Billionaires and their cash are a big draw for the luxury goods market, with gem-encrusted mobile phones and gold computer gaming machines among the extravagant goodies on offer to the super-rich.
But many of these ultra-high-net-worth individuals have pretty straightforward tastes, and a luxury yacht still seems to come top of many “must-have” lists. Chartering a professionally crewed yacht costs up to a million dollars a week, so some billionaires prefer to buy their own.
Russian steel mogul and Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich has a fleet - Ecstasea, Sussurro and Pelorus among them, the latter stretching to 377ft - with luxuries such as helicopter landing pads and a cinema. Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen has the 414ft Octopus, the 302ft Tatoosh and the 199ft Meduse.
But the biggest thrill for voyeurs of excess is in reading about those who pump cash into one-off extravaganzas. Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal spent what reports suggested was at least ?30m on his daughter Vanisha’s wedding in 2004. The wedding was a five-day event set at a chateau outside Paris, featuring a Bollywood-style drama depicting the romance between his daughter and her groom, written, directed and choreographed by some of the biggest names in the business.
Russia’s youngest billionaire, Oleg Deripaska, chairman of the world’s second-largest aluminium producer Rusal, is also comfortable with grandiose gestures. He took time off to learn English - by flying to London on a private jet for his weekly lesson.
Even more stellar, Microsoft’s Paul Allen was the sole investor behind the SpaceShipOne（查自南方网http://www.southcn.com/tech/news/tpxw/200312190406.htm ）programme, which pioneered privately funded sub-orbital space flights. In June 2004, the craft was piloted high enough to achieve several minutes of weightlessness and became the world’s first private manned space flight.
In 2008 its successor, SpaceShipTwo, will accommodate six passengers at a ticket price of about $200,000 each. The whole experience will last just three hours and can promise only a few minutes of the “out of this world” feeling of being in space. Behind the venture this time is another billionaire, Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson. According to Will Whitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic, 220 eager flyers have already paid $16m in advance deposits. And they could be taking off close to home - Virgin Galactic is looking at RAF Lossiemouth（查自英国军事http://www.defence.org.cn/aspnet/england-Mil/Article_Show.asp?ArticleID=1796） in Scotland as a likely base for its project.
Business billionaires may have expensive hobbies and passions but they are essentially savvy and sensible. Few can compete with rich celebrities when it comes to fabulously pointless spending habits.
The world of glitzy jewellery - “bling” - is a perfect example. Rappers Cam’ron, Busta Rhymes （查自：http://www.warnermusic.com.tw/artists/profile.php?id=57） and P Diddy（查自：http://blog.hiphoproom.net/eb/article.asp?id=254） are rarely seen without gold chains and diamond rings. And the newest trend is the “grill”, diamonds that cover your teeth. Leading the way in sales is Houston-based rapper and jeweller Paul Wall. He can coat your teeth in a “Money in your Mouth” grill (图片参见：http://www.grillsbypaulwall.com/mm5/merchant.mvc), consisting of 14-carat gold and diamond caps, for $800 a tooth. A set of 10 teeth - the only proper way to wear a grill - would be $8,000.
