• Owning a private jet is not for mere millionaires.
• Paying for fuel, maintenance, and pilot salaries can easily add up to $1 million or more per year, according to Chris Battaglia, the director of charter sales at Meridian Aviation at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport, the main private aviation airport serving New York City.
• Pilot salaries can add up to $750,000 per year and hangar fees can run around $200,000 per year.
• "Having an airplane is not for millionaires," Battaglia told Business Insider. "It's for guys worth $50, $60, $100 million."
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

From tech billionaires like Bill Gates and Elon Musk to monarchs like the Sultan of Brunei, the world's wealthiest individuals use private planes to jet around the globe — and they come with a serious price tag.

As Business Insider's Paige Leskin previously reported, Bezos' Gulfstream G650ER jet cost an estimated $65 million. Mark Cuban, meanwhile, owns no fewer than three private jets; in 1999, his $40 million purchase of a Gulfstream V jet put him in the Guinness Book of World Records for the single largest internet transaction. Even Bill Gates, who is known for being relatively frugal, has said that private jets are his "guilty pleasure."

But there's one thing all these people have in common: They are no mere millionaires. They're actually not even mere billionaires.

Having an airplane is "for guys worth $50, $60, $100 million"

Owning a private plane is a luxury that isn't for mere millionaires, according to Chris Battaglia, the director of charter sales at Meridian Aviation at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, the main private jet airport serving New York City.

Meridian provides aircraft services like fueling, parking, maintenance, and providing charters, as well as managing aircraft for businesses and wealthy individuals. As Battaglia has learned in his 13 years in the aviation industry, owning a private plane is a luxury that's out of reach even for many millionaires.

"Having an airplane is not for millionaires," Battaglia told Business Insider. "It's for guys worth $50, $60, $100 million."

First of all, you have to buy the plane, which can cost anywhere from $3 million to upwards of $90 million, depending on the size and customization. 

But beyond the up-front price, the cost of maintenance, fuel, and pilot's salaries can easily add up to $1 million or more per year, according to Battaglia.

If one pilot is paid a $250,000 salary, for example, you will need to pay that plus benefits, and depending on the size of the plane and how often you fly it, you'll likely need two or three pilots, he said. That would bring the total annual cost for pilots alone to $750,000.

But it may be difficult to even find a pilot. The private jet industry is in the midst of a pilot shortage, as Sophia Ankel and Albane Guichard recently reported for Business Insider France. Many pilots are reportedly switching to flying commercial airlines, where they can get better pay and more stable working hours.

Another huge cost is fuel. Fill up the nearly 50,000-pound tank of a 17-seat Bombardier Global 8000, for example, costs about $53,000.

Then there are the hangar fees, which can cost $200,000 per year, Battaglia said. 

Maintenance fees can quickly add up as well. To replace a plane's windshield, for example, could easily cost $60,000, according to Battaglia.

"There's no cheap parts on these things," he said. "Everything's expensive."

Private jets are mostly used for business travel

Despite their glamorous reputation as the preferred mode of transportation for celebrities, most private jets are used for business, Kirk Stephen, Meridian's director of marketing, told Business Insider.

For many wealthy businesspeople, the main draw of owning a private jet is saving time, because of course, time is money. 

While it could take days for a business traveler to fly commercial between certain destinations, "if you have a private jet, you can go from A to B to C to D all in a very short period of time," Stephen said. "So it's really saving time that's saving money for businesses."

While it may be worth it for the multimillionaires and billionaires of the world, there's no denying that flying private is an exceedingly pricey way to travel. 

"For one of these bigger airplanes, let's just say it takes 15 minutes to taxi to the end of the runway," Battaglia said. "You're on the airplane for 15 minutes, and say that's $2,500. For $2,500, you can go to Europe and back. Before you even took off, that's how much money you're spending." 

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• A proliferation of IPOs created several new billionaires in 2019 — but a turbulent stock market also knocked many entrepreneurs out of the three-comma club.
• Several one-time billionaires (including Juul cofounders Adam Bowen and James Monsees) saw their net worths drop because of company crises.
• A few noteworthy newly-minted millionaires this year hail from the entertainment industry, including Kylie Jenner and Jay-Z.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Not everyone who becomes a billionaire stays one.

A proliferation of IPOs created several new billionaires in 2019 — but a turbulent stock market also knocked many entrepreneurs out of the three comma club.

Last year was not an easy year to be a billionaire, Business Insider previously reported. 2018 was the first time in seven years that high net worth individuals saw their fortunes shrink, according to French technology consulting firm Capgemini. Billionaires across the globe lost 7% of their collective net worth in 2018 due to market instability at the end of the year, Wealth-X also found in its 2019 Billionaire Census. Slowing economic growth across the globe and trade tensions also contributed to the wealth drop, according to Wealth-X.

Keep reading to learn more about the people who became billionaires — and those who lost their billionaire status — in 2019.

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Social media and makeup mogul Kylie Jenner made headlines when she was declared "the world's youngest self-made billionaire" by Forbes in March.

Net worth: $1 billion as of March 2019

Jenner, who turned 22 in August, has built up a cosmetics empire, starred alongside her family in "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" as well as in her own spin-off show "Life of Kylie," started a clothing line with her sister, and made millions promoting products on Instagram.

Forbes estimated that Jenner's company, Kylie Cosmetics, is worth $900 million. That plus the cash she has pulled in from the business brings her to billionaire status, Forbes said.

Many have criticized Forbes calling Jenner "self-made," saying she was born into wealth and privilege, as Business Insider's Katie Warren previously reported. In February, Jenner responded to the backlash in an interview with Paper magazine, saying, "The self-made thing is true" and adding that her parents "cut her off at the age of 15."

Proactiv founders Katie Ronan and Kathy Fields were also declared billionaires by Forbes in March.

Net worths: $1.5 billion each as of March 2019

Ronan and Fields, 64 and 61 respectively, met when they were young dermatology residents, fresh out of medical school, according to their website. They may be best known for inventing acne treatment line Proactiv, but it's their multi-level marketing skincare line Ronan + Fields that made the duo of dermatologists ultrawealthy — Rodan + Fields' 300,000 independent consultants have sold $1.5 billion of cosmetics in 2017, Forbes reported in March.

Zoom's stock soared in the video-conferencing company's public trading debut in April, making CEO Eric Yuan a billionaire.

Net worth: $3 billion as of April 2019

Before he founded Zoom in 2011, Yuan was the vice president of engineering at Cisco. He first came to the US fom China in 1997 after unsuccessfully applying for a visa eight times, Yuan said in a 2017 interview with Thrive Global. On his ninth try, Yuan was accepted, and he came to the country without speaking any English, CNBC reports. Yuan, Zoom's founder and CEO, owns 20.5% of his company's stock.

Jay-Z became "hip-hop's first billionaire" in June, according to Forbes.

Net worth: $1 billion as of June 2019

The rapper has earned millions from sellout tours and chart-topping albums over the course of his nearly 30-year career, Business Insider's Mark Abadi previously reported. But music is far from his only money-making venture.

Over the years, Jay-Z has parlayed his success in the hip-hop world into a fortune earned as an entrepreneur. His business ventures include entertainment labels, a clothing line, upscale alcohol brands, and the music-streaming service Tidal.

Slack founder and CEO Stewart Butterfield was also declared a billionaire in June, after the workplace messaging app's direct listing.

Net worth: $1.6 billion as of June 2019

Slack's market debut may have been what made Butterfield, 46, a billionaire, but it wasn't the first successful company he founded, Business Insider's Megan Hernbroth and Rebecca Aydin previously reported. Butterfield also founded photo-sharing site Flickr, which he sold to Yahoo for more than $20 million in 2013.

Both Slack and Flickr grew out of failed attempts to create an online video game. 

The launch of a new tech-focused stock market in China minted three billionaires in a single day in July.

Net worths: Between $1.3 billion and $2.4 billion as of July 2o19

Launched on July 22, the STAR market was designed to compete with Nasdaq to trade China's largest tech companies, Business Insider previously reported. By the end of the first day of trading, the market's 25 stocks were up an average of 140%, according to CNN Business. The highest performer, semi-conductor part maker Anji Microelectronics Technology, closed up 400%.

Three new Chinese billionaires were minted on July 22:

1. The founder of circuit maker Suzhou HYC Technology Chen Wenyuan was the biggest beneficiary of the market's success, according to Bloomberg. Bloomberg estimates Wenyuan's net worth to be $2.4 billion.
2. Cao Ji, the chairman of lithium battery producer Zhejiang Hangke Technology, now has a net worth of $2.2 billion, according to Bloomberg.
3. The founder and chairman of Arcsoft Corp, Hui Deng, is worth $1.3 billion, according to Bloomberg.

SmileDirectClub founders Jordan Katzman and Alex Fenkell became two of the youngest billionaires in the US in September after the company's IPO.

Katzman's net worth: $1.2 billion as of September 2019

Fenkell's net worth: $1 billion as of September 2019

Shares of Katzman's and Fenkell's direct-to-consumer dental-product company SmileDirectClub closed down 28% after its first day of trading, but its market cap of $6.4 billion made Katzman and Fenkell — each of whom owns close to a quarter of the company's class B shares — billionaires.

The two, who both wore metal braces, became close friends. They came up with the idea for SmileDirectClub while reminiscing about their childhood years and wondering whether they could find a less embarrassing and cheaper way to straighten teeth, according to SmileDirectClub's website.

A 24-year-old Wharton graduate who has posted photos of himself partying with Rihanna and Bella Hadid became a billionaire on October 23, thanks to a generous "gift" from his parents.

Net worth: $3.8 billion as of October 2019

Eric Tse now owns 2.7 billion shares, or 21.45%, of Sino Biopharmaceutical, the company founded by his father, the company said in a statement October 23.

The company said Tse's parents told the board they transferred the shares to Tse to "refine the management and inheritance of family wealth" and planned for Tse to "hold the relevant shares in long-term." But Sino Biopharmaceutical said Tse's new status would "not have any material impact on the business operations of the Company."

Despite having famous friends, Tse has said he doesn't want to be recognized for his wealth.

Tse "indicated that in response to nomination for Billionaire List or wealth ranking organized by media or other organizations, he will endeavor not to participate in such rankings in his own name, and would recommend participating in such nominations in the name of the Tse Ping family,"Sino Biopharmaceutical said.

Oracle co-CEO Safra Catz is one of only a few people to become a billionaire from a company she did not found.

Net worth: $1.1 billion as of November 2019

Catz, 57, took over as co-CEO of software developer Oracle after the retirement of fellow billionaire Larry Ellison in 2014, according to Forbes. Catz is now one of the highest-paid women in the world, making $135 million in 2017, Forbes reported.

Early Uber employee Ryan Graves was added to Forbes' Billionaires List this year.

Net worth: $1.6 billion as of March 2019

Graves, 35, was the first employee hired by former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick after responding to a January 2010 tweet from Kalanick asking where Kalanick could find an "entrepreneurial product mgr/biz-dev killer 4 a location based service,"CNBC reported in May.

Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss became a billionaire in March, when Forbes estimated his net worth to be $1.3 billion.

Net worth: $1.3 billion as of March 2019

Reiss, 46, took over the luxury outerwear company founded by his grandfather in 2001, according to Forbes. He made his Forbes Billionaires List debut in 2019, two years after taking the celeb-adored retailer public.

Juul cofounders Adam Bowen and James Monsees had short-lived tenures as billionaires.

Net worths: $900 million each

One of the company's biggest investors, hedge fund Darsana Capital Partners, reportedly cut the company's valuation by more than a third on October 3 following increased attention from regulators. As a result, Juul cofounders Adam Bowen and James Monsees lost their billionaire status just ten months after attaining it, Business Insider previously reported.

Bowen and Monsees founded Juul after meeting on smoke breaks while studying product design at Stanford University in 2004, Business Insider previously reported. Ploom, a precursor to Juul, was launched in 2007 and first released Juul products in 2015. The company's Juul line was spun into a separate firm in 2017. The majority of the pair's respective net worths are tied to their 1.75% stakes in the e-cigarette maker, Forbes' Sergei Klebnikov reported.

Forever 21's cofounders lost their billionaire status in July — just three months before the fast-fashion retailer filed for bankruptcy in September.

Net worths: $800 million each

At the company's peak in 2015, Jin Sook and Do Won Chang had a combined net worth of $5.9 billion, Business Insider previously reported. Their combined fortune has fallen to $1.6 billion as the fast fashion chain enters bankruptcy proceedings. Forever 21 will close 350 stores across the globe, but will continue to operate in select locations and online.

The married couple founded Forever 21 in Los Angeles in 1984 after emigrating from South Korea three years prior. Their first location, originally called Fashion 21, was 900 square feet and stocked merchandise the Changs purchased at wholesale close-out sales, according to Forbes.

WeWork founder Adam Neumann's net worth plummeted $3.5 billion in just seven months.

Net worth: $600 million as of October 2019

The former WeWork CEO's net worth parallels the plunging valuation of his coworking empire following the company's up-and-down IPO adventure that saw it whipsaw from a $47 billion valuation to talk of bankruptcy in just six weeks.

The drop in Neumann's personal net worth from a peak of $4.1 billion was the result of the declining value of Neumann's 18% stake in WeWork, Forbes reported. WeWork was valued at $47 billion in January following an investment from Japanese investment firm Softbank. However, the company reportedly sought a valuation as low as $10 billion in September as public scrutiny over its steep losses and leadership structure threatened its IPO. Forbes now estimates that the company is worth "at most $2.8 billion."

But Neumann may have regained his billionaire status thanks to Softbank's bailout of WeWork, though estimates of his exact net worth vary.  The former CEO is worth "at least one billion," according to Bloomberg. As of November 11, Forbes also puts Neumann's real-time net worth at $1 billion.

WeWork cofounder Miguel McKelvey also lost his membership in the three comma club between March and October.

Net worth: $400 million as of November 2019

McKelvey founded WeWork in 2010 alongside Neumann and Neumann's now-wife Rebekah Neumann, Business Insider previously reported. Concern from potential investors over the company's finances and corporate governance issues pushed Neumann to resign as WeWork's CEO on September 24.

Forbes estimated McKelvey to be worth $2.9 billion in March.

RyanAir's falling stock price knocked CEO Michael O'Leary off Forbes' Billionaires List in March.

Net worth: $1.1 billion in 2018

O'Leary, 58, has served as the CEO of the cut-rate airline since 1994, according to Forbes. O'Leary once compared RyanAir's business model to that of Wal-Mart, according to Forbes, saying the airline aims to "pile it high and sell it cheap."

