17 Expensive Toys of the Richest CEOs of Famous Companies
When your fortune is estimated at several billion dollars, you want to spend money on really expensive toys. It turns out that rich representatives of IT companies are no exception. From sports teams to private jets, let's take a look at what the wealthiest representatives of famous companies are willing to spend their money on.
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1. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt owns a $72 million yacht called the Oasis, which he rents out for $400,000 a week. The yacht is very spacious, there is a swimming pool, the opportunity to go water skiing and a gym, which, if desired, can be turned into a dance floor.
2. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is known for her love of design. In 2006, she assembled a collection of 400 pieces of glass art by Dale Chihuly, which she installed on the ceiling of her penthouse at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco. On average, Chihuly's work sells for $15,000 a piece, and there are rumors that their transportation has caused serious traffic jams in the city.
3. In 2013, Tesla CEO Elon Musk paid $866,000 at auction for a Lotus Esprit submarine that appeared in the 1977 Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. He said he wanted to try and make her "real".
4. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have that collection of airplanes. They are rumored to be paying $1.3 million a year to run their fleet, which includes Boeing 757s, Boeing 767s and two Gulfstream Vs. The fleet is located in Silicon Valley. In 2008, Page and Brin added the 1982 Dornier Alpha attack aircraft to the collection.
5. In addition to jets, Larry Page owns a superyacht called Senses, which he bought in 2011 from New Zealand businessman Sir Douglas Myers for $45 million.
6. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is a true collector of extravagant toys for big boys. He has a lot of real estate and a whole collection of fast cars and military aircraft. And in 2012, he paid more than $500 million for an island in Lanai that he plans to turn into an eco-resort. Later that year, he bought Island Air to fly guests to his island.
7. Ellison also owns the 87-meter Musashi yacht, which was named after the famous Japanese warrior of the 16th century. Among other amenities, the yacht has two master suites and a place where you can play basketball.
8. Billionaire investor Mark Cuban owns the 87m yacht Fountainhead. From the outside, it looks almost identical to Ellison's Musashi, but Cuban is said to have a more refined, vintage-style interior.
9. Cuban also owns three private jets — Gulfstream V, Boeing 757 and Boeing 767. When he bought Gulfstream online in 1999, Guinness World Records called his $40 million purchase the largest ever online.
10. Virgin Group billionaire Richard Branson owns 300 sq. m, where its luxury resort accommodates up to 30 people. If guests are tired of relaxing by the pool or on the beach, they can relax on Branson's yacht Necker Belle or explore the sea on his submarine Necker Nymph.
11. Branson has always loved the sea. In 2004, he became the first person to buy the Aquada, the world's first ultra-fast amphibious vehicle. In the summer of that year, he set a record by crossing the English Channel on this ship in just 1 hour and 40 minutes.
12. Branson flies a Falcon 50EX. He recently sold his Falcon 900EX, which was too big to live on Necker Island. “I need a smaller plane just to get out of the British Virgin Islands. So I use this one for short flights as well.”
13. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is known to love reading and his home library is full of rare books. In 1994, he bought Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester, a 15th-century manuscript. Gates paid $30.8 million for it, making the manuscript the most expensive book ever sold at auction.
14. Gates has always loved fast cars. He owned a Porsche 930 Turbo, a Porsche 959, a Jaguar XJ6, a Carrera Cabriolet 964, and a Ferrari 348. During his early years at Microsoft, he bought a 1979 Porsche 911 that he raced through the desert.
15. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has many interesting hobbies. His 126-meter Octopus yacht is one of the largest in the world. It has space for two helicopters and a submarine, and plenty of room for lavish parties.
16. Allen began collecting aircraft and other World War II artifacts in the 1990s. In 2004, he opened his 31-piece collection (rumored to be worth several million dollars) to the public. Now this private military museum is located in a hangar in Everett, Washington.
17. In May 2014, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer won the bid to buy the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team for as much as $2 billion. The team became the most expensive (in terms of purchase) in the history of the NBA.
Keywords: Wealth | Toys | Company | Leader | Aircraft | Yachts