While many of us have been scrimping and saving during the coronavirus pandemic, the same can’t be said for the world’s super-rich. In fact, the world’s billionaires saw their collective wealth increase by 54% between March 2020 and March 2021 to the tune of a staggering $4 trillion (£2.8tn), according to Institute for Policy Studies' (IPS) analysis of data from Forbes, Bloomberg and Wealth-X. And they've been spending some of that cash on some pretty unique things. Click or scroll through a selection of this ultra-wealthy spending, from Kanye West's hologram of his late father-in-law to a spaceflight with Jeff Bezos to a bejewelled face mask commissioned by a Chinese billionaire.
All dollar values in US dollars.
The pandemic caused a surge in demand for life-saving equipment, and in April last year when singer Rihanna’s father Ronald Fenty fell ill with COVID-19, she was quick to send a ventilator out to his home on Barbados. Luckily dad Fenty didn’t need the machine and made a full recovery. But it isn’t just Rihanna who wanted to use her money to provide better healthcare for the ones she loves – The Wall Street Journal reported a big increase in demand for personal ventilators early on in the pandemic, particularly from wealthy individuals in Russia. The machines cost around $25,000 (£18.8k) each, and the situation left many medical professionals and manufacturers in a quandary as they debated the ethics of whether the rich should have better access to critical equipment.
Some of us started learning musical instruments during lockdown and may have even invested in a new one. That’s nothing compared to Czech billionaire Karel Komarek, who bought 11 luxury Petrof pianos valued at $239,000 (£188k) last year. Komarek stepped in to make the purchase after a Chinese customer, who had originally ordered the pianos from the Czech company, rejected them because there had been talks about imposing sanctions on Czech companies in China. Komarek wasn’t buying them for himself though, instead deciding to donate them to local schools.
Many of us have enjoyed seeing live sports return to our screens after lockdown rules were loosened to allow for professional games, and if you’re a billionaire sports fan with cash to splash, why wouldn’t you buy your own team? Hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen made headlines in November last year when he closed a deal to buy a 95% stake in the New York Mets baseball team, taking over ownership from the Wilpon and Katz families, in a $2.42 billion (£1.8bn) deal.
The world’s super-rich are also splashing out on more spacious abodes in which to wait out the pandemic. Estate agents in the UK have experienced a surge in demand for Downton Abbey-esque country estates that come complete with armies of butlers, housekeepers, kitchen staff and gardeners to keep the sprawling properties in tip-top condition. There has been a particular boom in sales of houses in the £15 million to £30 million ($20m-$41m) price bracket, which would typically include features such as a wine cellar, pool, tennis courts and a number of cottages sprinkled across the estate as standard.
Arguably one of the most iconic instruments in the world, the guitar played by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain on the band's now-legendary MTV Unplugged show was sold at auction for a jaw-dropping $6 million (£4.8m) in June. Its buyer? Australian businessman Peter Freedman, owner of RØDE Microphones. The guitar, a 1959 Martin D-18E, was played by Cobain at the New York concert in 1993, just five months before his death.
Despite decades of being critical of gold as an investment, influential investor Warren Buffett seemed to go against his own advice on 17 August last year, when his company bought 21 million shares in gold mining company Barrick Gold. The shares, worth an estimated $564 million (£444m), made Berkshire Hathaway the 11th largest investor in Barrick Gold. On the day of the purchase, Barrick Gold shares surged 12%. Buffett then sold 40% of his stake in the gold company in the third quarter of the year, as reported by The Motley Fool.
The Kardashian-Jenner clan are known for their extravagant purchases, although this is one of their more bizarre buys. On 30 June 2020, Kim Kardashian West took to Twitter to share pictures of daughter North with one of their 14 new Friesian horses, which are being kept on their Wyoming ranch. Horses of this rare breed can cost anywhere between $7,000 (£5.5k) and $600,000 (£472k) each. Commentators were quick to criticise the move, with one user responding to the tweet: “The money you paid to buy one of these horses could have fed one or two families of four for a whole year”.
When you’re one of the richest people in the world, anything is possible. It wasn’t enough for Jeff Bezos to buy the most expensive house in California for a record $165 million (£130m) back in February 2020, so in July last year the Amazon CEO added the house next door to it to his property portfolio, for $10 million (£7.9m). Admittedly, that’s practically pocket change for the multi-billionaire. The adjacent house was bought through an off-market deal, although it’s not clear what Bezos plans to do with it yet.
Legendary basketball player Michael Jordan saw his fame soar to even more dizzying heights last year with the release of Netflix documentary The Last Dance. He’s also expanded his investment portfolio, buying a majority stake in a new NASCAR team which includes Bubba Wallace (pictured) as a driver. Commenting on the investment, Jordan said: “Historically, NASCAR has struggled with diversity and there have been few Black owners. The timing seemed perfect as NASCAR is evolving and embracing social change more and more.”
