud, as well as an EDM track in 2020.
Controversies:
Musk has recently been widely criticised for spreading misinformation about the corona virus, including promoting chloroquine and claiming that death statistics were manipulated
What next?
Space, basically. Musk’s mission to Mars looks set to be the rest of his life’s work and he has promised that Space X’s Starship SN15 will fly this month.
One of the older names on the centibillinaires membership list, at 65 Gates has a net worth of $13.5 billion, largely due to co-founding Microsoft in 1975.
Background:
Born in Seattle in 1955, Gates co-founded Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen aged just 20 years old, leading the company as CEO before stepping down in 2000.
Golden ticket:
Gates dropped out of Harvard in 1975 to start a computer software company with Allen. They named the company ‘Micro-Soft’, a combination of ‘microcomputer’ and ‘software’. Thankfully, they dropped the hyphen.
Breakthrough moment:
The company received a huge boost when it partnered with IBM in 1980, providing software for the IBM personal computer. The launch of the Windows operating system in 1985. The OS was so successful, it helped make the company’s name, and is now on its 10th iteration with Microsoft reporting revenue of $143 billion for the 2019-20 financial year.
Eccentricities:
Gates has been known for abrasive and sarcastic comments during team meetings, including
“that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard” and, if a subordinate appeared to be procrastinating remarking “I’ll do it over the weekend.”
Controversies:
In the 1998 Microsoft was involved in antitrust litigation over its business practices. In the United States v. Microsoft case, Gates testimony famously included so many uses of the phrase “I don’t recall” that the presiding judge was seen to be laughing and shaking his head in apparent disbelief.
What next?
Gates left his Microsoft board position in March 2020 to focus on philanthropic endeavours including climate change and global health and development.
Bernard Arnault
Notable as the only non-American citizen on the list, Frenchman Bernard Arnault is the chairman and chief executive of luxury goods company LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE – a position that has seen him amass a $131.6 billion and no doubt pop more than a few bottles of best quality champagne.
Background:
Arnault was born in Roubaix in 1949 to a manufacturer. His mother, meanwhile was a lover of fashion. In 1971, Arnault graduated from France’s leading engineering school, the École Polytechnique, and went to work for his father’s company Ferret-Savinel, becoming president between 1978 and 1984.
Golden ticket:
Joining his father’s company and advancing to such a senior position no-doubt provided Arnault with a golden ticket early on. But the purchase of luxury goods company Financière Agache in 1984 – which in turn owned Dior – no doubt helped establish his name further.
Breakthrough moment:
In 1988 Arnault provided $1.5 billion to form a holding company with drinks manufacturer Guinness. The company held 24% of LVMH’s shares. Arnault went on to invest a further $600 million in response tremors that the Louis Vuitton group was trying to form a blocking minority. This made Arnault’s LVMH’s largest shareholder, then, in 1989 he invested more money to control 43% of the company’s shares, with 35% of its voting rights. The same year he was elected as chairman of the board. Over the following years acquisitions including Céline, Kenzo and Guerlain helped the company amass a total equity of €33.957 billion ($40.65 billion).
Eccentricities:
Arnault is an avid art collector, with works by Picasso and Andy Warhol, amongst others. In 2014 he unveiled the Louis Vuitton Foundation, dedicated to contemporary art.
Controversies:
In April 2013, Arnault claimed he had been misquoted when the press reported his earlier plans to apply for Belgian citizenship and leave France. The press had interpreted his application for Belgian citizenship as a move to avoid paying taxes in France.
Arnault clarified his stance in a statement: “I repeatedly said that I would stay as a resident in France and that I would continue to pay my taxes…. Today, I decided to remove any ambiguity. I withdraw my request of Belgian nationality. Requesting Belgian nationality was to better protect the foundation that I created with the sole purpose of ensuring the continuity and integrity of the LVMH group if I were to disappear.”
What next?
In December of 2019 Arnault briefly surpassed Jeff Bezos to become the richest person in the world, a position he held again for a short period in January 2020. The race continues…
Warren Buffet
The grand old man of the centibillionaire club, Buffett is set to mark his 91st year this August. His $100.6 billion net worth is testament to a life of hard work, and more than a little good luck.
