Timing, luck or talent – ​​what makes a billionaire?

What do an Italian communist mime pupil, a toddler who solely watches soccer and a comic who would not joke have in widespread?

All of them went on to change into members of a fastidiously chosen world membership.

There are roughly 2,800 greenback billionaires worldwide, together with Miuccia Prada, Tiger Woods and Jerry Seinfeld.

However the checklist of the super-rich may be very worldwide.

In accordance with Forbes, an American media firm that tracks the wealth of the world’s richest individuals, there are 813 billionaires in the US, with China (together with Hong Kong) in second place with 473 and India in third with 200.

good bad billionaire

The BBC World Service podcast The Good, Dangerous Billionaires is again. From celebrities and CEOs to sports activities stars and tech moguls, every episode explores how among the world’s billionaires made their fortunes. Hosts Simon Jack and Zing Tsjeng take into account their wealth, energy, philanthropy and legacy, and whether or not they take into account themselves good individuals, unhealthy individuals or simply very wealthy.

Listen to BBC Sounds

or For viewers outside the UK, please click here

The size of those fortunes might be tough to grasp. A billion is a big quantity – by way of scale, 1,000,000 seconds is 11 days, however a billion is 32 years.

For some, the very existence of billionaires is an abomination.

The world’s 81 richest individuals – concerning the dimension of a bus – collectively personal extra wealth than the world’s poorest 4 billion individuals.

Oxfam’s 2023 report on inequality concluded: “Each billionaire is a coverage mistake. Billionaires thrive and make file earnings whereas most individuals face austerity, Rising poverty and a cost-of-living disaster are in themselves proof of an financial system that fails to learn humanity.

This inequality has led many nations to name for taxing absolute wealth quite than revenue. Within the US, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has proposed a 2% tax on belongings over $50m (£39m) and a 3% tax on belongings over $1bn (£778m).

However others imagine that the prospect of nice wealth conjures up creativity and innovation that improves the lives of tens of millions.

US economist Michael Pressure believes we’d like extra billionaires, not fewer, citing Nobel laureate William Nordhaus, who discovered About 2% of the returns from technological innovation go to founders and inventors, whereas the remainder goes to society.

Pressure mentioned billionaires “are principally self-made innovators who’ve modified the way in which we stay.” He cited Invoice Gates and Steve Ballmer who revolutionized private computing, legendary investor Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos who upended retail, and Elon who disrupted the auto trade and house commerce. Musk and different examples.

“None of them are ‘coverage failures,'” he concluded. “As a substitute of wishing they did not exist, we ought to be excited that they exist.”

Many billionaires additionally donate massive quantities of cash to charity. Gates and Buffett created the “Giving Pledge” – a pledge to provide away greater than half of their wealth throughout their lifetime.

Rapper, enterprise tycoon and billionaire Jay-Z, whereas not signing the pledge, provided a succinct protection of his wealth: “If I have been one of many poor, I could not assist them. So I grew to become Being wealthy and giving again to society is a win-win for me.

Billionaires do not get wealthy out of skinny air. Their success additionally tells us one thing about ourselves.

It is onerous to get very, very wealthy except you present one thing that folks want, need, or get pleasure from.

Whether or not it is Prada’s minimalist fashion, Star Wars films or TikTok, the billionaires we talk about on the podcast have all modified the world in a technique or one other, and the tales of how they did it are fascinating.

For instance, Google’s founders tried to promote an early model of their search engine for $1 million, however nobody took it. Right this moment, Google’s market capitalization is $2.3 trillion, and co-founder Sergey Brin’s private fortune is $135 billion—roughly the GDP of Morocco.

Maria Bianchi was a literal communist in Nineteen Sixties Italy who studied pantomime at drama faculty earlier than altering her identify to Miuccia Prada.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, India’s first self-made feminine billionaire, began brewing beer earlier than encountering gender bias and later tried prescription drugs to change into Asia’s largest insulin maker.

Jerry Seinfeld’s mother and father have been each orphans, and his father by no means hugged him. Maybe one of many causes he and Larry David created a rule for his or her characters on their hit comedy “Seinfeld”: “No hugs, no studying.”

The person successes of those billionaires usually additionally communicate to broader historic, political or technological tendencies.

Tech entrepreneur Jack Ma, co-founder of Alibaba Group, is the beneficiary of two highly effective and simultaneous forces – the start of on-line retail and China’s rising financial energy and mass affluence.

Chuck Feeney, the person who invented tax-free buying (and Donated all his property) took benefit of the growth in outbound tourism from Japan after World Warfare II.

In some tales, luck performs a task.

Microsoft founder Invoice Gates occurred to attend one of many few colleges in the US that had computer systems within the late Nineteen Sixties. And singer and businesswoman Rihanna bought her break by way of an opportunity audition with a file producer who occurred to be on trip in Barbados.

Let’s hear what mother and father need to say.

Taylor Swift’s household moved to Nashville from Pennsylvania to additional their teenage daughter’s profession, whereas Michael Jordan’s mother suggests he ought to “take heed to Nike” earlier than signing a cope with Adidas or Converse Opinion” — paving the way in which for essentially the most profitable sports activities endorsement deal in historical past.

There are some “sliding door” moments in these tales – small occasions that, on reflection, modified the lives and fortunes of those billionaires.

However when the door opens, it’s important to stroll in, and if there’s one factor in widespread, it is the power, drive and dedication these individuals carry to their respective disciplines. Add to that their eagerness to maneuver on, whereas many have lengthy since stop.

My Good Dangerous Billionaire co-host Zing Tsjeng and I at all times joke that once we hit $10 million, you will not have the ability to see our mud – there’ll simply be two spinning chairs as I am going fishing proof, and he or she would go to a different music pageant.

I think about individuals like us won’t ever succeed, however we’re alternately fascinated, fascinated, moved, shocked, and horrified by those that do.