The airline struggled with falling profits, Brexit concerns, the Boeing 737 Max grounding, and pilot strikes throughout 2018, sinking the company's shares. RyanAir's declining stock price brought O'Leary's net worth below $1 billion, The Independent's Samantha McCaughren reported in January, though his current net worth is unknown.

Four heirs to the Barilla pasta fortune also dropped off Forbes' Billionaires List in March.

Net worth: $1.1 billion each in 2018

Siblings Emanuella, Guido, Luca, and Paolo Barilla share an 85% stake in the largest company in the world, Forbes reported in 2016. At the time, Forbes estimated that the siblings were worth about $1.5 billion each.

Guido Barilla serves as the Barilla's chairman, while Luca Barilla and Paolo Barilla are both vice-chairmen.

Isaac Larian, the CEO of Little Tikes and Bratz dolls maker MGA Entertainment, was also kicked off of Forbes' list.

Net worth: $1.1 billion in 2018

Larian, 65, immigrated to the United States from Iran in 1971 before founding MGA Entertainment in 1979 after seeing a talking doll that Mattel rejected, according to Forbes.

An heiress to Krispy Kreme-owner JAB Holdings may no longer be a billionaire, but she's still the richest person in New Hampshire, according to Forbes.

Net worth: $720 million as of June 2019

Andrea Reimann-Ciardelli, 62, relocated from Germany to Hanover, New Hampshire, Forbes reported. Reimann-Ciardelli inherited a stake in her family's investment firm JAB Holdings, which she sold to relatives in 2003, according to Forbes. JAB also owns Peet's Coffee and Panera Bread.

Money manager Charles Brandes fell off Forbes' Billionaires list in March.

Net worth: $1.2 billion in 2018

Brandes, 76, built his fortune running Brandes Investment Partners, the San Diego-based investment management firm he founded in 1974. according to Forbes. At its peak, Brandes had over $100 billion under management, but now has only $31 billion, Forbes reported. Brandes left the firm in February 2018.

• Carlos Brito is the CEO of the brewery group Anheuser-Busch InBev, which produces popular beers like Budweiser, Bud Light, Corona, and Stella Artois.
• AB InBev announced Tuesday that it is acquiring Kona Brewing Co. parent Craft Brew Alliance, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• Brito convinced former Brazil tennis star Jorge Paulo Lemann to fund his time at Stanford, according to the Financial Times.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The world's largest brewer is about to get even bigger.

The brewery titan Anheuser-Busch InBev is said to be acquiring Craft Brew Alliance, according to the Wall Street Journal. The deal will add Kona Brewing Co., Omission Brewing Co., Redhook Brewery and Cisco Brewers., into AB InBev's already extensive portfolio of beers.

Despite the ubiquity of the company, AB InBev's Brazilian-born CEO is known to be extremely private. Keep reading to take a look into the life of Carlos Brito.

SEE ALSO: What George Soros' life is really like: How the former hedge-fund manager built his $8.3 billion fortune, purchased a sprawling network of New York homes, and became the topic of international conspiracy theories

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Carlos Alves De Brito, 59, was born in Brazil. He has said he uses his heritage to guide his business decisions.

Brito has cited Brazil's business culture as a reason for AB InBev's success, according to the BBC.

The Brazil-based InBev leadership team was known for its tendency to implement sharp cost-cutting measures without hesitation, the BBC reported. According to the Financial Times, Brito showed up at Anheuser-Busch's St. Louis headquarters to start making changes just 24 hours after its acquisition by InBev was announced.

Brito now lives in New York, according to Fortune.

Brito has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Brito earned a bachelor's degree from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, according to Bloomberg. Before getting his master's at Stanford, he was an executive at Shell. Brito persuaded the former Brazil tennis star Jorge Paulo Lemann to fund his time at Stanford, according to the Financial Times.

He has since returned to Stanford to speak with MBA students, NBC News reported.

Brito is a private person.

The AB InBev leader rarely gives interviews, and not much is known about his personal life.

NBC News reported that the company even declined to confirm that Brito was married and had four children, saying "We don't give details on his private life."

Brito doesn't have a lot of hobbies.

"My life is the company and my family," Brito told the Financial Times.

He also said his only pastime was taking a daily 30-minute walk on a treadmill.

Most of his time is dedicated to Anheuser-Busch InBev, which he has run since 2008.

Brito first came to AmBev in 1989 and worked in finance, operations, and sales before becoming its chief executive in 2004.

InBev was formed in 2004, and Brito became the CEO of the company in 2005. In 2008, InBev acquired Anheuser-Busch, and Brito became the CEO of the larger group, Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Brito was paid 1.48 million euros, or $1.6 million, by AB InBev in 2017, according to the Financial Times, in addition to his ownership of an options grant that was worth 250 million euros, or about $469 million in today's dollars, at the time.

Brito isn't a fan of company perks, including free beer.

Brito doesn't use a company car to get around or have a dedicated desk at AB InBev's headquarters, NBC News reported. According to the Financial Times, he asks to be called "Brito," not "Mr. Brito."

He doesn't even take advantage of one of the more basic perks of running the world's largest brewer: free beer.

"I don't want the company to give me free beer," Brito told Stanford MBA students in 2008, according to NBC News. "I can buy my own beer."

Brito is known for his tough management style.

Brito asks that all employees' performance be monitored constantly and formally reviewed each year, according to the Financial Times. He reportedly doesn't hesitate to let go of employees who aren't up to par if they don't improve in six to nine months.

"Great people attract more great people," Brito said, according to the BBC. "That's obvious, but the opposite is even more dangerous. Mediocre people attract more of the same."

AB InBev hasn't always flourished under Brito's leadership.

Brito and CFO Felipe Dutra lost their annual bonuses in 2017 after the brewer saw its first decline in core earnings since its formation, according to the St. Louis Business Journal.

Even so, AB InBev calls itself the world's largest brewer.

AB InBev makes Budweiser, Bud Light, Corona, Stella Artois, and numerous other beers, according to its website.

The company held the world's second-largest IPO of 2019 in Hong Kong on September 23, raising $5 billion in a single day, Reuters reported. Only Uber's May IPO was worth more.

Now, it's getting even bigger. The company announced Tuesday that it is acquiring Kona Brewing Co. parent Craft Brew Alliance, according to the Wall Street Journal.

AB InBev already owns 31.2% of Craft Brew, and will close its $321 million purchase of the rest of the company in fiscal year 2020, the Journal reported.

The move comes at a time when the company's beer sales by volume in the US are seeing a decline. Part of that can be attributed, as Business Insider's Kate Taylor previously reported, to millennials' shifting interests: They are simply not drinking as much beer as past generations did.

• Matt Stoller is the author of the Simon and Schuster book "Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy" and the publisher of the newsletter BIG. He is a former advisor to the Senate Budget Committee and a former Congressional staffer who worked on the Dodd-Frank financial reform act, competition policy, and the foreclosure crisis.
• He writes that billionaires essentially run "important tollbooths"— meaning that everyone who tries to pass through a certain chokepoint faces extraction.
• John D. Rockefeller did this with Standard Oil. Bill Gates did it with personal computing. 
• This article is part of Business Insider's ongoing series on Better Capitalism.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Most people think a billionaire is someone with a lot of money, a sort of Scrooge McDuck who goes swimming in a pool of gold coins. And why wouldn't we? The name billionaire has the word billion contained within it, so clearly it means having a net worth of at least 10 figures. And in a sense, that is technically true. But if you look at the top ranks of the Bloomberg billionaire index, you'll notice that nearly all of the leaders are people who own a corporation with substantial amounts of market power in one or more markets.

Billionaires use market power to extract revenue the way that a tollbooth operator does. If you want to drive on a road, you have to pay for the privilege. It costs the tollbooth operator nothing — he or she just has a strategic chokepoint for extraction. Billionaire Warren Buffett, for instance, has such a "tollbooth" strategy for investing, though he uses the term "moat," because it sounds charming and quirky rather than rapacious.

Put another way, the Bloomberg billionaire index isn't a list of the most important Scrooge McDuck's, it's a list of the biggest tollbooth operators in the world.

So how do billionaires acquire such massive tollbooths? Surely it's based on building better products and services, right?

Bill Gates is a billionaire because of the law

Bill Gates made his money the old-fashioned way. He stole it. Or, well, most of it. As one person who made deals with Gates said anonymously: "A partnership with Microsoft is like a Nazi non-aggression pact. It just means you're next." It is perhaps not theft in the direct sense, in that he didn't physically break into someone's house and steal the contents of their safe, but he used anti-competitive tactics to extract property from other business people, tactics that in earlier generations would have brought assertive antitrust suits. The Sherman Antitrust Act, passed in 1890, is not just a civil statute, but a criminal one, and it can and has been used to send people to jail. Monopolization isn't just a business practice; it is, according to the law, a crime.

Gates's intellectual and business ancestor is John D. Rockefeller, who also made his money in a high-tech industry based on network economics and legal tricks to standardize on a platform. In fact, Rockefeller called his kerosene producing monopoly Standard Oil. It's useful to go over Rockefeller's tactics and philosophy, because it's pretty much the same as Gates (and, as Lina Khan of The Yale Law Journal shows, that of Jeff Bezos).

Starting out as an oil refiner in Cleveland, throughout the 1870s and 1880s Rockefeller began working with and buying out other refiners. Cleveland had many railroads connecting the oil fields of Pennsylvania and Ohio to his refineries. Rockefeller shipped so much oil that he could demand special pricing arrangements with those railroads. He asked railroads to give him rebates on oil he shipped, a sort of bulk discount. He accumulated so much of the market that he also asked railroads to give him rebates on oil his competitors shipped. In other words, he taxed the entire industry, including his competition. He soon underpriced his competitors and was able to force them to sell out to him, bringing the whole industry under his control.

Rockefeller used the structure of networks — both railroads and pipelines — to seize control of the chokepoint in an industry. He wasn't a wildcat oil driller. He simply forced those oil drillers to use his shipping and refining infrastructure, and could dictate prices. Standard Oil became a private governing force in the oil industry, and Rockefeller became a billionaire by the 1890s.

Standard Oil ran into legal trouble almost from inception. The corporation had been subjected to state lawsuits for decades, and in 1911, the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution into its component parts. The breakup itself was fascinating.

Politically the breakup, though humiliating, was a win in some ways for Rockefeller; Democrats were angry he got to keep his ill-gotten gains, and they put in their 1912 platform a note that Republicans were cowards for being unwilling to use the criminal part of the Sherman Act. The break-up also increased Rockefeller's wealth tremendously. Standard Oil used good technology, but after several decades of market power, it had become slothful; only after the break-up in 1911 did one of the now-independent divisions of Standard Oil create the gasoline industry through new refining techniques. Rockefeller benefitted, as he still held his wealth in stock.

Like Gates, Rockefeller eventually became a philanthropist, pioneering the method of using large sums of money to engage in political control under the guise of charity. He financed research on prohibition, for instance, as well as a good amount of academia, and the creation of the University of Chicago. But his era ended, as populists and merchants put in place laws to erode such large swollen fortunes and the empires that created them. Antitrust and anti-merger laws, regulations on pipelines and railroads that prohibited discrimination, banking restrictions, unionization rules, the Federal income and corporate tax, the inheritance tax, and so forth had their impact.

When Rockefeller died in 1937, popular commentator Walter Lippmann penned this famous argument about how political economy thinking had changed.

"Before he started his enterprises," Lippmann wrote, "it was not possible to make so much money; before he died, it had become the settled policy of this country that no man be permitted to make so much money. He lived long enough to see the methods by which such a fortune can be accumulated, outlawed by public opinion, forbidden by statute, and prevented by the tax laws." This framework lasted until the late 1970s; it was inconceivable America would allow the reemergence of robber barons like Rockefeller.

And yet we did. In fact, Bill Gates's emergence as a massively powerful political and commercial actor bears an eerie resemblance to that of Rockefeller. Gates too came into a new and fluid industry — not oil drilling, but personal computing — full of independent weird hobbyists experimenting not with new techniques around chemistry and extraction but communications, hardware, art, and software. Like Rockefeller's post-Civil War era, Gates in the early 1980s had a legal framework favorable to concentration.

In 1976 and 1980, Congress allowed the copyrighting of software. IBM had been under aggressive antitrust investigation and litigation since 1967, so when it built a personal computer, it outsourced the operating system — MS-DOS — to Gates's company and allowed Gates to license it to other equipment makers. (Gates's upbringing didn't hurt; the CEO of IBM at the the time knew his mother.) Such a relationship with a vendor was a shocking change for IBM, which had traditionally made everything in-house or tightly controlled its suppliers. But IBM treated Microsoft differently, transferring large amounts of programming knowledge to the small corporation. IBM also did this with the microprocessor company Intel, which IBM protected from Japanese competition.

And yet, in 1982, the Department of Justice dropped the antitrust suit against IBM, signaling a new pro-concentration framework. Bill Baxter, Reagan's antitrust chief, did not want to bring monopolization suits, and did not. The new fast-growing technology space of personal computers would be a monopolized industry. But it would not be monopolized by IBM, which had kept control of the computing industry since the 1950s, because IBM's corporate structure was now skittish about the raw use of power. And it would not be monopolized by AT&T, which was kept out of the computing industry by a 1956 consent decree that lasted until 1984. Gates, in many ways, had a greenfield, an environment friendly to monopoly, but one in which all the old monopolists had been cleared out by antitrust actions.

Gates didn't at first think operating systems were that important, and he wanted to use the OS to sell programming languages. But soon he realized that the operating system was a key on-ramp to the personal computer — a tollbooth or chokepoint for all other software. And like Rockefeller with railroads/pipelines, Gates began using rebates to control this new network industry. He built a licensing regime that charged personal computer makers a fee for installing his operating system. More importantly, his licensing regime effectively required computer makers to pay a fee if they installed a rival operating system. Through a coercive partnership with computer makers, Gates imposed a tax on the entire industry, including his competitors, much as Rockefeller had using his relationship with railroads. The key tool for both was not technology, but pricing in the form of the rebate.

What Gates was doing was illegal, but not investigated until the 1990s. Eventually, in 1994, Anne Bingaman, Clinton's antitrust chief, signed a consent decree demanding Gates stop its licensing regime, but by then it didn't matter; the market had tipped so Microsoft's operating systems were the standard. At that point, only public utility regulation would have been able to control Microsoft, but such proposals were considered beyond in the libertarian 1990s. As the 1990s continued, Gates then used his control over the operating system to take control of most key applications on personal computers. Microsoft Word defeated Wordperfect and Excel defeated Lotus123. Microsoft also tried to buy Intuit, but was finally blocked by an aggressive judge, Stanley Sporkin, who had tired of the flabby DOJ's approval of mergers.

