People usually work hard in their jobs and even get other side hustles to put on their savings. It is easy to daydream how great it would be if a CEO earned millions or even billions a year. What would you spend your money on? Have you ever wondered where the wealthy CEOs splurge their cash on?
Real Estate
Normal people usually aim for their own house and lot or at least a condominium unit. But we are talking about CEOs, and these people are wealthy. So they usually buy hectares of land, entire buildings, and islands—for those in the bragging game.
- Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group, bought Necker Island, one of the British Virgin Islands. The view and wildlife lured him into purchasing the said island. He purchased it for $120,000, but since the British Virgin Islands law mandates the new owner to develop a resort, Branson spent an extra $10 million turning it into a private island honeypot. The entire resort island can accommodate up to thirty guests. If a vacationist wants to rent this island, he must be willing to shell out $102,500 per day. This gives him access to 2 beaches, private pools, picturesque nature, a personal chef, and water sports equipment. About 100 staff will be willing to serve him during his stay.
- Larry Ellison, Oracle CEO, got himself something that would win him over a bragging exchange with his friend, Branson: a bigger island. It’s not just twice the size of Branson’s; it’s 140 square miles which is 1,000 times larger. He bought 98% of Lana’i island, the sixth-largest in Hawaii. Based on the form filed with the Public Utilities Commission, the island with 88,000 acres of land has luxury resorts, two clubhouses, and two golf courses. Although Ellison had a passion for nature and America’s Cup Sailing, he also intended the island for commercial use. Before the sale, the island had been burning tens of millions of dollars annually for operating costs. But Ellison seemed to have rescued it from its downfall; Bill and Melinda Gates married in Lana’i.
Cars
We usually hear of Elon Musk’s car collections, so let’s look at how other men who made it to the richest men on earth list use their money for cars.
- Jeff Bezos is the founder and CEO of Amazon and held the title “richest man in the world.” In 2013, he was spotted driving a 1996 Honda accord. When interviewed in the U.S. program 60 minutes, he said, “This is a perfect car.” On the other hand, Bezos owns a $65 million Gulfstream G650ER private jet.
- According to Reuters, the CEO of Alphabet and co-founder of Google, Larry Page, drives a Toyota Prius. Said vehicle has a base price of $23,770 in 2019. He was the eighth richest person in the world and had a net worth of approximately $53.5 billion as of October 2018.
- Warren Buffet, the billionaire CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, drives a 2014 Cadillac XTS. The price of such a brand-new car was US$23,500. He used to go a 2006 Cadillac DTS before this. To date, he has a net worth of $103.7 billion.
These CEOs seemed to have a modest taste in cars despite their fame and jaw-dropping net worth.
Security
Since these CEOs are the heads of their empires and are also public figures, they spend tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars entirely on their security. Some ways rich and famous executives use their money on security measures are having private jets, using bulletproof panels, availing of security guard services, and installing secret passages (though this last could just be a rumor).
How much do they spend on security?
- Apple reportedly spent $310,000 in 2018 and $457,083 in 2019 on the private security of its chief executive officer, Tim Cook.
- Uber allotted $2 million in 2018 to its CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, for his security costs. This has significantly dropped to $596,554 in 2019 for his business and personal security costs.
- Google paid out $680,000 for the personal protection of its CEO, Sundar Pichai, in 2017. Then after a shooting incident that injured three employees of YouTube, a video website owned by Google, at YouTube HQ, Google raised the amount to $1.2 million.
Of course, these are only some material things that CEOs put their money on. Although these might seem to be for personal benefit, many philanthropic executives allot their millions of dollars on charity. We can also see a lot of them diversifying into other companies to keep on strengthening their portfolio. At the end of the day, these CEOs worked hard and smart to get where they are and the money in their banks.
