How to blow $30 billion dollars
This billionaire had an estimated fortune of $40 billion, which once placed him at the top of Fortune magazine’s list of the world’s richest people. Recent reports, however, suggest that his treasure has dwindled to a only $10 billion due to his lavish spending and bad land deals. How do you blow $30 billion which is roughly equivalent to the entire annual income of all 125 million people living in Bangladesh?
Hassanal Bolkiah Muizzaddin Waddaulah, Sultan and Prime Minister of Brunei inherited a personal fortune estimated at $40 billion from his father. Here’s how he managed to blow three quarters of the largest fortune in the history of the world.
A large chunk of it went on the Sultan’s palace, monstrosity that boasts 1,788 rooms and is larger than the Vatican-in a tiny country with just 300,000 inhabitants. When the Sultan’s daughter turned 18 he bought her an Airbus. For himself he prefers his own jumbo jet, originally designed to carry over 400 people.
Great skill in extravagance has also been acquired by his brother, Prince Jefri. Having heard of Disneyland, he decided to build the Jerudong Park Playground in the capital, Bandar-Seri Begawan, at a cost of $1 billion.
an astonishing court case this week revealed the extent of the Sultan’s financial excesses.
The 50-page list of payments – which totals 40 billion dollars – also reveals that over four years nearly 8 billion dollars of state funds was paid into his account to bankroll his lifestyle. That’s more than oil-rich Brunei’s entire GDP.
But what a lifestyle. He is believed to own a fleet of 5,000 luxury and sports cars and his own private Boeing 747-400 worth 230 million dollars.
He shares a 1,788-room palace with Queen Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleh, who he married in 1965, and HRH Pengiran Isteri Azrinaz Mazhar, 29, who he married in 2005. The family also has lavish homes in London, Los Angeles, New York and Paris.
Details of the father of eleven’s finances have become public thanks to the most expensive family feud in legal history.
The Sultan, who has ruled as absolute monarch for 40 years, and his brother have been embroiled in a legal battle for 10 years. Lawyers’ bills alone stretch to 200 million dollars.
The Sultan claims his younger brother siphoned off 16 billion dollars during 13 years as finance minister and is now claiming the prince has failed to repay the 6 billion which was agreed in an out-of-court settlement back in 2000.
Here is a list of how the world’s richest man spends his cash
PALACE
The Istana Nurul Iman palace is the largest of the Sultan’s properties which also include a six-star hotel, climate controlled stables for his 200 polo ponies, five aircraft hangars to house his 5,000 cars.
Although the palace is hidden from public view through artful landscaping, satellite views provided by programs such as Google Earth, have increased the public knowledge of the palace’s layout. Such images have relayed the existence of two large buildings in the center of the palace and five smaller buildings either adjacent to or nearby the palace center.
Istana Nurul Iman contains 1,788 rooms, 257 bathrooms, and a floor area of 2,152,782 square feet (200,000 m²). Amenities include 5 swimming pools, and an air conditioned stable for the Sultan’s 200 polo ponies, a 110-car garage, a banquet hall that can be expanded to accommodate up to 4,000 guests, and a mosque accommodating 1,500 people. The palace was built in 1984 at a cost of around $1.4 billion USD and has 564 chandeliers, 51,000 light bulbs, 44 stairwells, and 18 elevators. It is also a home to a car collection that includes custom-made Ferraris and Bentleys as well as 165 Rolls Royces. Its golden domes, designed by Filipino architect Leandro V. Locsin, and vaulted roofs echo Islamic and Malay architectural influences.
Istana Nurul Iman: 2,152,782 square feet
The Royal Palace of Madrid: 1,453,122 square feet [4]
Buckingham Palace: 828,818 square feet (77,000 m²) [5]
The Palace of Versailles: 551,218 square feet (51,210 m²) [6]
Windsor Castle: 484,374 square feet (45,000 m²) [7]
Rashtrapati Bhavan: 200,000 square feet (20,000 m²)
The Biltmore Estate: 175,000 square feet (16,300 m²)
The White House: 55,000 square feet (5,100 m²)
THEME PARK
Jerudong Park is an amusement park in Brunei. It is the largest and most expensive amusement park in South East Asia, built and funded by the rich Bruneian government for $1 billion.
