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Jan. 17th, 2013 03:27 pmYou cannot invent people like Nicolas Berggruen.
I'm studying him for a profile at the moment. In the mid-eighties, Berggruen took a trust fund of 250 grand and turned it into a fortune of an estimated two and a half billion (nicely symmetrical there). He is president of a company whose sole job is to manage the companies he buys, builds, and sells; he's president of another one which is dedicated to the economic and political health of Europe (and, for reasons I'm not going to bother explaining, California). He's on the board of directors of four major museums, including Museum Berggruen, founded by his father. He actively works to acquire pieces for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He appears to spend most of his time trying to give away most of his money.
He's called the Homeless Billionaire because about twelve years ago he sold his apartment in Manhattan and his private island off the Florida coast, as well as most of the art and antiquities that were in them. He travels the world in a private jet with a dufflebag of belongings, mostly clothes. He lives alternately on his jet and in a series of five-star hotels where he tries, every day, to eat lunch and dinner with "someone really interesting". He takes supermodels to parties.
In July and August [of 2011], Berggruen passed through 14 countries, including France, Montenegro and the United Arab Emirates. -- Wall Street Journal
For a while as a teenager he refused to learn or speak English because he felt it was the language of imperialism. He got thrown out of school for it, eventually getting the French equivalent of a GED. And then he went to NYU and did a three-year degree in two years. At one point he hired a couple of UCLA professors to be his private philosophy teachers. Two of the belongings that go everywhere with him are a pair of stuffed animals.
The best part is that the overall impression I get of him from news articles I'm reading is that he is a giant dork. The interviews I've read are the kinds of conversations I'd have with strangers: AWKWARD.
I kind of want to give him a hug and take him out to lunch. Come to Chicago, dude, we'll go to Burger Joint. I will totally pay.
I'm studying him for a profile at the moment. In the mid-eighties, Berggruen took a trust fund of 250 grand and turned it into a fortune of an estimated two and a half billion (nicely symmetrical there). He is president of a company whose sole job is to manage the companies he buys, builds, and sells; he's president of another one which is dedicated to the economic and political health of Europe (and, for reasons I'm not going to bother explaining, California). He's on the board of directors of four major museums, including Museum Berggruen, founded by his father. He actively works to acquire pieces for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He appears to spend most of his time trying to give away most of his money.
He's called the Homeless Billionaire because about twelve years ago he sold his apartment in Manhattan and his private island off the Florida coast, as well as most of the art and antiquities that were in them. He travels the world in a private jet with a dufflebag of belongings, mostly clothes. He lives alternately on his jet and in a series of five-star hotels where he tries, every day, to eat lunch and dinner with "someone really interesting". He takes supermodels to parties.
In July and August [of 2011], Berggruen passed through 14 countries, including France, Montenegro and the United Arab Emirates. -- Wall Street Journal
For a while as a teenager he refused to learn or speak English because he felt it was the language of imperialism. He got thrown out of school for it, eventually getting the French equivalent of a GED. And then he went to NYU and did a three-year degree in two years. At one point he hired a couple of UCLA professors to be his private philosophy teachers. Two of the belongings that go everywhere with him are a pair of stuffed animals.
The best part is that the overall impression I get of him from news articles I'm reading is that he is a giant dork. The interviews I've read are the kinds of conversations I'd have with strangers: AWKWARD.
I kind of want to give him a hug and take him out to lunch. Come to Chicago, dude, we'll go to Burger Joint. I will totally pay.