By the late 1990s, Microsoft executives were talking about getting a "vig"— a mobster term for a piece of the action — out of every transaction that happened on the new space called the internet. Microsoft began putting lots of money into new ventures to take over entire swaths of the real economy, many of which didn't work or were out of place for a software company (there's a reason it's called MSNBC). The last straw was when Microsoft essentially sat down a group of venture capitalists and told them where they could invest, and where Microsoft was investing. When the corporation sought to kill Netscape, which was the on-ramp to the internet, it was obvious that Gates wanted to control the internet. He couldn't, and didn't, because of a major antitrust suit launched in 1998 by the Federal government. He had sought to become Facebook, Google, and Amazon, and would have been able to if antitrust enforcers hadn't stepped in.

Gates is a very good business man and would have been wealthy regardless. But there's a difference between having $100 million and $100 billion. He has massive amounts of power because he captured control of a very important tollbooth in the economy at a very early stage in its creation. We call him a billionaire because when you measure what this power is worth, it comes to $100 billion or so (plus whatever he's put in the Gates Foundation). But the dollar figure is just the accounting system. There's no swimming pool of gold coins, there is a tollbooth called Microsoft Windows.

And that is true for most billionaires. They are not people with a bunch of dollar bills stacked to the moon, they are (largely) men with a strategic position of power protected by public laws and rules. They aren't better or smarter than anyone else, they are simply politically adept and in the right place at the right time. There's no reason we have to enable such people to run our culture. At the end of the day, tollbooths are nothing but bottlenecks on a road on which we would otherwise travel faster and more freely.

SEE ALSO: In favor of the wealth tax: The tax code doesn't fully comprehend how the wealthiest Americans make their money, and it's hurting everyone else

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• The billionaire family who founded Gap has lost $1 billion in 2019 as the retailer's stock is in free fall,  Forbes' Lauren Debter reported.
• The latest stock drop occurred after slumping sales led CEO Art Peck to resign from his position and his seat on the company's board on November 7, the Associated Press reported.
• The Fisher family now has a collective net worth of $7.3 billion, Forbes estimates.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Gap Inc.'s former CEO isn't the only one feeling the pain of the retailer's sinking sales. The net worth of the store's cofounder, Doris Fisher, and her three sons has fallen $1 billion in 2019 so far, Forbes' Lauren Debter reported.

Shares of Gap are down 34% in 2019, dropping the value of the Fisher's family's stake in the retailer from $4 billion in January to $2.3 billion as of Tuesday, Forbes estimates. The Fisher family now has a collective net worth of $7.3 billion, Forbes estimates. Fisher and her sons, John, Bob, and Bill Fisher were worth $8.3 billion in January, Forbes reported.

Fisher, 88, founded Gap with her late husband Don in 1969 and served as Gap's chief merchandiser until 2003, according to Forbes. Fisher's family controls 43% of the company through various trusts and limited-liability companies and three of the 13 seats on the company's board, according to Fortune.

Gap's latest stock drop occurred on Thursday, when CEO Art Peck resigned from his position and his seat on the company's board, the Associated Press reported. The company — which also owns Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta —  also cut its earnings outlook for the rest of the year.

Business Insider's Bethany Biron visited a Gap location in Manhattan's Financial District in June and found that the store had traded "classic denim and simple silhouettes" for "styles [that] seemed fairly stale and uninventive.

"Looking to the future, Gap will need to make significant changes to stay relevant," Biron wrote.

The Fishers aren't the only family of retail billionaires to see their fortune shrink in 2019. Forever 21 cofounders Jin Sook and Do Won Chang fell out of the three comma club in July, just before the fast-fashion chain filed for bankruptcy September 29, Business Insider previously reported. The Changs are now worth $800 million apiece, down from $2.9 billion in 2015, Forbes estimates.

Read the full report on Forbes >>

SEE ALSO: 15 people who became billionaires in 2019 — and 14 who lost their status in the three-comma club

DON'T MISS: Meet Zhang Yiming, the secretive, 35-year-old Chinese billionaire behind TikTok who made over $12 billion in 2018

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Traditional Japanese swords can take over 18 months to create — here's what makes them so special

• There are approximately 2,153 billionaires in the world, according to Forbes.
• Many of them are concentrated in countries like the US, China, Germany, Russia, and the United Kingdom.
• But some countries, such as Iceland, Portugal, and Qatar, are home to only one billionaire.
• Business Insider scoured Forbes' billionaires list to determine which nations have just one billionaire and then compared each billionaire's wealth to the country's GDP. 
• In Liechtenstein, the country's only billionaire is worth almost half of the GDP of the whole country. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

In 2019, there are approximately 2,153 billionaires in the world, according to Forbes.

Most of these ultra-wealthy individuals are concentrated in countries like the US, China, Germany, Russia, and the United Kingdom. The US is home to the highest number of billionaires: an estimated 705. That's followed by China with an estimated 285 billionaires, and Germany with 146.

Some countries, however, are home to just one billionaire. Business Insider scoured Forbes' billionaires ranking to find which nations have just one billionaire, and then compared each billionaire's wealth to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country, based on data from the World Bank.

In Liechtenstein, for example, the country's only billionaire is worth almost half of the GDP of the whole country. And the richest man in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) is actually worth about $600 million more than his country's GDP. 

Here are 13 countries that have only one billionaire.

SEE ALSO: Comparing Forbes' lists of America's richest people from 1982 and 2019 shows how differently wealth is tracked today

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Algeria: Issad Rebrab

Net worth: $3.8 billion

Percentage of country's GDP: ~2.1%

Source of wealth: Food

Rebrab is the founder and CEO of Algeria's largest privately-held company, Cevital, which owns one of the world's largest sugar refineries. The company also owns an Italian steel mill, a French appliances maker, and a German water purification company.

All five of Rebrab's children work at Cevital. 

Angola: Isabel dos Santos

Net worth: $2.2 billion

Percentage of country's GDP: ~2.0%

Source of wealth: Investments

Dos Santos is the oldest daughter of Angola's former president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who left office in 2017. According to Forbes, Dos Santos acquired stakes in Angolan companies like banks and a telecom firm during her father's presidency.

Georgia: Bidzina Ivanishvili

Net worth: $4.9 billion

Percentage of country's GDP: ~30.2%

Source of wealth: Investments

Ivanishvili amassed his fortune in Russia in the metals and banking industries before moving back to Georgia in 2013. He served as Georgia's prime minister for 13 months in 2012 and 2013.

Iceland: Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson

Net worth $2.2 billion

Percentage of country's GDP: ~ 8.5% 

Source of wealth: Investments

Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson began to amass his fortune in the Russian beer industry, cofounding Bravo brewery and creating the Botchkarov beer brand.

He has investments in Polish and Chilean telecom companies, cryptocurrencies, and startups including Zwift, BeamUp, and Deliveroo. Björgólfsson went almost completely broke during the 2008 recession when he had to pay off more than $1 billion in debt.

Kuwait: Kutayba Alghanim

Net worth: $1.4 billion

Percentage of country's GDP: ~0.9%

Source of wealth: Diversified

Alghanim is the chairman of Alghanim Industries, a conglomerate founded by his father in the 1930s. The company sells General Motors and Ford cars in Kuwait and owns other businesses, including Wendy's restaurants in the Middle East.

Liechtenstein: Christoph Zeller

Net worth: $3 billion

Percentage of country's GDP: ~48.2%

Source of wealth: Dental products

Zeller is the former CEO and now a supervising board member of Ivoclar Vivadent AG, a Lichtenstein-based dental products company with offices in 25 countries. Zeller's grandfather, Dr. Adolph Schneider, bought the company in 1948. Zeller served as CEO from 1990 to 2003.

Nepal: Binod Chaudhary

Net worth: $1.7 billion

Percentage of country's GDP: ~5.9%

Source of wealth: Diversified

Chaudhary holds a controlling stake in CG Corp Global, which makes the popular Wai Wai noodles, owns 30 hotels, and manages 55 more.

His two sons help him run the company.

Portugal: Maria Fernanda Amorim

Net worth: $4.9 billion

Percentage of country's GDP: ~2.0%

Source of wealth: Energy, investments

Amorim was married to Americo Amorim. After he died in 2017, she and her three daughters inherited his fortune, which was made in the family's cork business, Corticeira Amorim, as well as international investments in energy and banks.

She has an estimated 18% stake in Galp Energia, a Portuguese oil and gas company.

Qatar: Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani

Net worth: $1.2 billion

Percentage of country's GDP: ~0.6%

Source of wealth: Hotels, diversified

Al Thani is the founder and chairman of Al Faisal Holding, one of Qatar's largest conglomerates, which owns more than 20 hotels worldwide, including the St. Regis in Washington, DC and Miami, and the W Hotel in London.

His company also holds a majority stake in Aamal, which sells medical supplies and pharmaceuticals and owns real estate in Qatar.

Romania: Ion Tiriac

Net worth: $1.1 billion

Percentage of country's GDP: ~0.4%

Source of wealth: Banking, insurance

Tiriac has a minority stake in Romanian insurance company Allianz-Tiriac and has also made investments in automobile dealerships, petroleum, and real estate.

Eswatini (formerly Swaziland): Nathan Kirsh

Net worth: $5.3 billion

Percentage of country's GDP: ~112%

Source of wealth: Retail, real estate

Kirsh owns 70% of Jetro Holdings, a wholesale supplier of goods to small stores and restaurants.

He's also invested in commercial property development.

Tanzania: Mohammed Dewji

Net worth: $1.9 billion

Percentage of country's GDP: ~3.3%

Source of wealth: Diversified

Dewji is the CEO of METL, a Tanzanian conglomerate that deals in textile manufacturing, flour milling, beverages, and edible oils in at least six African countries. His father founded the company in the 1970s.

Dewji signed the Giving Pledge in 2016, promising to give at least half his wealth to charity.

In October 2018, he was reportedly kidnapped at gunpoint and held for nine days.

Zimbabwe: Strive Masiyiwa

Net worth: $2.8 billion

Percentage of country's GDP: ~9.0%

Source of wealth: Telecom

Masiyiwa is the founder and 50% owner of mobile network Econet Wireless Zimbabwe.

He also owns more than half of Liquid Telecom, a private company that supplies fiber optic and satellite services to telecom companies throughout Africa.

• Elite nannies often know the households of the rich and powerful better than the parents themselves.
• Business Insider asked nannies what they wish their bosses knew — and they had feedback about everything from household security to their job responsibilities. 
• One nanny was concerned about the pressure the parents' high expectations put on the kids.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

When you hire people to run your household, it's possible that they just might get to know how it works better than you do.

Business Insider interviewed seven elite nannies to find out what they learned about the households of the rich and powerful — but were afraid to tell to their bosses. The nannies had feedback on everything from household security to their job responsibilities. 

Keep reading to learn more about what the households of the rich and powerful are really like.

Note: Business Insider was able to verify each nanny's identity, but we refrained from publishing some of their full names to protect their privacy.

Do you nanny for a wealthy family and have a story to share? Contact the reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (646) 768-4725 using a non-work phone, email at trogers@businessinsider.com, or Twitter DM at @TaylorNRogers. (PR pitches by email only, please.)

SEE ALSO: 15 people who became billionaires in 2019 — and 14 who lost their status in the three-comma club

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1. "The pay, benefits and perks are amazing; but they can come with a cost to your own personal life."

Elite nannies can make up to $150,000 with full benefits, according to Katie Provinziano, the managing director of Los Angeles staffing agency Westside Nannies — but the costs are steep, too.

Many elite nannies regularly work late into the night and travel with families for weeks on end. As a result, many elite nannies change careers after three to five years, Provinziano told Business Insider.

2. "79% of the little details they think matter when it comes to taking care of the kids absolutely don't."

"Oftentimes nannies know there's the parents' way of doing things, and there's the nanny way of doing things, since we're actually 'boots on the ground' 24/7," one nanny told Business Insider. "A lot of things set in place and a lot of things that fill stackable nanny employee binders are all great in theory but many times they just have no idea."

3. "They are paying me to be their friend and drinking buddy."

One nanny said that the mother asked her to return to the family's hotel suite after dropping the son off for school to pick out the mother's outfit and keep her company. 

4. "Your kids clearly wanted to impress you and were trying their best. You did not have to put so much pressure on them with schoolwork and being the best at everything all the time."

"The oldest was in middle school and the other two in elementary school," another nanny told Business Insider. "I get that you want them to go to an Ivy League school and stay in this circle of extreme wealth, but both the parents and the kids seemed unhappy. There is more to life than money, wealth, and status."

5. "Raise your own kids!"

"Literally just cook and clean yourself," one nanny told Business Insider. "It's not that hard."

6. "I make it look easy, but it's not."

The nanny said they dealt with multiple health emergencies such as tooth eruptions and asthma attacks.

They were also once asked to clean out a rats' nest by themselves, Business Insider previously reported.

7. "They are way too lax with security."

One nanny told Business Insider that the family they worked for never locked the doors to their house or set their alarm, would leave cash and credit cards out, and left their luxury cars unlocked with the keys in the initiation.

"It's almost scary," the nanny said.

• A preliminary outside analysis of Sen. Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax proposal found it could hamper the nation's economic growth, but its supporters argue the study makes assumptions that ignores the fuller economic impact. 
• The early projection from the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Wharton Budget Model estimates that Warren's wealth tax would shave 0.2% off the nation's economic growth each year over a decade.
• However, the study makes a host of assumptions, and the projection didn't analyze the impact of Warren's sweeping agenda on the US economy.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A preliminary outside analysis of Sen. Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax proposal found it could hamper the nation's economic growth, but its supporters argue the study makes assumptions that ignore the fuller economic impact. 

The early projection from the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Wharton Budget Model estimates that Warren's wealth tax would shave 0.2% off the nation's economic growth each year over a decade.

Annual growth would average out to 1.3% yearly instead of 1.5%, the analysis says.

The study projected the wealthiest Americans would consume more, but also save their money and invest less, prompting the economic slowdown, the New York Times reported.

However, the study leaves out other elements that could provide a fuller portrait of the wealth tax's impact on the US economy. It didn't analyze the impact of rest of Warren's sweeping agenda, leaving out how it would interact with other tax dollars that the government collects.

The Penn estimate also assumes that Warren would spend the revenue generated from the tax towards paying down the federal debt, instead of her plans for student debt relief or her "Medicare for All." 

Richard Prisinzano, the director of policy analysis at the Penn Wharton Budget Model, said it was a preliminary study and a fuller one would come next month.

"It is a stylized experiment that resembles Warren's plan. Our stylized analysis takes all revenue raised and applies it to debt," Prisinzano told Business Insider in an email.

