meet the billionaires

Billionaire Plans Windmill Project For Hawaiian Island

Filed under: Green

Billionaire David Murdock has owned most of Hawaii's Lanai Island since 1985 and his decisions to add luxury hotels and high-end real estate have caused controversy in the past changing what was once a pineapple plantation into a tourist destination. But as Bloomberg reports, his newest vision for Lanai is generating a lot of concern.

He is planning a $750 million power project that calls for 200 wind turbines to be placed next to Polihua Beach, an idyllic stretch of white sand. Castle & Cooke, Murdock's company, will send the windmill-generated electricity to Honolulu through underwater cables. The project will generate revenue for Murdock who has lost money on Lanai in recent months as real estate and tourism have faded.

Like the windmill project that is planned for Nantucket Sound in the Atlantic, this one has angered those who fear that windmills will take away from the area's natural beauty. The project is currently pending government approvals, including environmental clearance. It is expected that the approvals could be in places by late 2011 and could help Hawaii reach its goal of being 70 percent green by 2030.

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Tags: billionaire, david murdock, DavidMurdock, lanai island, LanaiIsland, meet the billionaires, MeetTheBillionaires, windfarm, windmills

German Billionaire Takes "Discreet" Possession Of Megayacht

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Yachts & Sailing, Wealth

German screw tycoon Reinhold Würth might not be so popular with his employees right now. Würth recently took possession of his beautiful new yacht, the 280-foot "Vibrant Curiosity" at a time when his company is laying off workers. The billionaire (#93 on the Forbes 2009 list) has, according to Spiegel Online, ordered 1,250 of his 5,000 employees in Germany to reduce their working hours and take a 15 percent pay cut as of April 1.

At the $100 million yacht's launch party, Reinhold Würth is said to have asked guests at the yacht's launching party to be "discreet." The yacht has a master stateroom, VIP stateroom, three double VIP staterooms and two double guest cabins and can zip along at 18.5 knots.

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Tags: meet the billionaires, MeetTheBillionaires, oceanco, reinhold wurth, ReinholdWurth, yacht

Israel's Richest Woman Puts Her Yacht Up For Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Yachts & Sailing, Wealth

Israel's richest woman, billionaire Shari Arison, has put up her yacht, "My Shanti" up for sale. At 212 feet, My Shanti is one of the world's top 100 yachts according to Power & Motoryacht's list for 2008. The yacht is listed for $103 million and was built by the Dutch shipyard Amels in 2007. The yacht was reportedly assessed at $70-80 million a year ago and has a banquet hall, cinema, and nine cabins for guests and nine cabins for crew. The interior was designed by Terence Disdale Design.

[via Globes]

Tags: meet the billionaires, MeetTheBillionaires, my shanti yacht, MyShantiYacht, shari arison, ShariArison

Leona Lewis Sings At Billionaire's Request

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth

British billionaire John Caudwell made his daughter very happy for her 21st birthday. He paid singer Leona Lewis £1 million to sing at his daughter Libby's birthday party. The singer, famous for her song "Bleeding Love" performed seven songs in front of 200 partygoers. The Sun has a couple of camera phone pics of the event. Lewis is reportedly on a month's holiday and has been taking a break from performing until next year while she concentrates on her second album. She made an exception for this event.

Apparently Caudwell does this sort of thing on a regular basis. He flew in Diana Ross to serenade his girlfriend Claire Johnson on her 40th birthday at his mansion in January and last last year he paid Whitney Houston £1.7 million to sing at a charity event. He's planning to have Rod Stewart sing at a private fundraising party in London's Battersea Park in May.

John Caudwell is #450 on the Forbes billionaire list for 2009. He sold his stake in the Caudwell Group, the U.K. mobile phone giant best known for its Phones4U brand in 2006. He spends much of his time raising money for his Caudwell Children charity.

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Tags: john caudwell, JohnCaudwell, leona lewis, LeonaLewis, meet the billionaires, MeetTheBillionaires

Ukraine To See Major Hirst Exhibit

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Ukrainian steel billionaire Victor Pinchuk is bringing Damien Hirst to the people of Kiev. The Pinchuk Art Center is a private art museum in Ukraine's capital and it will host "Requiem," a retrospective of over 100 Hirst works borrowed from collectors around the world. Pinchuk is a Hirst collector who was one of the many buying art and filling Hirst's pockets at the solo auction in London last year.

The news of the exhibit by one of the world's most expensive artists comes as Ukraine is suffering major economic hardship, propelled partly by a drop in steel and aluminum exports. Oh well, at least admission to the exhibit, which starts on April 25, is free.

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Tags: art, damien hirst, DamienHirst, meet the billionaires, MeetTheBillionaires, ukraine, victor pinchuk, VictorPinchuk

Will Vijay Mallya Sell Whyte & Mackay?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits, Wealth

Earlier this week my colleague Ariel Adams mentioned that the Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya spent $2 million on some of Mahatma Gandhi's personal possessions. Mallya may be doing some selling as well. His Bangalore-based United Spirits could put Scotch whiskey distiller Whyte & Mackay up for sale. Mallya's United Spirits bought the company for £595 million (around $838 million) in 2007 at the peak of the market. Word is that he was originally thinking of divesting a 49 percent stake in the company but has found that there are no takers.

The London Times reports that Mallya's empire, including the Kingfisher airline, is feeling a bit of financial strain. They quote an analyst who says that Mallya would be lucky to raise more than £200 million from the sale of Whyte & Mackay both because no one is buying anything right now and because the price of bulk Scotch is expected to fall by 15 to 20 percent in the next few years.