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It is notable that during its first few years of operation, Jerudong Park featured no admission fees and free rides, and is currently larger than the current phase 1, Hong Kong Disneyland. The public had only to queue up for rides. However recently, the number of visitors and tourists have dropped significantly and the administration has started a one time BN$15 admission fee, and allride ticketing systems. According to the park’s website, many of its rides are for sale.
As of August 2006, Jerudong Park was largely inactive, derelict, and even tending to ruin in places. The park remained open to visitors, but remains virtually empty probably because the vast majority of the rides, including all the major roller coasters, are closed. The log flume remains open, along with a few smaller fairground attractions, and a single kart is available on the go-kart track. Parts of the park are now unlit, yet remain accessible to visitors, creating a strange ghost-town atmosphere. It seems probable that as more park equipment fails and is not maintained the last few attractions will slowly close.
The Board of Directors of the park promise they will invest in new rides within the next three years, after completely selling the rides.
Here are the rides for sale:
Jerudong Park Yard Sale
WIVES
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei married former TV3 (Malaysia) newscaster Azrinaz Mazhar Hakim at a private ceremony attended by family members and close friends at the Brunei Palace in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The marriage was a heavily guarded secret and was only leaked very much later to the press by one of the guests.She became the second wife of the king.The first one still remains.
Azrinaz, who is fondly known as Naz, started work as a broadcast journalist with Malaysian television channel TV3 (Malaysia) in 1997. She won TV3’s “Most Promising Journalist” award in 2000 and received the MIIM Alumni Award in 2002.
HOUSEHOLD STAFF
$3.5 million to masseuses, acupuncturists
$28 million on housekeeping and maintaining his homes
$3.2 million to badminton coach
$11 million to each of his five PR officers
$96,000 to guard his exotic birdcages
An unknown fortune is also rumored to have been spent on escorts including playboy bunnies and models who are known to have visited the palaces of the sultan and his brother.
LUXURY CARS
531 Mercedes
367 Ferraris
362 Bentleys
185 BMWs
177 Jaguars
160 Porsches
130 Rolls-Royces
20 Lamborghinis
Here is an unverified full list of his cars, complete with vin numbers.
OTHER TRANSPORT
Two Boeings, including a 747-400 jumbo jet, one Airbus, six smaller planes, two helicopters (ANI)
This Airbus 340 aircraft was “remodeled” in Waco. The sinks are solid gold and one of them is Lalique crystal. The Sultan bought the aircraft for roughly $100M; had it flown to Waco, brand-new, had the interior completely removed; and had the folks at E-Systems (now Raytheon) install $120M worth of improvements inside and outside.
This version of the Airbus A340 was ordered by the Sultan of Brunei requesting for a non-stop range of 8,000 nautical miles (14820 km). This A340-8000 had an increased fuel capacity, a MTOW of 275 tonnes similar to the A340-300, and minor reinforcements to the undercarriage. Upon completion its final range was specified at 8,100 nautical miles (15,000 km). It is powered by the 34,000 lbf (151 kN) thrust CFMI CFM56-5C4s similar to the -300E
Posted By: Jerome Aronson
News Category: Celebrity, Financial, Retarded
28 Responses to “How to blow $30 billion dollars”
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Carbon neutral pledge:
Well
At least I would asume he has had some good times with all of the $.
I was once told that it was inposible to spend 25 Billion $ in a life time.
That is IF you were limited to not purchasing companies and real estate.
But if you wre to shop for cars and cloths and and airplanes etc. that even with jets you would not be able to spend the $ as fast as interest on the $ would be comming in based on a rate of 5.5%. I once got 65K and had beeen homeless before that. IT took me almost a year to spend 42K of the 65 K
(I know it was a dumb thing to do) but when you had done without and on the street and were neededing even basic necesityis and wathing folks listen to music and have a life it was hard not to at least have TVs and closths and pots and pans and tables and a car (not extravagant at all on the car) and a motrocycle (Also not extravagant) but you acctualy kind of
need these things or life is not worth living if you have had zip. I had gone form no $ to take a girl to dinner and was afraid to aproach a girl as I had nothing to offer.