That's the same method the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office uses when it scores the spending of legislative proposals, assigning any government revenue generated toward debt reduction.

An evaluation that takes Warren's agenda into account would have likely found a bigger slowdown as a result, since the Penn Wharton model assumes that federal debt reduction unleashes more growth.

Warren fired back at the slower growth projection in a tweet: "Maybe if I were sticking $3 trillion under a mattress. But I'm not."

Other experts say Warren's plans could boost the economy. Mark Zandi, an economist who analyzed the wealth tax for the campaign, wrote on Wednesday for CNN that "Warren's plans for child care, housing and green manufacturing would spur economic growth and produce more tax revenue."

Warren's wealth tax plan would kick in for Americans with net worths over $50 million, with households paying a 2% annual tax on their assets like stocks, yachts, and real estate. Then it would be ramped up to 6% for fortunes totaling over $1 billion.

The Times reported that her wealth tax combined with a plan to impose new ones on investment gains would draw over $3 trillion in revenue over ten years. But some experts say the wealth tax won't collect as much estimated revenue since rich citizens would attempt to evade them and shelter their assets.

The plan has drawn fierce criticism from some of the richest Americans and financiers. Hedge fund investor Leon Cooperman and Warren have traded barbs in recent weeks over her proposed wealth tax, which forms a key part of Warren's progressive campaign pitch.

Still, Warren has embraced the public disputes to distinguish herself from the rest of the primary field as a fighter for the middle-class.

She rolled out a "calculator for the billionaires"last week on her campaign website after Microsoft founder Bill Gates questioned he didn't know how much money he would have left over if the tax was implemented.

• Read more:
• Here's how much smaller the top 11 billionaires' fortunes would be if Bernie Sanders' or Elizabeth Warren's proposed wealth tax had been around since 1982
• Elizabeth Warren has a colossal $30 trillion progressive agenda. Here's a breakdown of how she plans to pay for it.
• Hillary Clinton slams Bernie Sanders' and Elizabeth Warren's wealth-tax plans as 'incredibly disruptive' and 'unworkable'

SEE ALSO: Here's how long it would take for 6 of the richest Americans to lose their billionaire status under a 6% wealth tax

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• Billionaires have a trifecta of traits to thank for their success, a new report by UBS and PwC found.
• Their smart risk-taking, focus, and determination is what makes them successful.
• Companies run by billionaires perform almost twice as well as the rest of the market, Business Insider previously reported.
• One of UBS' billionaire clients plans in decades instead of quarters, according to John Matthews, the investment bank's Group Managing Director of UBS' Head of Ultra High Net Worth Americas.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Intelligence isn't what makes billionaires successful, a new report by investment bank UBS and PricewaterhouseCoopers found.

It's billionaires' "appetite for smart risk-taking, business focus, and determination" that helps them build and sustain their wealth, according to UBS and PwC's 2019 Billionaires Report. These personality traits create what UBS and PwC call the "billionaire effect": Companies run by billionaires perform twice as well as the rest of the market.

According to UBS and PwC, companies run by billionaires enjoyed returns of 17.8% between 2003 and the end of 2018. That's compared to the MSCI AC World Index's 9.1% return during the same time period. Billionaires' companies were also consistently more profitable and performed better in the six years following an IPO than non-billionaire controlled companies, according to the study.

Billionaires have a trifecta of traits that add up to their success, the report outlines: They know how to take smart risks; they are obsessively focused on their businesses, which allows them to see opportunities others missed; and think longer-term than less wealthy CEOs.

"[I had a] conversation with a client talking about their success and how he has become successful with his company and his comment to me was, 'John, I don't think in quarters, I think in 10 years,'" John Matthews, the Group Managing Director of UBS' Head of Ultra High Net Worth Americas, said at a press event hosted by UBS on October 6. "It's a different mindset."

A multitude of studies and books have similarly concluded that billionaires think differently than the majority of the population

The UBS and PwC report underscores findings that align with what other studies and books have also found: Billionaires think and operate differently than the majority of the population.

A review of the personality tests of 43 people with net worths above $11 million by German researcher Rainer Zitelmann found that ultra-wealthy entrepreneurs tend to have high tolerances for frustration and be more detail-oriented than the general population, Business Insider previously reported.

SEE ALSO: The billionaire who cofounded Gap and her 3 sons have lost $1 billion in 2019 so far amid sales slump

DON'T MISS: Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have both proposed taxes on the ultra-wealthy. Here's how much poorer America's 10 wealthiest billionaires would be under a moderate wealth tax.

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Before releasing White Claw, Canadian billionaire Anthony von Mandl built a fortune off of Mike's Hard Lemonade — and used that wealth to create an empire of fine wineries throughout British Columbia. 
• Von Mandl currently owns four wineries, including a $35 million estate that was visited by Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2016, according to Bloomberg.
• Von Mandl has been called "Tony Baloney" because of his talent for creating compelling stories to sell products, Business in Vancouver reported in 2014.
• The 69-year-old has a net worth of $3.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Billionaire Anthony von Mandl may now be known as one of Canada's best vintners, but he owes the majority of his still-growing fortune to two beverages generally considered more low-brow — Mike's Hard Lemonade and White Claw. 

Von Mandl's wineries have gotten him visits from Prince William and Kate Middleton and awards from Queen Elizabeth (among others), but it was the success of Mike's Hard Lemonade (launched in Canada in 1996 and brought to the American market in 1999) that first made him wealthy.

Now, his latest venture, hard seltzer brand White Claw, has become so popular that stores are struggling to keep it adequately stocked on their shelves.

Representatives of von Mandl's company, the Mark Anthony Group, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on von Mandl's career, net worth, or personal life from Business Insider.

Keep reading to learn more about von Mandl's life, career, and wealth.

SEE ALSO: Meet Zhang Yiming, the secretive, 35-year-old Chinese billionaire behind TikTok who made over $12 billion in 2018

DON'T MISS: 15 people who became billionaires in 2019 — and 14 who lost their status in the three-comma club

Von Mandl was born in Vancouver, Canada, but spent his childhood in Europe.

Von Mandl's parents were European immigrants, according to a biography on the website for one of his wineries, Mission Hill.

The family moved back to Europe when von Mandl was 9 years old, according to the biography. He later returned to Canada to attend the University of British Columbia, where he studied economics.

The winery's site does not specify which European country von Mandl's family is originally from or where in Europe he spent his adolescence.

Von Mandl first entered the alcohol business by selling imported wines from his car in Vancouver after graduating from college in the early 1970s, according to wine writer John Schreiner.

He also worked out of "a little office about the size of a cupboard in the back of a building," according to Schreiner.

Von Mandl then did an apprenticeship in wine-selling after college, which inspired him to open an importing business in Vancouver, according to his biography on his winery's website.

Through his importing business, von Mandl saved up enough money to buy his first vineyard, Mission Hill, at 31.

Von Mandl said in 2003 that, at the time, he wondered "if I had made the biggest mistake of my life" in buying the winery, Bloomberg reported.

Von Mandl also starting selling hard cider that he described as "awful" to help cover the cost of operating the winery, according to Business in Vancouver. Unlike other Canadian breweries, von Mandl did not reuse the glass bottles the cider was sold in and relied on other businesses' buyback programs to help his company meet national waste regulations. When breweries that previously used the same bottles as von Mandl stopped buying back the cider bottles, the Canadian government fined the business "several million dollars,"Business in Vancouver reported.

The financial strain of the bottle fiasco led von Mandl to start brewing a beer called Clark's Great Canadian Beer, according to Business in Vancouver. Von Mandl also opened another business on Annacis Island in British Columbia focused on sustainability called Turning Point Brewery.

Von Mandl's first major success in the industry was with Mike's Hard Lemonade.

"25% of guys didn't particularly want to drink beer, but couldn't be seen holding anything else in their hand," von Mandl said in a 2006 interview, according to Bloomberg. 

Mark Anthony Group calls Mike's, which was launched in Canada in 1996 and the US in 1999, "the world's first spirit cooler," according to Business in Vancouver. The company has since sold $1.6 billion of hard lemonade in the US, Bloomberg reported on November 8.

Mark Anthony Group sold the rights to its ready-to-drink brands in Canada (including Mike's Hard Lemonade) to Labatt Breweries for $350 million, or about $466 million Canadian, in 2015, but retained the rights to sell the beverages in the US market, which as of that time was "five times bigger" than sales in Canada.

Von Mandl's company is arguably now best known for the hard seltzer beloved by American "bros": White Claw.

White Claw, the dominant brand in the rapidly expanding hard seltzer category, has become the subject of a rising number of viral YouTube videos and memes poking fun at the popularity of the drink in places like fraternity houses, Business Insider's Bethany Biron previously reported.

The drink's success grew Mark Anthony Group into "America's fourth-largest beer company," the company said in a statement emailed to Bloomberg. The company also said its U.S. business has grown 85% in 2019 thus far.

White Claw is so popular that the company actually struggles to keep it in stock, Business Insider's Hayley Peterson previously reported. "We are working around the clock to increase supply given the rapid growth in consumer demand," Sanjiv Gajiwala, the senior vice president of marketing at White Claw, told Business Insider. "Despite reported shortages, we are excited to report that market share has continued to rise from 55% to 61% in just the past eight weeks."

A group of Business Insider reporters sampled White Claw and its strongest competitor, Truly, in September and "couldn't deny that Claw is the law."

The company owes its success to von Mandl's marketing prowess, his former business partner told Business In Vancouver.

Von Mandl is a "master" at creating compelling stories to bolster brands, Nick Clark told Business in Vancouver in 2014. Clark, von Mandel, and David Simms purchased their winery, Mission Hills Family Estate, together in 1981, and Clark remained an investor until 1988, Business in Vancouver reported.

Von Mandl named the company "Mark Anthony" because the name sounds "vaguely familiar" to most people, and not after a specific person, according to Business in Vancouver. 

"My kids, who knew the difference between fact and story, affectionately labeled him as Tony Baloney," Clark told Business in Vancouver.

His former business partner also claims that Von Mandl isn't known for his people skills.

The billionaire businessman is "unrelentingly impatient with people not equal to his station in life or stature," Clark told Business in Vancouver. 

Mission Hills had a "constantly revolving door of staff" during the years Clark worked there with von Mandl, Business in Vancouver reported.

Von Mandl is very confident that the White Claw craze isn't just a passing fad.

"The consumers flocking to White Claw today are not going to magically return to the mega-beer brands of yesterday," von Mandl said at a beer wholesalers convention in September, Bloomberg reported.

Von Mandl also estimated that White Claw will make Mark Anthony Group "close to $4 billion" in revenue in 2020, according to Bloomberg.

Von Mandl used the fortune he initially made from Mike's Hard Lemonade to further his growing empire of fine wineries in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, Canada.

In addition to Mission Hill, von Mandl now also owns Checkmate Artisanal Winery, Martin's Lane Winery, and Cedar Creek Estate Winery.

Von Mandl's wineries are credited with having "transformed the wine industry in Canada," according to the website of Canada's Governor General.

Von Mandl showed Prince William and Kate Middleton around one of his wineries in 2016.

The visit was a part of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's 2016 Commonwealth tour, according to Bloomberg.

Mission Hill is a popular tourist destination in British Columbia, according to Business in Vancouver. Its restaurant was named one of the top five winery restaurants in the world by Travel + Leisure in 2009.

The magazine called Mission Hill "one of the most impressive wineries anywhere," citing the estate's amphitheater, 12-story bell tower, cooking classes, and the Chagall tapestry in the private dining room.

The property is worth $35 million, and von Mandl has invested over $26 million in it, according to Travel + Leisure.

William and Kate's visit wasn't the first time that von Mandl has received attention from royalty.

Von Mandl was awarded medals during Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee in 2002 and her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, according to Canada's Governor General.

He also received the Order of Canada, the country's second-highest honor, for his contributions to Canada's wine industry in 2016, according to Canada's Governor General.

Von Mandl's wife, Debra Gibson von Mandl, is a licensed acupuncturist.

Debra, a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, has practiced acupuncture in Vancouver since 1996, according to her website. She uses Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Technique to treat patients with severe allergies with a 90% success rate, she told The Globe and Mail in 2002.

The couple has a son named Anthony Sebastian, according to von Mandl's biography on his former primary school's website.

The family lives in Vancouver's exclusive Point Grey neighborhood, which several other billionaires call home.

In 2017, The Globe and Mail's Brent Jang described the area as "a scenic street where many of the most expensive properties in British Columbia are located."

The von Mandl's neighbors include billionaire philanthropists Hassan and Nezhat Khosrowshahi, the aunt and uncle of Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, according to The Globe and Mail. The Khosrowshahis' property is worth $45.7 million, The Globe and Mail reported in 2017.

A 21,977-square-foot home in the area is currently on the market for over $43 million, according to Sotheby's Realty. That home features a private elevator, indoor pool, wine cellar, library, and 1.23 acres of land, the listing shows.

Billionaire Lululemon Athletica founder Chip Wilson lives in the most expensive house in British Columbia on a nearby street, according to The Globe and Mail.

• Kevin Plank founded Under Armour, a leading athletic-wear brand, 23 years ago in his grandmother's basement.
• On October 22, Under Armour announced that Plank would be stepping down from his role as CEO and will be replaced by COO Patrik Frisk on January 1. Plank will become the executive chairman and brand chief.
• On November 4, the Wall Street Journal reported that Under Armour is under federal investigation to determine whether the brand altered its recorded revenue to bolster its healthy appearance. In a statement, Under Armour said it is cooperating with the probe.
• On November 15, Business Insider obtained a rallying email Plank sent to Under Armour employees responding to another WSJ report that alleged Under Armour "dumped goods" at off-price chains like TJ Maxx to bolster sales growth.
• Plank has a net worth of $1.7 billion. Here's a look at how he built Under Armour and how he spends his money.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

On October 22, Under Armour announced that founder Kevin Plank would be stepping down from his role as CEO. Effective January 1, he will be replaced by Patrik Frisk, the company's current president and chief operating officer.

According to the statement, Plank will become the executive chairman and brand chief at Under Armour, a company he founded in his grandmother's Washington D.C. basement in 1996.

Two weeks after the announcement of Plank's departure from his role, the Wall Street Journal reported that federal authorities are investigating Under Armour's accounting practices. According to the Journal's November 4 report, the company has been under Justice Department and SEC investigations since 2017 for its revenue disclosure practices.

"The company firmly believes that its accounting practices and disclosures were appropriate," a representative for Under Armour told the Journal. Under Armour is reportedly cooperating with the investigations.

