Do self-made billionaires buy different things than other rich people? I wonder that with all the tech billionaires. It doesn't seem so when you go through the items that you would "never imagine" excessive amounts of money buy. The headlines (and there are lots of them) are consistently full of superlatives:
10 of the weirdest things
16 craziest
13 strange
20 insane
bizarre spending
15 outrageous
These adjectives seem "outrageous" at first, but then reading through the lists, it seems that the superlatives are accurate. Such strange and amazing things people create and buy.
What caught my eye was the inclusion of Bill Gates in the list of outrageous things bought by the rich. What did Bill Gates buy?
"Bill Gates and Leonardo da Vinci have a lot in common: They're both math geniuses who also changed history. It's only fitting, then, that the Microsoft founder would be interested in the musings of the original Renaissance man. In 1994, Gates spent $30.8 million to own the Codex Leicester, a 72-page manuscript that da Vinci compiled in the early 16th century, complete with the master polymath's diagrams, writings, sketches and ideas for future inventions."
What was the cost: $30 million in 1994
That seems modest in comparison to a $1.2 billion super yacht, a $1 billion house, and a $5 billion car collection - the three top items on every list. In case you want to daydream (remember that's a relaxing activity), there are lists of things that cost 1 billion dollars. For example: A baseball team or the Solomon Islands (a country).
This is a Finalist in the BP contest this month - the 1st and 2nd place winners have yet to be announced, so it could move up.