Now i do own 4 corporations and am doing well and sued the federal government for puting me in the situation I was in that caused me to be homeless. So I did blow away a lot of $ i should have invested but then again had I done that I am not sure that in the time it would have taken to get me up to at least some standard of living to where I could at least
apear to be a profesional (I started a shipping cleark and moved up the ladder from there) (Decided to prove I would be the best shipping cleack
any company ever had so as to get attention and move up in the company.
Learned how companies worked and found I could sell after purchasing a set of tapes and books on sales. From there I worked my way up.
Not a millinair but close.
But would it not be nice to have about 5 million in the a portfolio and be able to not have to worry about $ for living the rest of your life.
I no longer purchase things unless I need them with only a few execptions.
However when I see a person like this Sultan I am somewhat pissed off.
He did not need these things to put himself into a better situation so the $ were just wasted. At least I suppose it did have a positive effect on the local economy and that would be a good thing but for all his spending
He is in a lawsuite with his brother. What kind of BS is that. So his life must not realy be that happy. Not realy.
Jim D
Sacramento
jimmyjoejetter@yahoo.com
That plane is so cool, waste of money but dam i wouldnt mind that plane
you have 419 in your area
Dear Retard Zone Editor,
Dear HM Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Sultan of Brunei,
I hope all of you are fine, just to remind you of my mission, will you please think with me and give me your opinion.
God bless you as much as you are helping and saving the Humans. I hope you receive this e-mail in your good health and happiness.
As I promised the Iraqi People, I am sending you some information about my mission for protecting displaced 2.3 Million Iraqis and to help the humans stop the terrorism and prevent the world from danger and fear.
It will be nice of you to have a look at my statement for “Messengers of HOPE”, please give me your suggestions; and kindly send it to your team to get their opinions on supporting us.
I am grateful to you and hope we can get help and advice from you for our project. Please send it to your contact, to everyone who can make a difference and to the Human supporters.
Sincere Regards,
Aziz Al-Naib
Ambassador for Peace
Aziz_alnaib@hotmail.com
Please allow me to send the attachment, thank you.
FROM MR. TONY CHUKWU
I AM A CONTRACTOR TO SHELL OIL COMPANY AND SUB-CONTRACTORS SUSPERVISOR IN NNPC.I HAVE IN MY POSSESSION $USD50.1M OVER-INVOICED FUND.I DO NOT HAVE FOREIGN ACCOUNT AS NIGERIA CONSTITUTION RESISTED ALL GOVERNMENT WORKERS NOT TO.JOIN ME TO MOVE THIS FUND INTO YOUR FOREIGN ACCOUNT AS MY BUSINESS PARTNER. ALL RELATED, VITAL AND LEGAL COVERING PAPERS ARE WITH ME PERHAPS YOU DESIRE TO HAVE THEM IN ORDER TO CLEARIFY YOUR FEAR AND AUTHENTICITY OF THIS FUND SOURCE.SEND ME YOUR INTEREST TO MY OFFICICAL EMAIL OR CALL ME AT (tonychukwu_shnnpc@hotmail.com, +234-7084885803)
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MR. T. CHUKWU
Mr. T. Chukwu, I can’t tell you how long I’ve been waiting for your information! I sent you 19 emails so far but have not heard back from you. Let’s make this a quick process, you tell me where I should send my deposit and I’ll be sure to expedite it immediately!
Okay, so, let’s see here…
If you got forty billion dollars, let’s just say you put it in a bank that had a 0.01%(one one-hundredth of one percent)(most banks have a much higher rate) interest rate, JUST FROM INTEREST, WITHOUT TOUCHING THE FORTY BILLION DOLLARS, YOU WOULD MAKE:
Yearly: $4,000,000.00 (four million dollars)
which means…
Monthly: $333,333.00 (over three hundred thousand dollars a month)
Weekly: $76,712.33
DAILY: $10,958.90
Ten thousand dollars a day, just from interest?? If this guy had half a brain he’d realize that he could live like a rich tycoon without doing a damn thing for the rest of his life and without TOUCHING his forty billion dollars. Oh, and any amount of that yearly interest that he doesn’t spend, just adds up and increases his yearly earnings even more for doing nothing.