In a November 14 report, the Journal alleged that Under Armour purposefully "pushed early shipments" and "dumped goods" at off-price stores such as TJ Maxx to bolster sales growth. Business Insider obtained an email Plank wrote to employees on Friday."Given recent events that have entered the realm of public opinion without full context, it is disappointing to have our integrity and reputation called into question," Plank wrote.

"With respect to inquiries into Under Armour's business practices by the Securities and Exchange commission and the Department of Justice, we firmly believe that our disclosures and our accounting practices have been entirely appropriate," he reiterated. "We respect the government's process and will continue to cooperate with thoughtful and proper resolve."

Keep reading for a look at how Kevin Plank, who is worth $1.7 billion, built Under Armour and established his wealth — and how he spends it.

SEE ALSO: Kevin Plank is stepping down as CEO of Under Armour

DON'T MISS: Under Armour founder Kevin Plank responds to an explosive report alleging the company dumped goods at TJ Maxx to sweeten sales numbers

According to Forbes, Kevin Plank has a net worth of $1.7 billion. In 1996, Plank founded Under Armour; on October 22, he announced that he would be stepping down from his role as the company's CEO.

According to an April 2017 report from The Wall Street Journal's Sara Germano, Plank has taken an annual nominal salary of $26,000. According to the same report, Under Armour paid more than $73 million in 2016 to companies controlled by Plank.

Source:Under Armour, Forbes

Plank's road to Under Armour began after getting kicked out of a Washington D.C. prep school.

Plank, the youngest of five brothers, was kicked out of Georgetown Prep, a private Jesuit high school outside Washington D.C., for being involved in "an alcohol-fueled brawl" during his sophomore year.

He then attended St. John's College High, another Catholic prep school in the area, where he played football. He graduated at 17, and instead of going directly to college, he went to a military academy known for producing top football talent for one year. 

Plank became a walk-on at the University of Maryland in College Park; it was there that he started focusing on the material of his football uniform.

As Business Insider previously reported, he couldn't stand the way his cotton T-shirts became drenched up with sweat and bunched up under his gear, even though they were on trend for the 1990s.

In 1996, Plank developed the first prototype of a skin-tight base layer made from a sweat-wicking synthetic fabric. He started the entire operation in his grandmother's D.C. basement.

In a 2014 interview with the Washington Post, Plank said "I had about $15,000 in cash, and I had established pretty good credit. I had about $40,000 in credit cards," when asked about how he financed the company early on.

Source:Business Insider

Plank was able to get his business off the ground by selling his shirts to his football-playing contacts.

In the company's first year, 1996, it saw $17,000 in sales.

It wasn't long before college and professional players were wearing Under Armour; the company sales exceeded $200 million by 2004.

As the brand grew, Plank successfully positioned Under Armour through a variety of celebrity endorsements. Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, Cam Newton, and Misty Copeland are all tied to Under Armour.

Source: The New Yorker

As Business Insider has previously reported, Plank has been known not to name his competition directly. However, Under Armour has grown to be comparable to other mainstay athletic brands like Nike and Adidas.

While Under Armour's initial growth was rapid, it has slowed as of recent.

As Haley Peterson reported for BI, the company's revenue in 2018 grew just 4% over the previous year to $5.2 billion. For comparison, Nike grew 7.5% to $39.1 billion in its 2019 fiscal year.

Read more: We visited Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour to see which store does athletic-wear the best — the winner shocked us

Recently, Plank worked directly with Richard Branson to design and develop spacesuits for Virgin Galactic.

"I have followed Under Armour's progress through a personal friendship with its CEO, Kevin Plank and via the great relationships it has established over the years with various Virgin companies," Branson explained of the partnership in a January statement.

"I've loved its determination to push technical boundaries in order to improve performance, so could not have been more pleased when Kevin and his talented teams stepped up to the considerable task of creating a range of space apparel and performance programmes for Virgin Galactic," Branson continued.

Read more:Take a look at the Under Armour-designed spacesuits Virgin Galactic wants to send people to space in

In 2017, Plank sparked controversy after he praised President Trump in an interview.

In an interview with CNBC, Plank said: "To have such a pro-business president is something that is a real asset for the country."

The comment caused waves and Under Armour ultimately issued a statement saying: "We engage in policy, not politics."

On other topics, however, Plank publicly disagreed with Trump. When the president referred to Baltimore as a "rodent infested mess,"Plank took to Instagram to defend Under Armour's homebase.

Plank lives outside of Baltimore, Maryland with his wife of 16 years and their two children.

In February, The Wall Street Journal reported that sources had indicated that Plank had a very close relationship with an MSNBC anchor, Stephanie Ruhle. Ruhle and Plank had traveled together on his private jet and she had given him input on business matters, The Journal reported, citing executives and people familiar with the matter.

Plank and Ruhle alike declined to comment for the Journal's article. "Mr. Plank and Ms. Ruhle are friends," Under Armour's senior vice president of communications, told The Wall Street Journal at the time.

At one point, Plank's family listed the most expensive home in Washington D.C.

The completely renovated, 12,200-square-foot, eight-bedroom Georgetown mansion was put on the market in 2015 for $29.5 million, making it the most expensive home in D.C. 

It did not sell and was put back on the market earlier this month at a 17% price cut for $24.5 million. The family does not live in the home and is selling, according to the Washington Business Journal, because they do not use it as often as initially anticipated.

The family lives outside of Baltimore, near Under Armour's headquarters. According to the Baltimore Sun, they were also building a home nearby, but construction was halted for unknown reasons last fall.

As The Wall Street Journal reported in February, Plank owns a company that leases a black Gulfstream jet to Under Armour.

According to The Wall Street Journal's Khadeeja Safdar, Plank "also uses the same aircraft for private travels."

While it's unclear what model Gulfstream the company owns, a new Gulfstream G700 just revealed in Las Vegas will have a list price of $75 million. 

The family also has a privately held investment company called Plank Industries. Its holdings include an award-winning whiskey company.

According to the company's website, Plank Industries has holdings across several industries, including thoroughbred racing, hospitality, food and beverage, and commercial real estate.

Their company's key holding is Sagamore Spirit, a rye whiskey company that was named the world's best rye whiskey at San Francisco's World Spirits Competition.

Plank also owns Sagamore Racing Farm, a thoroughbred farm and training ground in Maryland previously owned by the Vanderbilts. He purchased and restored the farm in 2007.

Source: Sagamore Racing

Plank is stepping down as CEO but will act as the executive chairman and brand chief at Under Armour. Current COO Patrik Frisk will take up the duties of CEO on January 1, 2020.

"Patrik is the right person to serve as Under Armour's next CEO," Plank said in a statement. "As my partner during the most transformative chapter in our history, he has been exceptional in his ability to translate our brand's vision into world-class execution by focusing on our long-term strategy and re-engineering our ecosystem through a strategic, operational and cultural transformation."

Source: Business Insider

Frisk will helm a company that is currently under federal investigation.

On November 4, the Wall Street Journal's Aruna Viswanatha and Khadeeja Safdar reported that the Justice Department and the SEC are investigating Under Armour for its accounting and revenue disclosure practices. The main question is whether the company altered recorded revenue from quarter to quarter to maintain a healthy appearance. The company told The Journal it is cooperating with the investigation.

The company began responding to requests for accounting-related documents in July 2017. A company representative told the Journal: "The company firmly believes that its accounting practices and disclosures were appropriate."

On Thursday November 14, the Journal released a report alleging that Under Armour "dumped goods" at off-price chains like TJ Maxx to boost sales growth. The report led Plank to send a company-wide email in response.

"Given recent events that have entered the realm of public opinion without full context, it is disappointing to have our integrity and reputation called into question,"Plank wrote in the Friday email obtained by Business Insider.

• Calling all personal assistants!
• For an upcoming series, Business Insider would like to hear your stories of what your days are like and how you are treated.
• Fill out the form below to tell us the best and worst part of your job, what your typical day is like, and the worst things you're ever been asked to do.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Calling all elite personal assistants — what is job really like?

Business Insider previously reported that ultra-wealthy people have asked their nannies to work through hurricanes and clean out rats nests, and demanded that yacht staff take late-night trips to buy pool toys and fly 4,000 miles round trip to pick up their clothes. 

Now we would like to hear your stories of what your days are like and how you are treated. For an upcoming piece, tell us about the good, the bad, and the bizarre. What is it really like to manage the lives of the ultra-wealthy?

If your story is selected, we'll reach out to verify your identity, but you can remain anonymous. Just check off the option at the end of this form.

SEE ALSO: 15 people who became billionaires in 2019 — and 14 who lost their status in the three-comma club

DON'T MISS: 7 nannies who work for the rich and powerful share the worst things they've ever been asked to do on the job

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Traditional Japanese swords can take over 18 months to create — here's what makes them so special

• Kylie Jenner agreed to sell a majority stake in her makeup company to Coty Inc. — a beauty conglomerate that owns brands including CoverGirl and OPI nail polish, among others — for $600 million Monday, Business Insider's Dominic-Madori Davis reported.
• Jenner is one of the relatively few celebrities-turned-billionaires in Hollywood.
• Film directors and television personalities dominate the list of Tinseltown's wealthiest — but it doesn't contain anyone who has built a career solely off acting.
• Many of Hollywood's billionaires made their fortunes from business ventures.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

One of Hollywood's few billionaires is about to get a lot richer.

Kylie Jenner agreed to sell a majority stake in her makeup brand to beauty conglomerate Coty Inc. (which also owns CoverGirl and OPI nail polish) for $600 million on Monday, Business Insider's Dominic-Madori Davis previously reported. The deal, expected to close in 2020, values Kylie Cosmetics at $1.2 billion.

A lot of Hollywood entertainers are extremely wealthy — but fewer than you might think are actually billionaires. What sets these five billionaire entertainers and studio executives apart from their peers is not only that they excelled in the industry, but that they leveraged their success to make investments that provide significant income beyond their salaries.

Hollywood's billionaires' club may not stay small for long, however, as more and more stars launch their own clothing and beauty lines. Two celebrities — Kylie Jenner and Jay-Z— have already become billionaires in 2019 alone.

Keep reading for a closer look at how five Hollywood celebrities who are also billionaires built their fortunes.

SEE ALSO: These are the 50 richest people in the world right now

DON'T MISS: The top 15 countries with the most billionaires, ranked

Social media star turned beauty magnate Kylie Jenner is the world's youngest billionaire, with a net worth of $1 billion, according to Forbes.

Jenner made headlines in March after Forbes declared her the youngest self-made billionaire ever at 21. Most of Jenner's wealth comes from her beauty company, Kylie Cosmetics, which is valued at $1.2 billion after CoverGirl parent Coty Inc. agreed to acquire a majority stake, Business Insider's Dominic-Madori Davis reported M0nday.

Jenner began appearing on her family's reality television show, "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," at age 10 and has since built a massive social media following so influential that shares of Snap fell 7% after she tweeted that she had stopped using the app in 2018.

Jay-Z's investments have made him the world's first billionaire rapper, with a net worth of $1 billion, according to Forbes.

Jay-Z, 49, pocketed approximately $500 million from his 14 No. 1 albums before taxes, but a large portion of his wealth comes from his business ventures, according to Forbes. He founded a clothing line that he sold to Iconix for$204 million in 2007 and co-owns cognac brand D'Ussé, in addition to owning music streaming service Tidal.

Jay-Z bought Tidal for $56 million in 2015. In 2017, Sprint bought a 33% stake in the company for $200 million, which put the company's valuation at $600 million. Jay-Z's stake in the company is now worth $100 million, according to Forbes. 

Jay-Z also has a private art collection worth $70 million, a stake in Uber worth $70 million, and he owns $50 million in real estate, according to Forbes.

Media mogul Oprah Winfrey is worth $2.7 billion, according to Forbes.

Born to a single mother in rural Mississippi, Winfrey started out as a news anchor before spending 25 years hosting "The Oprah Winfrey Show." The investments Winfrey made with her share of the show's profits are now worth about $2 billion, Forbes estimates. She became a billionaire in 2003, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

Winfrey, now 65, also leveraged her show's success to build a media empire and amassed a fortune of $2.6 billion in the process, according to Forbes. She owns 25.5% of her television network OWN, an 8% stake in WW International, and has a content creation deal with Apple TV+.

Oprah has also voiced characters in "Charlotte's Web,""The Bee Movie," and "The Princess and the Frog," in addition to starring in "Lee Daniels' The Butler" and "Selma," among others, according to The Oprah Magazine.

Three-time Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg is worth $3.6 billion, according to Forbes.

The box office success of "Jaws,""E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," and "Jurassic Park," among others, have made Spielberg the top-grossing director of all time.

According to Forbes, most of Spielberg's fortune comes from his films, but he has also profited from his role as a consultant for Universal theme parks and the sale of DreamWorks Animation to NBCUniversal for $3.8 billion in 2016.

Spielberg, 72, co-founded DreamWorks Pictures alongside Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.

George Lucas, the creator of the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" franchises, is worth $6.4 billion, according to Forbes.

Lucas, 75, may be the brains behind two of the most well-known film franchises of our time, but he made most of his money by selling his production studio Lucasfilm to Disney for $4.05 billion in cash and stock in 2012, according to Bloomberg.

Lucas also executive produced "The Land Before Time" and wrote "American Graffiti," according to IMDb. His biggest-grossing film, "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace," brought in $474 million at the box office. 

While Lucas originally aspired to be a racecar driver, he decided to pursue filmmaking after nearly dying in a car crash. Lucas studied filmmaking at USC before founding Lucasfilm, according to the university's website. Lucas retired from his studio in 2012 in order to turn his attention to independent films, according to The New York Times. 

• One of the world's youngest billionaires, Kylie Jenner, just agreed to sell a majority stake in her makeup company for $600 million, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• The world's youngest billionaires spend their fortune on everything from luxury cars and travel to shoes.
• Norway is home to three of the world's five youngest billionaires — Gustav Magnar Witzøe, Katharina Andresen, and Alexandra Andresen.
• Only two of the world's five youngest billionaires are self-made, according to Forbes.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

For most people in their twenties, life is a constant balancing act of paying off student debt and finding the funds to be independent while still having fun.

That's not the case for Kylie Jenner and other members of the world's super-young, super-rich elite. Kylie Jenner sold a majority stake in her makeup brand to CoverGirl parent company Coty Inc. for $600 million Monday, Business Insider's Dominic-Madori Davis previously reported. The deal, expected to close in 2020, values Kylie Cosmetics at $1.2 billion.

We took a look at the lives of the world's five youngest billionaires — all 28 years old and under — to see how they spend their days and their seemingly unlimited funds.

From zooming Ferraris to international dressage competitions, scroll down to meet the world's five youngest billionaires, presented by age in ascending order, and see how they spend their fortunes.