Mallya is known for his extravagant spending and has earned the nickname the "Bangalore Branson." He owns the Force India Formula 1 team and throws parties on his large yacht the Indian Empress. He came in at 962 on the Forbes billionaire list last year with a worth of $1.2 billion. It will be interesting to see how he ranks this year.

Tags: bangalore branson, BangaloreBranson, meet the billionaires, MeetTheBillionaires, vijay mallya, VijayMallya, whiskey, whyte and mackay, WhyteAndMackay

Russian Billionaire Seeks Bank Payment Delays

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth

Formerly Russia's richest man, Oleg Deripaska, shown above with Vladimir Putin, is now a billionaire in need of a little help. The St. Petersburg Times reports that Deripaska is asking banks to freeze loans that are set to come due for his company, aluminum producer RusAl. The company currently owes about $7 billion to foreign banks out of a total $16.3 billion of debt. The price of aluminum has continued to drop since last year and global stockpiles are high. The article quotes Deripaska as saying that he knows he can no longer get additional money from foreign banks and that Russia's government won't be able to supply much aid since it is consumed with social issues. He has asked for the government to help stimulate demand for aluminum and help producers compete on price because he feels that rivals are taking advantage during the crisis.

It's been quite a wild ride for Deripaska lately. He slipped onto our radar last August with the rumors that he might be interested in buying Hummer from GM. My colleague Jared Paul Stern also reported that Deripaska had paid singer Rhianna $500,000 for a private 40 minute performance for his friends on New Year's Eve 2007. Deripaska lost more than $35 billion over the past year and is now Russia's eighth richest man. His company, RusAl held on to a 25 percent stake in Norilsk Nickel after a $4.5 billion bailout loan from state development bank VEB but the stake's market value has fallen to about $2.1 billion down from $13 billion when RusAl bought the stock in April.

[via Wealth Bulletin]

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Tags: meet the billionaires, MeetTheBillionaires, oleg deripaska, OlegDeripaska

Japan Has A New Richest Man, Again

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Earlier this week we met Russia's richest man, now there's a new man atop the heap in Japan as well. Tadashi Yanai, the owner of the clothing retailer Uniqlo actually added to his fortune last year, a full $1.4 billion in nine months. He is now worth $6.1 billion and became the fifth person in five years to own the title. Many of Japan's wealthy lost money last year as Japan battled with its own recession. The former top man was Nintendo's Hiroshi Yamauchi who lost $3.3 billion and fell to third place. According to Forbes Asia Japan's 40 richest are now worth a combined $69.5 billion which is down from $89.9 billion in May 2008. Most of the top 40 lost money last year.

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Tags: meet the billionaires, MeetTheBillionaires, tadashi yanai, TadashiYanai, uniqlo

Russia's New Richest Man

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth

The world financial turmoil has led to be a bit of reshuffling in the list of Russia's richest men. The list from Russian financial magazine Finans reveals that Oleg Deripaska, once in the top slot, has fallen to eighth place (he's now worth $4.9 billion) after losing $35 billion and Mikhail Prokhorov now owns that title. Prokhorov was worth $14.1 billion at the end of last year, $200 million more Roman Abramovich, who despite his losses, has held on to the number two slot. The entire list has been cut in half, from 101 to 49.

Prokhorov first hit our radar last year when he announced that he was creating a magazine for the rich titled simply Snob. As Businessweek reports, the 43-year-old businessman was formerly major shareholder of Norilsk Nickel, Russia's biggest mining company, but he sold his 25% stake last April for $8 billion which meant that he had cash in hand when the financial crisis hit. Last summer, both Abramovich and Prokhorov were separately rumored to have picked up Villa Leopolda in Villefranche-sur-Mer on the French Riviera for $750 million but neither one did which is looking like a smart move in these turbulent times (or if he did buy it, he certainly wants out now).

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Tags: billionaires, meet the billionaires, MeetTheBillionaires, mikhail prokhorov, MikhailProkhorov, russia

Getting To Know The Lebedevs

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth

Many of the Russian billionaires we've covered on this site can be a little flashy but The Observer has a great profile of Alexander Lebedev, a restrained Russian billionaire for our new more modest age. Lebedev is a former KGB agent turned publisher. He's in the news this week for seeking to own the London Evening Standard newspaper (his bid was not accepted).

Lebedev was 39th on the Forbes list of top 100 Russian billionaires, with $3.1 billion in assets before the economic freefall. He's known to be a little disdainful of other more profligate Russian spenders. He does not own a yacht and has a deep interest in philanthropy and in using Novaya Gazeta, the liberal Moscow newspaper he part owns with Mikhail Gorbachev to focus on issues like corruption and human rights abuses. Although he is also careful, he shut down another one of his papers last year after it reported on Vladimir Putin's alleged affair with an Olympic gymnast. His fortune comes not from newspapers but from his ownership of the National Reserve Bank.

Lebedev's son, Evgeny, shown at right, is an in-demand bachelor on the London social scene who has dated Spice Girl Geri Haliwell and actress Joely Richardson and is the heir to the newspaper empire. The younger Lebedev has been working with English publisher Jefferson Hack to bring the magazine Dazed and Confused to Russia. Evgeny Lebedev is also the chairman of the Raisa Gorbachev Foundation.

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Tags: alexander lebedev, AlexanderLebedev, billionaire, meet the billionaires, MeetTheBillionaires

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