Background:
Born in Nebraska in 1930 to congressman Howard Buffet, Buffet jnr reportedly expressed an interest in making vast sums of money at a young age, borrowing the book One Thousand Ways to Make $1000 from the local library aged seven.
Golden ticket:
Buffet saved roughly $1.64 million by working as a stockbroker, then founded Buffett Partnership Ltd in 1956. By the early 60s he was involved in six partnerships and had established himself as a millionaire. In 1962 he merged these partnerships into one, forming Berkshire Hathaway which today has a total equity of $443.2 billion.
Breakthrough moment:
The 1980s saw Buffett make a number of prudent investments, including in Coca-Cola stock. He eventually opened 7% of the company. In 1990 Berkshire Hathaway began selling class-a shares with the market closing at $7,175 a pop on May 29, 1990. In 2014, the company reached $200,000 a share.
Eccentricities:
Buffett purchased a five-bedroom stucco house in 1957 for $31,500 where he still lives. More outlandishly, in 1949 he reportedly became infatuated with a woman whose then boyfriend played the ukulele. Buffett bought a ukulele and is said to still play it, including at stockholder meetings. His attempt to woo the young lady was unsuccessful. He was, however, married to his first wife from 1952 until her death in 2004.
Controversies:
In 2006 Buffett disowned his son’s adopted daughter after she took part in a documentary titled The One Percent, focused on the growing inequality between the rich and poor. Buffett reportedly wrote her a letter saying “I have not emotionally or legally adopted you as a grandchild, nor have the rest of my family adopted you as a niece or a cousin.”
What next?
Buffett continues to lead thought around investment, with his moves closely monitored by those looking to repeat his success. Recently, he joined companies including Amazon and Starbucks to oppose restrictions on voting rights in the US.
Mark Zuckerberg
You’ve seen The Social Network, right? Guy gets dumped, guy creates a website to insult the girl/ rate the attractiveness of other female students. Guy gets suspended, but the website does well and he ends up creating Facebook? Well, spoiler alert, it’s all based on Zuckerberg. (Although, disclaimer alert, the veracity of the film has been disputed).
Background:
Born in 1984, Zuckerberg is comfortably the youngest member of the centibillionaires club. His parents are a pyschiatrist, and a dentist. He began to develop computers as a teenager and, famously, attended Harvard where his social networking platform was born. By his college days, The New Yorker notes he had already achieved a “reputation as a programming prodigy.”
Golden ticket:
The aforementioned website – dubbed Facesmash – was the genesis Zuckerberg’s big idea. But, after that website was shut down, he launched Thefacebook.com the following semester. Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard to concentrate on what became Facebook the same year, receiving an honorary degree from the school in 2017.
Breakthrough moment:
Dropping out to concentrate on Facebook full time really was Zuckerberg’s defining moment. He and his friends rented a small house in Palo Alto and made it their headquaters. Early backing from Peter Thiel no doubt helped, but it’s likely that Facebook Inc would have eventually achieved its 2020 total equity of $128.29 billion one way or another.
Eccentricities:
Zuckerberg is (ironically) very private. He does, however give a lot to charity and has appeared as himself on an episode of The Simpsons, advising Lisa that she does not need to graduate from school to be successful.
Controversies:
In April 2018, Zuckerberg testified before the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation regarding the usage of personal data by Facebook in regards to the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data breach. He has refused requests to give evidence on the matter to a British Parliamentary committee.
Last month it was announced that Zuckerberg will testify before Congress when he will be questioned about the role that Facebook played in the January 2021 attack on the US Capitol Building.
What next?
Trillionaire by his 90s?
Read next: Murdoch — The Final Chapter
Become a Gentleman’s Journal Member?
Like the Gentleman’s Journal? Why not join the Clubhouse, a special kind of private club where members receive offers and experiences from hand-picked, premium brands. You will also receive invites to exclusive events, the quarterly print magazine delivered directly to your door and your own membership card.