SEE ALSO: The fabulous life of Dr. Dre, one of the wealthiest men in hip-hop, who has a $770 million fortune and has owned a sprawling network of glitzy LA mansions

NOW READ: 5 Hollywood celebrities who became billionaires and are vastly more rich than their peers

At 22, Kylie Jenner is the youngest billionaire in the world.

Source: Forbes

She has a net worth of $1 billion thanks, largely, to the success of her makeup company, Kylie Cosmetics.

Source: Forbes

The company was valued at $1.2 billion Monday after Jenner sold a majority stake in her makeup brand to CoverGirl parent company Coty Inc. for $600 million.

Source: Business Insider

She shares her life with her 138 million Instagram followers and reportedly charges $1 million per sponsored post.

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Source: Business Insider

Jenner rose to fame on her family's reality TV show, "Keeping Up With The Kardashians." She was nine years old when the first episode was filmed.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Jenner launched her first makeup product, the Kylie Lip Kit, in 2015.

Source: Forbes

Jenner owns multiple luxury cars, which are likely worth millions collectively.

Source: Business Insider

Read more: Kylie Jenner is the youngest self-made billionaire ever — and over-the-top photos show what $1 billion buys, from her luxurious baby accessories to a million-dollar car collection

Jenner stores her cars in her 1.4-acre Hidden Hills compound, which she purchased in 2016 for $12 million.

Source: Variety, Trulia

The world's second- and third-youngest billionaires are sisters Alexandra (right) and Katharina (left) Andresen.

Source: Forbes

Both Alexandra and Katharina have a net worth of $1.4 billion.

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Source: Forbes

They each own 42.2% of Oslo-based investment company Ferd, which their father Johan H. Andresen founded.

Source: Money

Alexandra, 23, is a keen horse rider and has at least four horses.

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Source: Instagram

She rides competitively and is sponsored by equestrian brands Kingsland and Samshield.

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Source: Instagram

She makes sure her "boys" are kept in the best shape with plenty of veterinary and grooming appointments.

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Source: Instagram

She was a part of Norway's dressage team ...

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Source: Instagram

... and like many 23-year-olds, she appears to enjoy getting glammed up and going out with friends.

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Source: Instagram

But it's not all ponies and sky-high martinis. If her Instagram feed is any indication, Alexandra also loves the outdoors, hiking, camping, and fishing.

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Source: Instagram

Alexandra is a self-proclaimed jet-setter. In a photo dated December 2016, she's pictured in Mumbai, India.

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Source: Instagram

Alexandra and her 24-year-old sister Katharina have five dogs between them, including a purebred boxer and bulldog.

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Source: Instagram

Before Alexandra moved to Florida in 2018, both sisters lived at home with their father and mother, pictured here with Katharina.

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Source: Money

When their father transferred most of his funds to his daughters in 2005, the money was split equally between Alexandra and Katharina (pictured here).

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Source: Money

Older sister Katharina is also a horse-riding fan, but less so than her younger sister.

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Katharina enjoys staying up to date with the latest fashion trends, and favors a Louis Vuitton bag. This one's value is estimated at $1,900.

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 Source: Louis Vuitton

Another from her collection, this holiday-ready Louis Vuitton duffel, is valued at $1,870.

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 Source: Louis Vuitton

Katharina is a self-proclaimed "shoe-aholic." These limited-edition Louboutin pumps have an estimated value of $640.

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Source: Christian Louboutin

These pearl-encrusted, heeled Gucci loafers — also from her collection — will cost you $990.

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The older Andresen sister bought her first Rolex in 2017, worth nearly $9,000.

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Source: Rolex

But her pride and joy is her bulldog, Tycho.

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Source: Instagram

Just behind the Andresen sisters is Gustav Magnar Witzøe, who is also among Norway's super-rich and is the fourth-youngest billionaire in the world.

Source: Forbes

This 26-year-old is worth $3 billion and owns 47% of Norwegian salmon producer Salmar, which was gifted to him in 2013 by his dad Gustav Witzoe, pictured here. He's the wealthiest billionaire on this list.

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Source: Forbes

Gustav (also known as Gus) is into fashion — especially shoes. He often features in the front row of various Norwegian fashion shows.

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He's a model with Next Models Worldwide.

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Source: Instagram

And judging by his Instagram feed, he likes to travel. Here he is in Paris in July 2017 ...

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Source: Instagram

... and in Padangtegal, Indonesia, in April 2017.

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Witzøe has at least one full sleeve of tattoos.

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He's gotten top-notch seats at sold-out concerts like this 2016 Coldplay show ...

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... and, judging by social media posts, enjoys active hobbies, including golfing, skiing, and Jet Skiing.

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Like the Andresen sisters, Witzøe also has a pet dog: His blue Staffordshire bull terrier features heavily on his Instagram.

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John Collison is the fifth-youngest billionaire and the second-youngest self-made billionaire in the world.

Source: Forbes

The 29-year-old Irish entrepreneur founded payment company Stripe with his brother in 2010, which went on to make the pair both billionaires in their own right after a deal in 2016. John is now worth an estimated $2.1 billion.

Source: Forbes

Collison was studying his undergraduate degree at Harvard when he and his brother launched the company, but he quickly dropped out after Stripe gained momentum. Now, his days are spent pursuing hobbies and things on his bucket list, like flying across the Atlantic.

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Completed a bucket list item this weekend: flying a small plane across the Atlantic! 27 hours of flying over 3 days. Didn't even get wet. pic.twitter.com/Ph6Yl2rv9F

Source: Forbes

He also enjoys partaking in fun runs ...

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Got my result: I beat the index, finishing 13th overall at 19:09 (6:10/mile). New PR! pic.twitter.com/nor4mdSbYS

Source: Twitter

... and long-distance treks and pursuits, sometimes dragging the whole Stripe office along with him.

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13 Stripes got up at 5am this morning to catch sunrise (and eat pancakes) atom Mt Tam. Worth it! 🌅🏃🏼 pic.twitter.com/s4QhqNIT06

Source: Twitter

Despite his technological genius and adventurous lifestyle, Collison still seems to be amused and amazed by the little things in life, like this coffee cup sporting a "pocket cookie."

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It's 2017. We have the technology. There's no excuse for every coffee cup not to have a pocket cookie. pic.twitter.com/3dPutVLEox

Source: Twitter

• 22-year-old Kylie Jenner, the world's youngest "self-made" billionaire, just sold a 51% stake in her namesake brand, Kylie Cosmetics, for $600 million to Coty Inc., according to The Wall Street Journal.
• In March, Forbes estimated that Kylie Cosmetics was worth $900 million. That plus the cash she pulled in from the business brought her to billionaire status, Forbes said.
• Now, the $600 million deal with Coty values the company at $1.2 billion.
• Here are all the ways Jenner makes her millions, from Kylie Cosmetics to TV to product endorsements.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Kim Kardashian West might be the most prominent of the Kardashian-Jenner clan, but Kylie Jenner is by far the richest.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Jenner sold a majority stake in her cosmetics company to beauty conglomerate Coty Inc. for $600 million, valuing the company at $1.2 billion. She will, according to The Journal, continue to be the face of the company; the deal is expected to close late next year.

Jenner, now 22, was named the world's youngest self-made billionaire at 21 years old in March, mostly thanks to Kylie Cosmetics. The next-wealthiest member of the Kardashian-Jenners is Kim Kardashian West, who's worth an estimated $370 million.

Many have criticized Forbes' decision to call Jenner "self-made," saying she was born into wealth and privilege. In February, Jenner responded to the backlash in an interview with Paper magazine, saying, "The self-made thing is true" and adding that her parents "cut her off at the age of 15." 

Jenner has built up a cosmetics empire, starred alongside her family in "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" as well as in her own spin-off show "Life of Kylie," started a clothing line with her sister, and made millions promoting products on Instagram.

Here are all the ways Jenner has amassed her fortune.

SEE ALSO: Every member of the Kardashian-Jenner family, ranked by net worth

DON'T MISS: Kylie Jenner just agreed to sell a majority stake in her makeup company for $600 million

Kylie Jenner, 22, is the world's youngest "self-made" billionaire, according to Forbes.

Source: Forbes

Forbes estimated that Jenner's company, Kylie Cosmetics, was worth $900 million in March.

Source: Forbes

Jenner's first job was on reality TV show "Keeping Up With The Kardashians." She was 9 years old when the first episode aired and the show is now airing its 17th season.

Source: Business Insider

The family collectively earns about $30 million per season of the show, according to their most recent contract, but it's unclear exactly how much each member makes.

Source: Business Insider

Jenner also briefly starred in her own spin-off show, "Life of Kylie," in 2017.

Source: INSIDER

In 2013, when Jenner was 15, she and her sister, Kendall, launched a clothing line called Kendall + Kylie for PacSun.

Source: CheatSheet

The brand has since expanded to be sold wholesale to 390 locations in the US, including Nordstrom, Topshop, Amazon, and Bloomingdale's, and 975 worldwide.

Source: Women's Wear Daily

Jenner makes the bulk of her fortune through Kylie Cosmetics.

Source: Forbes

The company originally launched as Kylie Lip Kits, not long after Jenner admitted to getting "temporary lip fillers," in 2015.

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Source: INSIDER

The company sold more than $630 million worth of makeup in its first two years, including an estimated $330 million in 2017.

Source: Forbes

The manufacturing, packaging, and sales of Kylie Cosmetics products are all outsourced to private companies, including Seed Beauty and Shopify.

Source: Forbes

And the financial and public relations aspects of the brand are handled by Kardashian-Jenner matriarch and Kylie's mother, Kris Jenner, in exchange for a 10% management fee.

Source: Forbes

In 2018, the company's revenue grew 9% to an estimated $360 million, partially thanks to an exclusive distribution detail with beauty retailer Ulta.

Source: Forbes

Within six weeks of the products hitting Ulta stores, and after Jenner herself attended several launch events, Kylie Cosmetics had sold $54.5 million worth of products at Ulta.

Source: Forbes

In November 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported that Jenner sold a major stake in Kylie Cosmetics to Coty Inc. for $600 million, giving the company a $1.2 billion valuation.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Much of Jenner's work on Kylie Cosmetics happens on social media. She frequently promotes the brand on her personal Instagram account.

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"Social media is an amazing platform," Jenner, who has 151 million followers on Instagram, told Forbes. "I have such easy access to my fans and my customers."

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Source: Forbes

Jenner also has lucrative endorsement deals with Puma and other brands.

Source: Forbes

She frequently endorses products on Instagram from brands such as Fashion Nova ...

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... SugarBearHair vitamins ...

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... and Adidas.

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A 2018 report from social media insights firm D'Marie Analytics found that a single Instagram post by Jenner is worth $1 million in advertising.

Source: INSIDER

Although she rarely posts on it these days, Jenner also makes money from her personal app, which launched in 2015 land made $105,170 on its first day. The app offers "an exclusive mix of free and premium paid content from Kylie's world, bringing you closer to her than ever before," according to its description.

Source: Tech Crunch

But it's clearly Kylie Cosmetics that's closest to Jenner's heart. She told Forbes last year she envisioned herself working there "forever" and that she would perhaps pass the business on to her daughter, Stormi, one day.

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Source: Forbes

Many have criticized Forbes deeming Jenner "self-made," saying she was born into wealth and privilege.

Source: INSIDER

Jenner, however, says "the self-made thing is true," citing the fact that her parents "cut her off at the age of 15."

Source: INSIDER

Jenner became a billionaire at a younger age than Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who was 23 when he hit that mark.

Source: INSIDER

• Tax havens are places where super-wealthy individuals keep money in offshore accounts for reasons that include, among others, tax avoidance.
• These individuals often hold money within shell companies and anonymous entities in places like the Cayman Islands and other small, low-tax jurisdictions in remote locations.
• CORPNET, an Amsterdam-based corporate research group, ranked the world's top tax havens based on how much more money comes into the country than how much should come in based on the size of its economy. 
• Most of the top tax havens are island nations like the British Virgin Islands, Samoa, and Malta.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Tax havens are places where business people and other super-wealthy individuals keep money in offshore accounts for tax avoidance and other purposes.

Also known as offshore financial centers (OFCs), these tax shelters are often small, low-tax jurisdictions in remote locations, like the Caribbean islands. In these places, wealthy individuals often hold money within shell companies and anonymous entities.

CORPNET, an Amsterdam-based research group that investigates global networks of corporate control, published a 2017 report in Scientific Reports ranking 24 offshore financial centers by their "sink" number, which indicates roughly how much more money comes into the country than how much should come in based on the size of its economy. 

In the Cayman Islands, for example, 331 times more value sinks into the country than is proportionate to the size of its economy.

The European Union releases a tax haven "blacklist"— first published in 2015 and continuously updated — that calls out specific countries in order to improve global tax governance and fight tax fraud, evasion, and avoidance. The EU blacklist pressures nations to make changes and reforms to their tax codes, and blacklisted countries can face sanctions from the EU, according to OXFAM International.

Here are the world's 15 top hax havens, according to CORPNET.

SEE ALSO: Bernard Arnault is the world's third-richest person and CEO of LVMH, which just offered to buy Tiffany. Here's how the French billionaire makes and spends his $102 billion fortune.

DON'T MISS: 11 mind-blowing facts show just how wealthy Jeff Bezos really is

15. Seychelles

Sink: 60

Once a colony of the United Kingdom, Seychelles is an archipelago of islands in the Indian Ocean that has about 2.5 times the area of Washington, DC.

The island nation made headlines in 2018 for being the setting of a mysterious alleged meeting between a Trump-linked private security entrepreneur, a Russian CEO, and a representative of the United Arab Emirates, which was investigated by Robert Mueller as part of the Trump-Russia investigation.

Seychelles was one of 30 countries blacklisted as a tax haven by the EU in 2015, but it was later moved to the "gray list" after making some tax reform commitments.

14. Cyprus

Sink: 62

Cyprus, a Mediterranean island of about 1.2 million people south of Turkey, is investigating corruption charges related to its "golden passport" program, which gives citizenship to foreigners who invest at least $2.2 million in real estate or local business in the country.

13. Nauru

Sink: 67

Nauru, a Pacific island northeast of Australia, is the world's smallest independent republic, with an area of about eight square miles and a population of under 10,000.

In 2001, the tiny island nation was internationally blacklisted amid concerns that it had become a center for money laundering, and it was among the countries blacklisted as a tax haven by the EU in 2015. The OECD upgraded Nauru's tax transparency standards in 2017.

12. Luxembourg

Sink: 71

Luxembourg is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, largely thanks to its financial sector, which makes up more than 35% of its GDP.

The government has put policies in place since 2002 to attract foreign direct investment, but Luxembourg has lost some of its favorable tax advantages in recent years after pressure from the EU and the OECD, according to the CIA World Factbook. 

