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Nothing old-fashioned 'bout these billionaires

When the annual Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans came out last month, what was really striking was the accompanying list of 82 U.S. billionaires who failed to even make the cut. Heck, in 1985 this country had only 13 billionaires.

By Robert Trigaux, Times Business Editor
Published September 30, 2007

"I am opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position." Mark Twain

Poor Mr. Twain. His sentiment is right on the mark, but millionaires areso yesterday when talking about The Really Rich. When the annual Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans came out last month, what was really striking was the accompanying list of 82 U.S. billionaires who failed to even make the cut. Heck, in 1985 this country had only 13 billionaires.

The first Forbes 400 richest list in 1982 identified folks like comedian Bob Hope, casino mobster Meyer Lansky and oilman Lamar Hunt - the guy who tried to corner the world's silver market. None of their fortunes then would qualify them for the 400 list today.

A quarter century later, we remain enthusiastic financial voyeurs of the ultrarich, courtesy of ever-updated Forbes lists, 24/7 cable TV shows and Internet chatter that glamorize the super-wealthy, and even some new books. It's still a national obsession to know who has the mega-mega bucks, what they are spending it on and how on earth they got so filthy rich and, increasingly, at so young an age.

Among the Forbes 400 of 2007, Google co-founder Sergey Brin ranks No. 5 with $18.5-billion, up from a mere $4-billlion in 2004. The lesson: Megawealth can multiply quickly these days especially when, like Brin, you're all of 34.

Michael Bloomberg racked up $11.5-billion via his Bloomberg news service with enough time left to pursue politics, thus far as New York's mayor. And developer Eddie DeBartolo Jr., the Tampa Bay area's richest person with $1.8-billion - modest in this year's list - is pushing back into the sporting world with a sports management business.

Dig a little deeper, and watching the super-wealthy over the years offers some great insights into the changing U.S. and world economies. For example:

- Old money - think inherited wealth or Big Oil fortunes - is being pushed aside by self-made entrepreneurs - mainly finance hedge fund, anyone? and technology (Bill Gates, anyone?).

- Philanthropy is shifting from passive check-writing to active involvement. And some on the list are using their vast wealth to try to influence U.S. politics, to the right and the left. Think Richard DeVos of Amway, the Coors (beer) family of Colorado and former presidential candidate (data processing) Ross Perot.

- The rise of much of the huge wealth in the past decade was achieved by people starting and selling their companies or by riding huge stakes in the stock market.

- Since 1982, 1,302 individuals have appeared on the Forbes 400 list. Most are white men. Only 202 women - that's 15.5 percent - have made the list over 25 years and, with a few exceptions like entrepreneurs Oprah Winfrey or eBay CEO Meg Whitman, much of that was inherited money. Fewer than 10 African Americans have made it, and about 30 Asians.

Two books with some particular insight into the peculiar habits of the super-rich were published this year. All the Money in the World, by Peter Bernstein and Annalyn Swan (publisher: Knopf), is an intriguing look at how wealth has changed based on an in-depth analysis of the Forbes 400 lists since 1982. The more anecdotal and entertaining Richistan (publisher: Crown) was written by Wall Street Journal's "wealth" reporter Robert Frank, who pens the chatty "Wealth Report" blog for the Journal.

In one exchange in the book, Frank writes about timber baron Tim Blixseth, who founded the elite Yellowstone Club and other gated hideaways for the rich.

"I don't like most rich people. They can be arrogant," he tells Frank, who notes he owns two Shih Tzus named Learjet and G2.

If G2 doesn't click, face it: You're not rich enough. It refers to the Gulfstream G2 corporate jet. Good G2, good doggy!

All the Money in the World captures some broader lessons of wealth.

Most self-made billionaires took risks - but calculated risks, the kind they could recover from - to achieve wealth. Wealth that was concentrated on the East Coast and the oil patch has been migrating West to Silicon Valley for the technology, but also to Wall Street for finance and especially to Greenwich, Conn., as the unofficial capital of the hedge fund industry.

"Of all the Forbes 400 financial fortunes minted in the past quarter century," Bernstein and Swan write, "hedge funds have created the largest ones the fastest."

If all this makes us average Joes feel like we're living in a third-world country, well dust off your passport. Journal writer Frank named his book Richistan because the super-rich do live in their own nation.

And it's going to get tougher to cross the border in the years to come.

Robert Trigaux can be reached at trigaux@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8405.

The iconic rich of 1982 ...

Bob Hope entertainer $280-million

Lamar Hunt oilman$1-billion

Meyer Lansky casinos$100-million

... and of 2007

Sergey Brin Google $18.5-billion

Michael Bloomberg Bloomberg News, $11.5-billion

Edward DeBartolo Jr. real estate, $1.8-billion

[Last modified September 28, 2007, 22:26:17]