I mean, c’mon, man…
Just to clarify, I know that you said it to make a point but for anyone who’s not so economically savvy 0.01% is ridiculous, realistically he could earn say, 5% on his money (fairly average interest). Lets convert those figures to what he may have really earned:
40,000,000,000 * 0.05 (5% of 40,000,000) = Monthly
2,000,000,000 / 12 = Monthly
166,666,666 / 4 = Weekly
166,666,666 / 30 = Daily
Yearly:$2,000,000,000 (2 billion) per year.
Monthly: $ 166,666,666 (166.6 million) per year
Weekly: $41,666,666 (41.6 million) per week
Daily: $5,555,555 (5.5 million) per day.
Try spending $5.5 million in a day and let me know how you go…
Very soon the country will go bankrupt when petroleum is depleted and the families become extended.
hello ,sorry that is not a comment but i realy don t know what to say because evrynight i have a dream that i am in a meeting with the sultan i realy love his life how he made him self and how he help i would love to meet him or to visite his country
some people have a dream a lots of dreams i just have that dream and i wish that dream come true
now i am 23 years old maybe i will have time to work and help this dream
i would love to work to the sultan i am a teacher but still now i can not find a job in my country i live in lebanon and in lebanon it is to hard to find a job
anyway god bless the sultan and his family hope to be replied on this email ammoul70@hotmail.com thanks
[...] How to blow $30 billion dollars Sultan of Brunei This billionaire had an estimated fortune of $40 … For himself he prefers his own jumbo jet, originally designed to carry over 400 people. … Playground in the capital, Bandar-Seri Begawan, at a cost of $1 billion. …. That is IF you were limited to not purchasing companies and real estate. … [...]
wow!
I have a wife and four children. I work very hard for our money. My wife and children are very happy with what we have. Why do all of you ridicule people that have more than you? Are you jelouse of someone with alot of money? Money doesn’t buy happyness!!!!
It is rather better for him to spend his wealth on the Bruneian … Now, we are experiencing higher rate of unemployment … if compare to the number of population …
Matt, it looks like money doesn’t buy the ability to spell along with not being able to buy “happyness”.
Jealousy is a sad thing. It makes one see only through bitter eyes. One eyed in fact. The Sultan does wonderful things for his country.
How about mentioning that he subsidizes education to the extent of free secondary education up to O levels and expense free scholarships (based on effort) for overseas education.
How about mentioning that no citizen pays more than one dollar for medical care, whether they have a sore throat or cancer. If they can’t be treated in Brunei for their disease they are flown to the closest world specialist – all for $1. Did your jealousy also prevent you from finding out that citizens get subsidized housing, and if their homes are burnt down they are relocated free and given very good rates for repayment, and not punished nor do they have their homes repossessed if they don’t pay back their loan.
Did your one sided, one eyed research also prevent you from finding out that several times a year he receives several thousand citizens and visitors who often write letters to the Sultan who personally reads and responds.
Open your eyes and do some proper reporting. Jealousy is not only a sad thing – it also makes people blind to the truth.
where are the houses of learning and university
I can’t believe that a person in these times can spent so much money!, there is so many people just waiting for a chance to make big things, but they don’t have the money to make their dreams come true. Personally I’m a 40 years old, my husband died 4 years ago and I’ve been working so hard, I’m in the aviation business and just because I’m a woman there are not so many opportunities, but we have to keep on trying!, I really hope the Sultan and his family could help many people in so many countries to succeed, maybe the world would be different!, God bless all of us!!!
Proof that you can have a 40 Billion dollar budget and still be a complete and utter ****. The are hundreds of millions of people starving on this planet, it did not occur to him to help out a few poor people…beyond Brunei I mean, they are obviously not poor .
Sultan’s youngest son bought Mariah Carey some jewelry worth 5 million dollars who already has millions of dollars herself.
I am a woman who has no job for nearly two years and will run out of money soon. I would like to know if he would be kind enough to send me some of his money.
i admire him. he is damn rich wud luv 2 meet him som day
Come on guys, there’s nothing wrong with wasting money if you have more than you need. I think that how a man waste his money is his business. At lease, he is not using it for world destruction. Life is short, go crazy with your resourses.