11. Mauritius

Sink: 75

Mauritius, an island nation off the southeast coast of Africa with a population of about 1.4 million, is home to more than 32,000 offshore entities.

It has encouraged foreign investment since the late 1980s and early 1990s, when it enacted the Mauritius Offshore Business Activity Act, which allowed the incorporation of foreign entities with little financial disclosures and extremely low taxation, according to Quartz.

Mauritius was one of 30 countries blacklisted as a tax haven by the EU in 2015, but the EU removed it from the list in October 2019.

T10. Malta

Sink: 100

Malta is an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea south of Italy with a population of about 450,000.

According to the BBC, companies in Malta pay the lowest tax on profits of any country in the EU. Local businesses pay a 35% tax on profits, but foreign corporations pay as little as 5%.

T10. Marshall Islands

Sink: 100

The Marshall Islands, a chain of islands in the central Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and the Philippines, was under US administration for almost 40 years before gaining independence in 1986.

The island nation of about 76,000 people was one of the countries blacklisted as a tax haven by the EU in 2015, but the EU decided in 2019 to remove it from the blacklist because the country is outlawing letterbox companies that are used for tax avoidance and hiding the identities of wealthy taxpayers.

8. Curacao

Sink: 115

Curacao, a Dutch Caribbean island, is known as an offshore financial center.

In 2017, it was put on the EU's "gray list" of countries that need to improve their tax policy to comply with EU transparency regulations but who have committed to doing so.

7. Liechtenstein

Sink: 225

Liechtenstein, a European country smaller than Washington, DC, has a thriving financial services sector and one of the highest per capita income levels in the world.

According to the EU, it has also served as a tax haven, prompting the union to blacklist the country in 2015. Liechtenstein agreed to crack down on tax evasion, but it still has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in Europe.

6. Samoa

Sink: 277

In 2015, the South Pacific island state of 200,000 residents was ranked the world's most financially secretive nation in a list of tax havens compiled by the Tax Justice Network.

Samoa is also on the EU's blacklist of global tax havens.

5. Cayman Islands

Sink: 331

The Cayman Islands is one of the world's most notorious tax shelters because it has no corporate tax, no personal income tax, and no capital gains tax.

It was one of 30 countries blacklisted as a tax haven by the EU in 2015.

In October 2019, the Cayman Islands promised to reveal the identities of every person who owns a company there by 2023, Quartz reported.

4. Bermuda

Sink: 374

The economy of the British island territory, which is home to about 71,000 people, relies primarily on insurance and other financial services.

Oxfam named Bermuda the world's worst corporate tax haven in 2016, and it was one of 30 countries blacklisted as a tax haven by the EU in 2015.

3. Jersey

Sink: 397

Jersey, one of the Channel Islands between England and France, has had a reputation as a tax haven since wealthy Brits started moving there and transferring their money there in the 1920s to take advantage of its lack of wealth and inheritance taxes.

The Tax Justice Network this year ranked Jersey as one of the most aggressive tax havens in the world.

2. Taiwan

Sink: 2,278

In 2017, Taiwan was named a potential tax haven by the EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council. Taiwan is a disputed nation; while China claims it as one of its own territories, Taiwan considers itself an independent democracy that champions human-rights issues. 

The EU removed Taiwan from its blacklist in 2019 after it made commitments to reform its tax system.

1. British Virgin Islands

Sink: 5,235

The world's top tax haven, the British Virgin Islands, holds more than 5,000 times the value of what its economy should hold.

The self-governing overseas territory of the United Kingdom, home to about 35,802 people, was one of 30 countries blacklisted as a tax haven by the EU in 2015.

In 2017, British Virgin Islands officials released a report claiming the British territory was not a tax haven, but a strong contributor to the global economy and facilitator of international trade and investment.

The EU gave the British Virgin Islands until the end of 2019 to comply with tax reforms and avoid landing on its tax haven blacklist in 2020.

One of the most famous names associated with the British Virgin Islands is Richard Branson, the billionaire entrepreneur who owns Necker Island, a 74-acre private island with a luxury resort that he often opens up to friends like Barack and Michelle Obama.

• On Friday, Bill Gates regained the title of the richest person in the world from Jeff Bezos, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
• Gates' net worth is $110 billion.
• In July, Gates was temporarily ranked as the world's third-richest person behind Jeff Bezos and LVMH's Bernard Arnault for the first time in at least seven years, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
• While Gates indulges in a few luxuries, they make up only a fraction of his fortune.
• He mainly spends his billions on charity through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and plans to give away most of his fortune.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Bill Gates is once again the world's richest person.

On Friday, Gates overtook fellow centibillionaire Jeff Bezos on Bloomberg's Billionaires Index. The news came after Microsoft beat out Amazon for a $10 billion cloud-computing contract from the Pentagon, spiking Microsoft's shares and sinking Amazon's, Bloomberg's Tom Metcalf reported.

Gates, 64, has a net worth of $110 billion and he knows how to make the most of it. While he has some indulgences — like a Washington estate worth $125 million, a private airplane, and a luxury-car collection — they make up only a fraction of his massive fortune.

In fact, Gates and his wife, Melinda, previously said it's unfair they're so rich. Instead of spending billions on themselves, they often donate it to charity through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They've also pledged to give away most of their fortune through the Giving Pledge, which they launched in 2010.

Keep reading for a look at how Gates spends his billions.

SEE ALSO: A billionaire who signed the Giving Pledge in 2012 said Bill Gates' philanthropy pact isn't 'growing as rapidly as we hoped'

DON'T MISS: A 24-year-old who has shared photos of himself partying with Rihanna and Bella Hadid just became Hong Kong's newest billionaire overnight

Bill Gates, the cofounder of Microsoft, has an estimated net worth of $110 billion, making him the world's richest person.

Source: Bloomberg

On Friday, Gates reclaimed the title of the world's richest person from Jeff Bezos on Bloomberg's Billionaires Index after Microsoft beat out Amazon for a $10 billion cloud-computing contract from the Pentagon. The contract spiked Microsoft's shares and sank Amazon's.

Source: Bloomberg

He's roughly $10.5 billion richer than he was one year ago and $25 billion richer than he was five years ago.

Source: Business Insider

His net worth puts him in a three-man club of people worth more than $100 billion along with Jeff Bezos and French businessman Bernard Arnault.

Source: Business Insider

If he spent $1 million a day, it would take him more than 245 years to spend his fortune. Here's how he spends his money.

Source:Business Insider

Gates has invested in a variety of stocks and assets and launched a $1 billion investment fund, Breakthrough Energy, with 20 others.

Source: Forbes

Despite his massive fortune, Gates previously told Ellen DeGeneres that when he became a billionaire at age 31 (history's youngest billionaire at the time), he didn't go on a spending spree.

Source: Business Insider

But he has indulged in things over time, he said, like a private plane.

Source: Business Insider

It's been reported that Gates owns a Bombardier BD-700 Global Express, which costs $40 million and can seat up to 19 people.

Source: Business Insider

Gates also spent a lot on his estate, Xanadu 2.0, in Medina, Washington. It took him seven years and $63 million to build. He purchased the lot for $2 million in 1988.

Source: Business Insider

At 66,000 square feet, his home is worth about $125 million today.

Source: Business Insider

In 2017, he paid $1,041,292.55 in property taxes on it, according to public filings.

Source: Business Insider

The estate has a trampoline room, which Gates told DeGeneres his three kids love.

Source: Business Insider

There's roughly $80,000 worth of computer screens sitting around the house.

Source: Business Insider

Devices worth $150,000 can display different paintings or photographs on the screens at a single touch.

Source: Business Insider

However, there are real paintings on the wall as well — like the Winslow Homer painting Gates purchased for $36 million in 1988.

Source:Business Insider

There's also a 60-foot pool — in its own separate, 3,900 square-foot building.

Source: Business Insider

That's not to mention the 2,100-square-foot library, home to a 16th-century Leonardo da Vinci manuscript that Gates bought at auction for $30 million in 1994.

Source: Business Insider

Gates reportedly pays to have sand imported from St. Lucia in the Caribbean to the shore surrounding his house.

Source: Business Insider

In addition to a home theater for 20 guests, six kitchens, and 24 bathrooms, Gates' house has various garages for 23 cars.

Source: Business Insider

It's perfect for Gates, an avid luxury-car collector. His first big splurge after founding Microsoft was a Porsche 911 supercar, he told DeGeneres. He later sold it, and it was auctioned for $80,000.

Source: Business Insider

But that wasn't Gates' last Porsche. He also has a Porsche 959 in his car collection.

Source: Business Insider

Outside of his Washington pad, Gates also has a 4.5-acre vacation ranch in Wellington, Florida, with a 12,864-square-foot mansion.

Source: Business Insider

He reportedly dropped $27 million to buy a whole string of properties in the area.

Source: Business Insider

The area is hotspot for wealthy equestrians. His daughter Jennifer is an accomplished equestrian, and he bought the property to support her passion.

Source: Business Insider

In California, he owns the 228-acre Rancho Paseana, which he purchased for $18 million. It includes a racetrack, orchard, and five barns.

Source: Business Insider

He also reportedly purchased a 492-acre Wyoming ranch, which listed for $8.9 million back in 2009.

Source: Business Insider

But Gates' real-estate portfolio doesn't end there.

He's made numerous investments through his personal investment firm, Cascade, including partial ownership of Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Source: Business Insider

He reportedly owns nearly half of the Four Season Holding's hotel chain through Cascade, including hotels in Atlanta and Houston.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Gates shares 95% ownership with Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia.

Source: Wall Street Journal

In 2013, Gates and several unnamed buyers paid $161 million for the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco. As of 2014, it was reportedly worth $200 million.

Source: Wall Street Journal

When he's not busy buying real estate or working, Gates needs a vacation or two to unwind.

He's traveled to Australia and Croatia....

Source:Travel + Leisure, Forbes

....and Belize and the Amazon in Brazil.

Source:Travel + Leisure, Forbes

He's also treated his family to a Mediterranean vacation on board the 439-foot superyacht Serene, which he chartered for $5 million a week. It included a helicopter.

Source: The Daily Mail

He previously said that he likes to play tennis and go skiing. He's also been spotted spectating at tennis matches.

Source: The Telegraph

But Gates' downtime isn't always so adventurous. He's an avid reader, having indulged in quite the book collection.

Source: Business Insider

He's also an "avid bridge player," as he once told Reddit.

Source:Business Insider

Gates hates to shop for himself, but did admit that he likes to "buy nice things" for his wife, Melinda.

Source: CNBC

However, he once told Reddit that he doesn't like overspending on clothes and jewelry.

Source:CNBC

But Gates' splurges are only a fraction of his massive fortune. He previously told The Telegraph, "I have no use for money." Instead, he often donates to or invests his money in good causes.

Source: The Telegraph

Gates previously invested in Amyris, a synthetic-biology company that originally produced precursors to malaria drugs and hydrocarbon-based biofuel. Today, it focuses on health through fragrances, skincare, and sweetener.

Source:Business Insider

In November 2017, Gates invested $50 million into Alzheimer's research.

Source: Business Insider

He continued these efforts by recently investing $30 million with a group of investors into the Diagnostics Accelerator, a "venture philanthropy" fund to diagnose Alzheimer's earlier.

Source: Business Insider

Gates and Melinda are huge on philanthropy. They were recently named the most generous philanthropists in the US by The Chronicle of Philanthropy, having donated more than $36 billion to charitable causes through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Source: Business Insider

Gates agreed to give away most of his fortune through the Giving Pledge, which he launched in 2010.

Source: Business Insider

The Gateses spent money traveling to Tanzania and other countries for charity work.

Source: Travel + Leisure

In 2017, they donated $4.78 billion, mostly to projects run by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Source: Business Insider

They donated more than $2 billion in 2016 to causes related to global health and development and US education.

Source: Business Insider

They've pledged about $2 billion to defeat malaria, donated more than $50 million to fight Ebola, and pledged $38 million to a Japanese pharmaceutical company working to create a low-cost polio vaccine.

Source: Business Insider

The Gates Foundation has also committed at least $2.5 billion to the GAVI Alliance, which works to improve access to vaccines in poor countries.

Source: Business Insider

Bill and Melinda also prioritize education. The Gates Foundation established the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, which has received $1.6 billion.

Source: Business Insider

It also partnered with the Dangote Foundation in 2016 to spend $100 million on eliminating malnutrition in Nigeria.

Source: Business Insider

When it comes to the future of his fortune, Gates is leaving $10 million to each of his children, a fraction of his net worth.

Source: Business Insider

On October 28, 2019, Melinda shared an Instagram post of Gates wearing a goofy birthday hat for his 64th birthday. In the caption, she explained that Gates first wore the hat by request of his then-pre-school-aged daughter, Jen, 20 years ago.

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Source: Instagram

• Low-level millionaires aren't as rich as you think.
• They may be able to buy penthouses or private school educations, but some things are out of their reach.
• Only the truly wealthy can afford things like superyachts and private jets.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Being a millionaire can only get you so far.

Low-level millionaires might be able to buy a nice penthouse or a private school education, but superyachts and private jets are out of the question. Thanks to an increased cost of living, $1 million, or even a few million, just isn't what it used to be. You have to have millions and millions — or billions and billions — to really buy everything you want.

Even a billion isn't what it used to be. Consider this: When Forbes started keeping track of the richest Americans in 1982, the richest person in the US, Daniel Keith Ludwig, had an estimated net worth of $2 billion. Flash forward 37 years to Forbes' 2019 ranking, and a $2 billion net worth doesn't even land you a spot on the list. That's right: The richest American in 1982 wouldn't even make it onto the list of richest Americans today. Instead, each of the 13 people tied for 400th place has a net worth of $2.1 billion.

Business Insider rounded up five things only the truly wealthy — think multimillionaires and billionaires — can afford, and that are out of reach for mere millionaires.

You may not be able buy these things, but hey, neither can the low-level millionaire.

SEE ALSO: Only 13% of millionaires think they're rich

DON'T MISS: A woman who studied 600 millionaires discovered that most of the superrich have surprisingly affordable homes. Here's what some of those look like.

Superyachts end up costing much more than their multimillion-dollar asking price.

Some older yacht models around 80 feet may sell for six figures, but a superyacht will most likely set one back by at least a few million.

An 84-foot yacht built in 2002 and refitted in 2015, for example, can cost $1.3 million, while a 270-foot yacht built in 2013 can cost $132 million.

But that's just the beginning. From yacht crew salaries and dockage to fuel and maintenance costs, owners can expect to spend about 10% of the purchase price annually on operating and maintaining a yacht. That's $1 million a year for a $10 million superyacht, although specific pricing varies.

