Lifestyles
of the rich and shameless
The market for $20,000 cell phones
Sagra Maceira de Rosen, a luxury goods analyst with J.P. Morgan, thinks Nokia's Vertu subsidiary is barking up the wrong cell phone tower.
Vertu's lavish new cell phones come complete with sapphire-crystal screens and ruby bearings and retail for anywhere from $4,900 to $19,450.
The big selling point: Each luxury Vertu phone carries a special button that connects the owner directly to a concierge service, available in five languages, that can make dinner reservations or find a good local doctor.
So what's the problem with that?
The folks who can afford a $19,450 cell phone, Maceira de Rosen told the Economist magazine earlier this year, already have personal assistants for making reservations and finding doctors.
Originally published Spring 2003 Too Much
If you just spent $70 million for a house, what's the first thing you would do? for Dwight Schar, the CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based NVR Inc., the answer came easy: renovate!
Schar, one of the nation's biggest home developers, shelled out $70 million late last year for a home, boathouse, and assorted furnishings in Florida's Palm Beach, the highest price ever paid for a residence in U.S. history. His 26,000-square-foot new house features seven bedrooms, 18 bathrooms a movie theater, and a “walk-in humidor” for cigars.
Anything missing? You bet. The property actually lacks a three-car garage, and the balcony on the bridge that attaches Schar's new home to his guesthouse actually opens, unenclosed, into Florida's open air. Fortunately, even after laying out $70 million, Schar can afford to remedy these ills. He has hired a nearby architectural firm to get his Palm Beach getaway fit for habitation.
Sandra Fleishman, 18 Baths, Beach for a Cool $70 Million
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A44831-2005Jan28?language=printer
For those fortunate households with oodles of discretionary dollars, and a yearning for high-tech hardware that can fit in with the very finest interior decors, a new company in Washington State is offering what may be the ultimate interior decorating solution: the $55,000 PC.
These aren't just any PC. They come built into hand-crafted high-end furniture.
"We can design anything anyone could possible want," says John Wojewidka, the entrepreneur behind the new Truvia computer-furniture combo. "You can have a PC that looks like a piece from the Louvre."
Add another logo onto the U.S. corporate wall of shame. Move over, Enron. Make room for Hollinger International, the third-largest newspaper publishing empire in the world. Between 1997 and 2003, a new report is charging, Hollinger CEO Conrad Black and his four top executive cronies looted over $400 million from the company's coffers.
Black, the report documents, routinely expensed to Hollinger bills for his own personal consumption. Hollinger footed the bill for his exercise equipment, stereo, and opera tickets. Hollinger paid for his wife’s handbags and jogging attire. Hollinger even shelled out $90,000 to refurbish a Rolls-Royce for Black’s motoring pleasure.
Lurking Under a Luxury Mattress
Move over, Imelda. The ongoing corporate fraud trials have just revealed a muckety-muck who loves shoes almost as much as you do.
That shoe-lover, Timothy Rigas, went on trial this past March for looting the Adelphia cable TV empire his father John had founded. Tim had been the company's chief financial officer.
Tim's chief financial interest, in retrospect, may have been his feet. He once, charges federal prosecutor Richard Owens, fell in love with a pair of hotel slippers, then asked the hotel if he could buy a few pair.
The hotel politely informed Rigas that the slippers could only be purchased in lots of 100. Tim promptly ordered 100 pair — and had Adelphia foot the bill.
Tim also had Adelphia foot the bill, prosecutor Owens charges, for a $700,000 golf-club membership. Indeed, Owens adds, Tim "liked golf so much that he had Adelphia pay $13 million to build his own golf course."
Originally published Spring 2004 Too Much
Bring It On! The New Power Lunch
Power lunches are back! Corporate deep- pockets, after a brief early 21st century respite, are now once again packing the nation's trendiest eateries.
Michael's, a Midtown Manhattan hotspot, reports that business is up 20 percent over last year, and other high-tab havens are registering numbers as equally satisfying.
"Happy days, it would seem, are here again," notes the New York Times, "at least for people who can afford to spend $30 on a hamburger and 90 minutes eating it."
Many of these happy lunch-goers seem to be spending a good bit more than $30 for their mid-day repast. At New York's exclusive Four Seasons restaurant, the white truffle risotto appetizer goes for $130.
Originally published Winter 2004 Too Much
Getting Away from It All
Tired of hassling beach traffic? You obviously need your own private island.
Real estate broker Farhad Vladi has islands for every pocketbook. Every pocketbook, that is, stuffed with a spare million or two.
This year’s best bet? How about Hans Lollick Island, a mile-long stretch of fabulous Caribbean sand that comes complete with the 350-year-old ruins of an old Dutch settlement, a livable modern home, a road, and a horse trough.
Forbes lists the asking price as $20 million.Originally published Summer 2003 Too Much
Who has time to wait for trees to grow?
Every brand-new mansion comes with an age-old problem: Little trees look silly next to big houses.
Some owners of spanking new mansions have the patience to wait for little saplings to grow. For those who don't, Ace Tree Movers would be happy to help.
Ace Tree Movers, based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, carries one of America's widest selection of mature trees. Just $30,000 will buy you a Japanese umbrella pine. A weeping copper beach? Only $48,000.
Ace Tree Movers, notes Worth magazine, collected $25 million in revenues last year.
Originally published Spring 2003 Too Much
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