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Tesla billionaire Elon Musk is rarely far from the headlines. For example, in May last year the tech mogul kicked up a storm when he tweeted that he was “selling almost all physical possessions” and “will own no house” going forward. He seems to have made good on at least one of those promises, selling his Bel-Air mansion to Ding Lei, founder and CEO of Chinese gaming company NetEase, for $29 million (£22.8m) at the end of June.
That’s not the only celebrity pad to be snapped up by a mega-rich individual. On 10 August last year it was reported that an unnamed Saudi billionaire had purchased the former home of the Onassis family in London’s Mayfair for a cool £18.6 million ($23.7m). The five-bedroom apartment has hosted an array of famous guests including Maria Callas, Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Princess Lee Radziwill, and is 5,006 square feet (465.24 square metres) in size with a south-facing terrace, a 63-foot (19m) balcony, and a library.
Ever wished you could just escape to a safer country? Believe it or not, that’s something it turns out money can buy. During the pandemic, the super-rich have used citizen-by-investment programmes, or CIPs, to buy passports to cross borders that they may not otherwise be allowed through. One global citizenship advisory firm, Henley & Partners, reported a 49% year-on-year increase in enquiries between January and June 2020. It doesn’t come cheap though, with the cost of these schemes starting at $100,000 (£78.5k) and going into the millions of dollars.
While the rest of us mere mortals were panic-buying toilet paper, it looks like the world’s super rich were panic-buying, well, panic rooms. PayPal billionaire Peter Thiel reportedly has his own panic room underneath his property in Queenstown, New Zealand, while survivalist manufacturer Rising S Co has 10 doomsday bunkers across New Zealand, with several super-wealthy clients. In April 2020, the company had a call from one client asking how to open the door to his shelter, as he planned to stay there, according to a company representative speaking to Metro.
It’s not just bunkers that are in vogue right now, but also plots of land with great bunker potential. In early December, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner spent $31.8 million (£23.65m) on an 80,150-square-foot (7,446-square-metre) plot on the exclusive island of Indian Creek in Miami Beach, also known as ‘Billionaire’s Bunker’, that had belonged to music legend Julio Iglesias. The couple purchased Plot 4 of the 41 residential lots, which boasts plenty of space on which they could construct a coastal estate with 200 feet (61 metres) of private waterfront on Biscayne Bay. Other high-rolling residents of the island include billionaire Carl Icahn and Dutch businessman Geert-Jan Bakker, who purchased his slice of the exclusive island from Beyoncé and Jay-Z in 2010.
Millions have grown accustomed to less-than-ideal home working set-ups, with kitchen tables doubling up as desks and restless children taking on the role of co-workers. Those who can afford it have found a nifty solution: erecting a luxury outhouse in the garden that can be used as an office space. One British shed seller has experienced a 300% spike in demand since the start of the pandemic, with typical building specifications including insulation, double glazing, and central heating. Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron was ahead of the curve in 2017, when he splurged £25,000 ($34k) on a “designer garden shed” kitted out with a wood-burning stove, sofa bed and sheep’s wool insulation.
Going abroad during the pandemic is risky business, with ever-changing rules about where you can and can’t go. But for multimillionaire duo Beyoncé and Jay-Z, there was no need to worry about cramped planes as the couple chose to hire a private yacht to take them around the coast of Croatia at the end of the summer for the small price of $2 million (£1.6m) a week. Their vessel of choice was the 350-foot (107m) LANA superyacht, which sleeps up to 12 guests in VIP cabins, as well as having a spa, gym, cinema and large outdoor pool.
But footballer Cristiano Ronaldo went one step further than chartering a yacht when he bought his own luxury boat. In July Ronaldo achieved his second consecutive Serie A title with Italian club Juventus (and the ninth for the club), after which he treated himself to a $7 million (£5.3m) yacht. The luxury vessel is 89 feet (27 metres) long and includes five cabins, six bathrooms, and two lounge areas. The Portuguese footballer clearly has cash to spare, and in June he become the first football player in history to earn $1 billion (£751m) while still playing.
Ryan Reynolds is best known for his film and TV roles but he's also a savvy investor, with business interests including discount prepaid phone service Mint, and drinks brand Aviation Gin, which he sold to Diageo for $610 million (£480m). And that’s not all – the actor also set his sights on Welsh soccer team Wrexham, a club which plays in the fifth tier of the English league system. Along with fellow actor Rob McElhenney, Reynolds agreed to buy Wrexham, reportedly with the intention of making a Netflix documentary about the club. The deal is set to inject around £2 million ($2.5m) into the cash-strapped club. Unsurprisingly, members overwhelmingly voted in favour of it going ahead.