So do private jets, thanks to upkeep costs.

Like yachts, private jets also cost much more than their (already high) purchase price. Jeff Bezos' Gulfstream G650ER jet cost an estimated $65 million, and Mark Cuban spent $40 million on a Gulfstream V jet back in 1999, Business Insider's Paige Leskin reported.

But paying for fuel, maintenance, and pilot salaries can total to more than $1 million per year, Chris Battaglia, the director of charter sales at Meridian Aviation at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport, previously told Business Insider's Katie Warren. Pilot salaries can add up to $750,000 per year and hangar fees can run around $200,000 per year.

"Having an airplane is not for millionaires," Battaglia said. "It's for guys worth $50, $60, $100 million."

Buying a professional sports team can cost billions.

In 2014, Steve Ballmer paid $2 billion for the Los Angeles Clippers, nearly four times the team's perceived value at the time. It's helped reset the market for what franchises are worth, reported Business Insider's Cork Gaines.

Since then, pro sports team sale prices over $1 billion have become more common, he wrote, but relative deals still exist. They've sold for anywhere from $25 million to $2.2 billion, depending on the league and franchise.

According to Darren Geeter of CNBC, it can cost over $1 billion to buy an NFL team today.

Hiring a full-time staff housing staff can cost over $1 million, not including health benefits and bonuses.

Millionaires may be able to hire some help around the house, but they can't hire all the help. Business Insider's Tanza Loudenback previously spoke with David Youdovin, founder and CEO of Hire Society, a recruitment firm that helps high-net-worth individuals and families staff their homes and businesses. 

Youdovin shed some insight on the most common positions wealthy families are looking to hire for, and how much they pay annually. A full-time staff would include a chief of staff, management team, butler, assistant, chef, housekeeper, nanny, tutor, chauffeur, and houseman.

Depending on level of experience, that could range from $1.03 million to $2.4 million a year — and that's not including health benefits and bonuses.

Doomsday bunkers cost millions of dollars and come with luxury amenities.

It takes a lot of money to prepare well for the apocalypse.

Superrich Silicon Valley moguls are buying millions of dollars' worth of doomsday bunkers and installing them in New Zealand, reported Olivia Carville for Bloomberg. The most expensive cost $8 million.

Companies have been building "billionaire bunkers" that cater to the apocalyptic fears of the superrich, Business Insider's Aria Bendix reported. These high-end bunkers can cost nearly $20 million to build and are outfitted with luxury amenities: think swimming pools, movie theaters, gyms, rock climbing walls, dog parks, game rooms, and indoor pools.

At $20 million, the cost of preparing for the end of the world is out of reach for the low-level millionaire. That means that if doomsday does arrive, billionaires will be in good company: each others'.

• More billionaires have donated to Kamala Harris than any other Democrat running for president, an analysis of Federal Election Commission data by Forbes published Monday found. 
• Taking campaign donations from the ultra-wealthy has become a taboo in the Democratic presidential primary, largely because of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
• Harris' campaign is the subject of widespread speculation that it may be nearing its end, Politico's Christopher Cadelago reported.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Billionaires may be "really, really fearful" of Elizabeth Warren, but they seem to like Kamala Harris.

The senator from California has received more donations from billionaires than any other Democrat running for president, an analysis of Federal Election Commission data by Forbes published Monday found. The analysis tracked Federal Election Commission data from January 1, 2019 through September 30, 2019, and included all itemized donations over $100.

Harris has taken money from 46 billionaires since January 1, including oil heir Gordon and Ann Getty, filmmaker George Lucas, investor Dean Metropoulos, and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, according to Forbes.

New Jersey senator Cory Booker is neck and neck with Harris when it comes to billionaire support, with donations from 45 billionaires, according to Forbes. Booker's ultra-wealthy donors include hedge fund manager William Ackman, producer Andres Santo Domingo, Google chairman and Booker's former business partner Eric Schmidt, and filmmaker Steven Spielberg, Forbes reported.

Former Vice President Joe Biden is third-most popular when it comes to financial backing from billionaires: He has accepted donations from 44 billionaires. South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg has the support of 39, according to Forbes.

The wealth tax is at the forefront of the 2020 presidential debates

Harris' fellow candidates and senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have turned taking campaign donations from the ultra-wealthy into a taboo in the Democratic presidential primary. Sanders vowed not to accept funds from any billionaires, and even returned a $470 donation from a billionaire's wife in November, Forbes reported.

Warren, meanwhile, has been outspoken about her stance on the finances of America's wealthiest people; arguably the most frequently discussed part of her platform is her wealth tax proposal, which would make ultra-wealthy Americans pay the federal government a small percentage of their net worth each year. Warren also sells "billionaire tears" mugs and hosts a wealth tax calculator with thinly veiled swipes at Bill Gates and Leon Cooperman on her campaign website. Despite this stance, the senator from Massachusetts has accepted donations from three billionaires, in addition to funds from the spouses of three additional billionaires, according to Forbes.

Forbes' analysis of the billionaires funding the 2020 democratic hopefuls comes in the midst of widespread speculation that Harris' presidential bid may be nearing its end. Politico's Christopher Cadelago described Harris' campaign as "sputtering" amid staff layoffs and poor performance in the polls on November 15. 

A representative of Harris did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment on the donations from billionaires.

Read the full report at Forbes »

SEE ALSO: The top 25 Americans who funded politics in 2018

DON'T MISS: Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have both proposed taxes on the ultra-wealthy. Here's how much poorer America's 10 wealthiest billionaires would be under a moderate wealth tax.

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• Approximately 100 of the United States' 705 billionaires have donated to candidates seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, an analysis of the Federal Election Commission database by Forbes found.
• The list of donors is remarkably similar to Business Insider's list of the largest political donors of 2018, suggesting that America's biggest donors are a static group of individuals.
• California Senator Kamala Harris seems to be billionaires' favorite liberal candidate, as 46 of them have donated to her campaign in 2019 thus far, according to Forbes.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Billionaires aren't just running for president in 2019, they're funding others' campaigns, too.

Approximately 100 billionaires have donated to candidates seeking the Democratic nomination alone, an analysis of the Federal Election Commission database by Forbes found. Research firm Wealth-X reported that there are 7o5 billionaires in the US in its 2019 Billionaire Census.

California Senator Kamala Harris seems to be billionaires' favorite liberal candidate: 46 of them have donated to her campaign in 2019 thus far, according to Forbes. The donors did not just give directly to campaigns, however. In addition to campaign donations, called hard money, many donors gave even more in the form of soft money, or donations given to groups like super PACs, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

This list of donors is remarkably similar to Business Insider's list of the largest political donors of 2018, suggesting that America's biggest donors are a static group of individuals.

Business Insider ranked the 10 largest donors of the presidential primaries as of August 2019, using data from the Center for Responsive Politics. We also included a look at which presidential candidates the donors' money has gone to, or who they have publicly said they intend their donations to benefit. Federal candidates, parties, and groups are all recipients of these donations, and, unless specified, they are not official endorsements. The donors are listed by the value of their donations in ascending order.

Keep reading to learn more about the 10 most prolific donors of the 2020 election thus far.

SEE ALSO: Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have both proposed taxes on the ultra-wealthy. Here's how much poorer America's 10 wealthiest billionaires would be under a moderate wealth tax.

DON'T MISS: Bill Gates is once again the richest person in the world. Here's how he spends his $110 billion fortune, from a luxury-car collection to incredible real estate.

10. Investor George Marcus and his wife Judith have given over $2.5 million to Democratic groups.

Party: Democrat

Presidential Candidate: Unknown

Total donations: $2,511,110

Soft money donations: $2,000,000

Hard money donations: $511,100

Net worth: $1.5 billion

George Marcus is the founder of real-estate brokerage Marcus & Millichap Company, according to the company's website. Marcus is also the chairman of Essex Property Trust, a multi-family real-estate investment trust, and he serves on the board of California-based commercial bank Greater Bay Bancorp.

The couple donated $9,610,125 in 2018 mostly to Democrats, Business Insider previously reported. The Marcuses gave $10,400 to Republicans in 2018, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

9. Florida-based philanthropists Henry and Marsha Laufer have donated nearly $3 million in 2019, including $250,000 to a PAC that supports Democratic candidates.

Party: Democrat

Presidential Candidate: Unknown

Total donations: $2,804,850

Soft money donations: $2,250,000

Hard money donations: $554,850

Net worth: $2.1 billion

Henry Laufer, 74, is the former chief scientist at hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, Forbes reported.

The Laufers were among the top donors to Hillary Clinton's Super PAC in 2016, having given $2 million, according to Forbes. The couple also hosted a fundraiser for Clinton at their Manalapan, Florida home, where tickets cost as much as $33,400, according to Forbes.

8. California-based psychiatrist Karla Jurvetson has donated $12 million to Democrats.

Party: Democrat

Presidential Candidate: Unknown

Total donations: $2,807,270

Soft money donations: $2,015,482

Hard money donations: $791,788

Net worth: Less than $1 billion, a representative for Jurvetson told Business Insider

Karla Jurvetson is the ex-wife of venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson, according to The Guardian.

Jurvetson donated $12 million to Democrats in 2018, Business Insider previously reported. Her largest donation in 2018, $5.4 million, was to a Super PAC aimed at elected pro-choice female candidates run by Emily's List, The Guardian reported.

7. Billionaire hedge-fund manager and vocal Trump supporter Paul Singer has donated over $3 million to Republican groups.

Party: Republican

Presidential Candidate: Unknown

Total donations: $3,370,227

Soft money donations: $2,718,227

Hard money donations: $652,000

Net worth: $3.5 billion

Singer is the founder of investment firm Elliott Management, according to his biography on the firm's website, but he is better known for his advocacy for conservative causes, Forbes reports. Once a major critic of President Trump, Singer has since met with him at the White House. Singer does break with the president on one important issue, however — Singer is an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights.

The majority of Singer's 2019 donations have gone to a variety of Republican congresspeople including John Cornyn, Mitch McConnell, and Ben Sasse, FEC data shows.

Singer also donated over $6.4 million to Republican groups in 2018, Business Insider previously reported.

6. Deborah Simon, heiress to the fortune of shopping mall developer Simon Property Group, has donated more than $3 million to Democrats.

Party: Democrat

Presidential Candidate: Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Joe Biden (FEC data)

Total donations: $3,605,103

Soft money donations: $2,487,500

Hard money donations: $1,117,603

Net worth: Unknown

Deborah Simon is the daughter of Indiana shopping mall developer Melvin Simon. Simon inherited a portion of her father's fortune after a bitter legal battle over his estate with her stepmother Bren Simon, according to Forbes. Simon's family had a net worth of $6.8 billion in 2014, according to Forbes. 

Simon donated $9.7 million to Democrats in 2018, Business Insider previously reported. In 2019, she gave $5,500 to Pete Buttigieg, $1,350 to Amy Klobuchar, and $1,500 to Joe Biden in addition to numerous gifts to congressional campaigns and other Democratic groups, FEC data shows.

5. Billionaire Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus and his wife Billi gave more money directly to candidates and campaigns than any other Americans.

Party: Republican

Presidential Candidate: Donald Trump

Total donations: $4,605,775

Soft money donations: $2,750,000

Hard money donations: $1,855,755

Net worth: $6.5 billion

Bernie Marcus cofounded Home Depot in 1978 with Arthur Blank after they were fired from their jobs at another hardware store, according to Forbes. Marcus was the company's first CEO and retired in 2002.

Marcus was a major contributor to President Trump's 2016 presidential bid and plans to financially support the President again in 2020, Business Insider previously reported. Marcus' 2019 donations benefited a variety of Republican groups, including $2,000,000 to the Senate Leadership Fund, FEC data shows.

4. While George Soros stopped short of endorsing a presidential candidate, he did give thousands to the several state chapters of the Democratic party.

Party: Democrat

Presidential Candidate: Soros told the NY Times in October that he will support the eventual Democratic nominee.

Total donations: $6,304,000

Soft money donations: $6,285,000

Hard money donations: $19,000

Net worth: $8.3 billion

Soros built his fortune leading Quantum Fund, once the world's largest hedge fund. Since retiring from money managing in 2011, Soros has turned his attention to philanthropy. He started donating to campaigns in 2003 because of his dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq, Business Insider previously reported. 

Soros has also found himself at the center of numerous conspiracy theories about his involvement in governments from the United States to Hungary to Russia, many of which are anti-Semitic and have never been supported by evidence.

Soros donated over $20 million to Democrats in 2018, Business Insider previously reported. The former financier's donations in 2019 have been to numerous Democratic groups, including the North Dakota, Michigan, Iowa, North Dakota, Hawaii, and Oklahoma Democratic Parties, FEC data shows.

3. Billionaire presidential candidate Tom Steyer spent millions on TV and digital ads for his own campaign.

Party: Democrat

Presidential Candidate: Tom Steyer

Total donations: $6,739,799 

Soft money donations: $6,555,474

Hard money donations: $184,325

Net worth: $1.6 billion

Steyer built his fortune as the director of hedge fund Farallon Capital, Business Insider previously reported. Steyer has spent over $46 million on his campaign since announcing his bid for the presidency in July, a sum that accounts for 95% of the money raised by his campaign in the third quarter. Steyer also donated to the reelection campaigns of several House Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

2. Shipping supplies billionaires Richard & Elizabeth Uihlein gave nearly $7 million to Republican groups, including $1 million to a super PAC supporting President Trump.

Party: Republican

Presidential Candidate: Donald Trump

Total donations: $6,920,917

Soft money donations: $5,750,000

Hard money donations: $1,170,917

Net worth: Unknown

The Uihleins are "the most powerful conservative couple you've never heard of,"The New York Times' Stephanie Saul and Danny Hakim wrote in 2018. The couple, who built their fortune running privately held shipping supplies company Uline, spent $26 million supporting various Republican groups during the 2018 midterm election cycle, according to The Times.

The couple's donations topped $40 million during the 2018 midterm elections, but they did not donate directly to the president until this year, The Center for Responsive Politics found.

1. Hedge fund manager Donald Sussman focused his 2019 donations on congressional democrats but gave $5,600 to Sen. Cory Booker.

Party: Democrat

Candidate: Cory Booker

Total donations: $7,555,400 

Soft money donations: $6,050,000

Hard money donations: $1,505,400

Net worth: Unknown

Donald Sussman is the founder of Paloma Partners. The Fort Lauderdale-based hedge fund manager donated over $27 million to Democrats in 2018, making him the fifth-largest individual donor in the United States, Business Insider previously reported.

Sussman was also the top donor to Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, giving $21.6 million, according to The Guardian.