# Ever met a billionaire? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 20, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785 "2011-12-20T00:08:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/21 "2011-12-20T03:03:41Z")
I know three, with a fourth that’s got to be right on the line depending on the market on a given day. Howard Schultz barely counts as I’ve only spoken two him two times. The other three I won’t name, but two of them I run into at club events a couple of times a year and another I used to work for long before he hit it big. If you think of Microsoft, but not Bill or Paul, you’d be on the right track. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/22 "2011-12-20T04:27:46Z")
I met [Stephan Schmidheiny,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephan_Schmidheiny) the “Green Billionaire,” once. Considering our families are from the same part of Switzerland, he’s probably my distant cousin. ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/23 "2011-12-20T05:15:10Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > I’ve met Dick DeVos, but didn’t know he was a billionaire. I thought just a millionaire. I’m more of a thousandaire so millions, billions - all the same to me. [Dick DeVos (Senior, to distinguish from his loathesome spawn) $5B](http://www.forbes.com/profile/richard-devos/). Enough to buy himself a new liver, if I recall correctly. Sadly, he is still alive. [Jay VanAndel $1.4B](http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/93/11/803.full), but he’s dead now, and this is a second hand source quoting Forbes. Good riddance. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/24 "2011-12-20T05:18:11Z")
I tuned John and Christy Walton’s piano for several years (until 2005). One of their homes was in suburban San Diego, a restored Victorian-style house. Nothing about the house, property, or neighborhood suggested “wealth.” The dozen or so times I was there I usually dealt with the housekeeper, but during one of my visits John and Christy were home, and they stopped by the living room to say hello. I don’t know (or remember) what I might have been expecting, but they were pleasant, ordinary people. . ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/25 "2011-12-20T05:24:41Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > I know three, with a fourth that’s got to be right on the line depending on the market on a given day. Howard Schultz barely counts as I’ve only spoken two him two times. **The other three I won’t name** , but two of them I run into at club events a couple of times a year and another I used to work for long before he hit it big. If you think of Microsoft, but not Bill or Paul, you’d be on the right track. (bolding mine) Yes, yes, of course. We all know how important discretion is to the elite. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/26 "2011-12-20T10:06:54Z")
My husband has a lot of wealthy people in his family. One of his great uncles is a billionaire. He’s always been really nice to us at family functions. He loves that we are happy and respects that we don’t care about being rich. He says the key to happiness is to learn to be okay with being miserable. I’d feel sorry for him, but I’m a Zen Buddhist so I basically think he’s right. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/27 "2011-12-20T12:31:31Z")
I met Richard Branson in the 1970s but I imagine he was far from a billionaire at that stage. I only vaguely knew him for the Virgin record label. His office and original record shop was near where I lived in Notting Hill. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/28 "2011-12-20T12:53:02Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Yes, yes, of course. We all know how important discretion is to the elite. :rolleyes: Rolleyes or not, it’s actually pretty true: most really rich people aren’t in to bragging. It’s the trial lawyer that just made his first million that’s gonna brag. ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/29 "2011-12-20T12:56:02Z")
I don’t know if he’s quite a billionaire yet, but Michael Jordan held a door for me once at UNC. This was in the 1980’s, long before his Nike contract. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/30 "2011-12-20T12:56:50Z")
Warren Buffett, briefly, at a UNL School of Business event. I offered him a go on my ukulele\*. He does play, but politely declined. A generally nice man. - not a euphemism. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/31 "2011-12-20T13:07:34Z")
I have two customers that I know to be Billionaires. I have a few others that may well be, definitely multimillionaires but I have no idea how high their wealth extends. I think MA has a total of 11 Billionaires. While I’ll occasionally run into the two I know of there isn’t a lot of interaction beyond business, and I’m more likely to be dealing with a wife or estate manager. My father has a standing offer for use of a private jet from one of them, something he’d never consider actually taking him up on. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/32 "2011-12-20T13:09:30Z")
> [@Encinitas](#): > > I don’t know if he’s quite a billionaire yet, but Michael Jordan held a door for me once at UNC. This was in the 1980’s, long before his Nike contract. He’s halfway there according to Forbes. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/33 "2011-12-20T13:16:03Z")
Our current Director sold his firm a few years back for £500m and is now in the House of Lords. I’ve met him a few times round the office. A good friend from university works for KPMG’s philanthropy advice team and he mixes with billionaires as a regular part of his job (helping them to give away large chunks of their cash). ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/34 "2011-12-20T13:18:47Z")
A third one: not exactly _met_, but I went to see George Soros speak at a church in Oxford about five years ago. There were only about 100 people in the audience. He was telling the stories of ferrying messages between Jewish resistance groups as a child in Budapest during the Nazi occupation. I don’t quite get the antipathy towards him in the US - presumably the oh-so-predictable right-wing smearing tactic. He is a seriously impressive individual with an incredible mind. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/35 "2011-12-20T13:22:44Z")
Thing about billionaires: I wish I could say “dude, gimme 0.1% of your wealth. Pleeeease. You won’t even notice it.” And they wouldn’t. It would be the equivalent of me giving $10 to a tramp. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/36 "2011-12-20T13:45:40Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Thing about billionaires: I wish I could say “dude, gimme 0.1% of your wealth. Pleeeease. You won’t even notice it.” And they wouldn’t. It would be the equivalent of me giving $10 to a tramp. But if they gave 0.1% of their wealth to every moocher on the planet, they’d pretty much be screwed. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/37 "2011-12-20T13:47:40Z")
Maybe. I’m not sure of net-worth, but I can think of two instances. My ex used to work for The Body Shop and we attended a Christmas party at the owner’s (Anita Roddick’s) mansion. Maybe not billionaire level wealth, but pretty damned ritzy. And then there was this venture capitalist guy at a work confernece dealio. What an amazingly arrogant asshole he was. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/38 "2011-12-20T13:54:56Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > But if they gave 0.1% of their wealth to every moocher on the planet, they’d pretty much be screwed. They don’t have to - just to me! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/39 "2011-12-20T14:06:07Z")
My sister met Michael Dell when he came in to buy yogurt from her yogurt store. He tipped her a quarter and acted like it was a big deal. I’ve been in the same room as one of Taiwan’s richest people, but I only interacted with his family members as part of my work. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785/40 "2011-12-20T14:34:56Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Thing about billionaires: I wish I could say “dude, gimme 0.1% of your wealth. Pleeeease. You won’t even notice it.” And they wouldn’t. It would be the equivalent of me giving $10 to a tramp. We joked after the billionaire left our conference room that we wanted to go back in and see if a spare $50K fell out of his pocket. He wouldn’t miss it anyway! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-met-a-billionaire/606785.md?page=3)