The coronavirus pandemic sent the property market into flux, but there were still some deals to be found, such as this $45.95 million (£34.2m) Holmby Hills mansion snapped up by Kylie Jenner in April, which was almost $10 million (£7.4m) cheaper than its asking price. The brand-new compound sits on 36,155 square feet (3,369 square metres) of land, and includes seven bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, 20 parking spaces and a chef’s kitchen. The house is perhaps not well-suited to the current crisis, as it is designed for entertaining, with a pool, spa, indoor theatre area and game room complete with a full bar and pool table. Jenner’s new pad was clearly bought with privacy in mind, as it is surrounded by large concrete walls, and the 23-year-old currently lives there with her young daughter Stormi.
Kanye West is known to buy whacky gifts for his wife Kim Kardashian West, including a saxophone performance by Kenny G for Valentine's Day and 10 branches of Burger King as a wedding present. But last year West outdid himself by buying a hologram of Kim’s late father to celebrate her 40th birthday. The hologram of Robert Kardashian (the real Kardashian pictured here, centre) "spoke" for around three minutes, recalling memories of when Kim was younger and her plans to follow in his footsteps by pursuing a career in law. It’s uncertain how much West splashed out on the virtual reincarnation, but a similar hologram of Tupac Shakur appeared at the Coachella festival in 2012, and it was estimated to have cost between $100,000 and $400,000 (£75k-£300k).
In September, Hailey and Justin Bieber expanded their real estate portfolio to include a $25.8 million (£19.4m) mansion in an exclusive gated community in Beverly Park, California. The estate sprawls over 108,900 square feet (10,117 square metres) and includes seven bedrooms, 10 bathrooms and a sweeping main staircase. The home was built around 40 years ago but has since been renovated to feature all the lavish extras a celebrity pad could need, including a full-size tennis court, a koi fish pond, an infinity swimming pool and a pizza oven.
Dubbed “Hollywood’s newest billionaire” by Forbes, Tyler Perry has carved out his position in the entertainment industry through 20 years in film and television, including his portrayal of “Madea”, a character based on his mother and aunt. During the coronavirus outbreak, Perry put his wealth to good use and covered the grocery bills of seniors and high-risk shoppers in New Orleans and Atlanta, two cities hit hardest by the pandemic. The actor and producer paid for shopping at 29 Winn-Dixie locations and 44 Kroger stores, putting smiles on the faces of hundreds of shoppers.
Another celebrity daughter who made her debut on the property market during the COVID-19 outbreak was Will Smith’s youngest, Willow. The singer and actor spent $3.1 million (£2.3m) on a coastal home in Malibu, California in September and it has strong eco credentials, including solar power and a garage with Tesla charging capabilities. The 20-year-old didn’t stray far from her parents in hunting for her first home, as they live in a sprawling estate in Calabasas, also in LA.
In May, Rolls-Royce unveiled its Boat Tail car that it's calling "the most ambitious motor car ever created". The four-seater car is shaped like a yacht deck at the back and measures almost 19 feet (5.8m) in length. The car, which is rumoured to have a price tag of around £20 million ($28.2m), is part of Rolls-Royce's new Coachbuild programme where high-profile clients are invited to design their own unique cars. There are three Boat Tails being made, each personalised to its owner, and billionaire rapper Jay-Z and his wife Beyoncé are thought to be one of the buyers.
Jeff Bezos is set to fly to space with his brother Mark on his spaceflight company Blue Origin's first human flight on 20 July, nearly 52 years after the Apollo 11 moon landing. The 11-minute, automated flight will be launched from Van Horn, Texas. But the brothers won't be alone. There is space for four people, and one of those seats was auctioned off by Blue Origin at the weekend. Bidding started at $4.8 million ($3.4m) and reached a whopping $28 million (£19.9m) within 10 minutes. There were 20 active bidders in the auction, although 7,600 people registered to join. It's not yet been revealed who the auction winner was or who will fill the fourth and final remaining seat on the historic flight. But Bezos himself has spent more than 10 times that on another vessel...
In May Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has commissioned an extraordinary 417-foot (127m) yacht. Details about the vessel are sparse, but it will have three masts and is set to be “one of the finest sailing yachts in existence”. A second, support yacht has also been commissioned, which will feature its own helipad, according to an excerpt from the book Amazon Unbound by journalist Brad Stone. Built by Dutch shipyard Oceanco, project Y721 will be the largest sailing yacht ever built in the Netherlands and will likely cost upwards of $500 million (£354m).
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