Let me just say first of all that is a waste of money because nobody on earth would spend all that fortune even Bill Gates would think that is complete madness, i mean probably of course it is right to enjoy life with all that hard core cash but honestly it isn’t right to blow all that money on planes, mansions, and cars when you can be making millions just on interest on that 40 billion dollar fortune. Of course, there isn’t no problem with having a good time but ask anybody( who is a business tycoon) and has made billions for sure it is true that perhaps they spend lots of money but seriously spending more than half you made and the fact that you blew all your money for things you don’t even need is madness as Kevin O’leary would say
i think your a big blower of money even if you have alot, that’s wrong thing to do with money. I think you went over the limit of spending rather than saving your cash becasue the best option is to make it grow not lose control
I have many viable and profitable projects that will also provide social improvement to their communities once underway and for many years to come after completion. All I need is a backer like Hassanal Bolkiah Muizzaddin Waddaulah. So bring it on if you want your money spent wisely, don’t mind increasing your net worth instead of decreasing it, and be known as a humanitarian! apearle@gmail.com
i got to admit that is a very nice plane and oh wow i can’t imagine how much money that could cost but anyways i think you shouldn’t have spend all that money on things that aren’t neccessary however if you look on the bright side that is sure an extravagant life style but if you look at it on the bad side well that is alot of money wasted. I think many rich entrepreneurs would obviously spend money on things they need in life but they wouldn’t spend billions i’m guessing probably some would but not that much money
that is really sad. honestly after making all that money it should teach you something important spend some and save more not viceversa but you know what then again if i think about it, obviuosly you have to have a great life you know if your on forbes rich list but i don’t think anybody on forbes rich list even the ones who are near the top wouldn’t blow all that hard earned cash but you know what your the one in the hot seat but considering a financial advisor wouldn’t hurt, hopefully you will never be in debts unless you decide to spend another ten billion well then probably that expensive jumbo jet will unfortunetely go where it came from(waco)
Since introductions seem to not be needed in this forum, let me start by saying I have laughed at those who honestly think there is any solace in critiquing a Sultan. That being said, I will, however, agree that excess has been proved now. If one were to research Brunei, one would find that education is an important part of the culture. Yes, there are many extravagant purchases, but per capita, one has to admit the wealth per citizen. It would be a lavish lifestyle for an average individual living in the contained country.
I would also like to say that in 2000, I was waiting for a friend to have her baby at an Oklahoma City hospital in the US and was ultimately shocked to find out that the Sultan was having surgery in that same hospital. As I went down to the lobby I noticed one of the many elevators had a large man standing in front of it. As I am not sure what royalty protocol entails, I began to walk toward the elevator since it was the closest one and was immediately stopped. At that time, I witnessed thirteen of the most beautiful extravagant people approaching the elevator. I was in total awe and could not help but stare. One of the ladies, who I now know to be the first wife of the Sultan, looked at me and politely spoke to the guard and I was allowed to use the elevator. As it turned out, the Sultan had the entire floor to himself and his friends and family. It struck me as odd that such a family would have given me any opportunity to ride in “their” elevator among them. The pride they took in their appearance was not only amazing, but it was also refreshing to realize they were unequivocally polite in every sense. While my stay with my friend seemed to last forever, I had many chances to go to the lobby and watch as dignitaries as well as family and friends were coming and going. As an outsider, you are struck with amazement at just how even the help that was brought with the family were exceptionally proud.
Do I think it’s a ridiculous move for the Sultan and his brother to waste so much money? I would find it almost offensive if it weren’t for seeing how his family treated their members. Do I feel that any other Royal family would allow their help to stand with them in any situation? Absolutely not. If I wouldn’t have seen it with my own eyes, I would not have known it was real. Their country is neutral. The tenants of this country is taken care of well above the national average and there is a consensus that to live anywhere else would be devastating. I know this because in the cafeteria, one of the attendants to the Royal family was there and not only spoke fluent English, but also allowed me to interview her, with of course, certain protocol. I admire this country, as a whole. The money that has been wasted could happen to many and has happened to many. He is definitely not the first or the last to use excess to impress. His may be on a larger scale and more wasteful, but not different than those of his peers.