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You always hear about how rich Bill Gates is, how rich Oprah is, how rich J.K. Rowling is. But none of them even make the top 10 richest people of all time. Compiled by Forbes magazine, this a list of the wealthiest people ever (EVAR!). They ranked these bazillionaires (my term, not theirs) according to the total GDP of the nation they lived in and adjusted their net worths to account for inflation as of 2007.
1. John D. Rockefeller, worth a staggering $318.3 billion. He could have funded nearly half of the bailout all on his own! He was America’s first-ever billionaire (not even including inflation). He was generous with his money, though, and gave away an estimated $550 million to various charities and foundations, including the ones he founded. When he was much older, he was known for giving money away wherever he went – dimes to adults and nickels to children.
2. Andrew Carnegie’s steel company earned him about $298.3 billion. Nothing to sneeze at. I recently visited his grave in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., and was surprised at how modest it was for a billionaire. Watch for more on my trip to the home of the Headless Horseman in a few weeks!
3. Nicholas II of Russia. $253.5 billion, inherited from his dad, Alexander III, who was the previous Emperor of Russia.
4. William Henry Vanderbilt, $231.6 billion, mostly thanks to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroads. He inherited $100 million from his dad, but he definitely had financial chops of his own – by the time he died nine years after the inheritance, he had nearly doubled the fortune ($194 million).
5. Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII was worth $210.8 billion. He was the last ruler of Hyderabad, which was invaded and annexed by India in 1948. In 1937, Time magazine named Osman Ali the richest man in the world.
6. Andrew Mellon, $188.8 billion. Dude was destined to accumulate wealth: by 17, he had already started his own lumber company. At 17, I was working part-time as a clerk at a drug store and wearing a really sweet mauve smock (that’s right: mauve). By 1889, Mellon had expanded to shipbuilding, construction, steel and oil.
7. Henry Ford, $188.1 billion, a fortune was amassed thanks to Ford Motor Company, of course.
8. Marcus Licinius Crassus, $169.8 billion. Never heard of him? That’s because he lived more than 2000 years ago. He was a Roman general and politician and the man who suppressed Spartacus’ slave uprising. He acquired his wealth through inheritance, slave ownership, land ownership and various mining prospects.
9. Basil II of the Byzantine Empire, $169.4 billion. He came by his by merely being his father’s son. His father was Emperor Romanos II. Basil never married or had children (at least, none that are documented), so when he died, his wealth was passed on to successor Constantine VIII and the goverment. He used his financial prowess for the imperial treasury as well – at the time of his death, he had accumulated about 200,000 pounds of gold for it.
10. Cornelius Vanderbilt, $167.4 billion, courtesy of the New York and Harlem Railroad and the shipping industry.
Other notables to make the list include:
#15, Elizabeth I – $142.9 billion.
#17, Sam Walton – $128 billion.
#20, Bill Gates – $101 billion.
#22, Cleopatra – $95.8 billion.
#39, Warren Buffett – $62 billion.
#45, J. Paul Getty – $50.1 billion.
#52, Howard Hughes – $43.4 billion.
#83, Queen Elizabeth II – $43.4 billion.
#116, John Hancock, $19.3 billion.
#181, Ben Franklin, $10.3 billion.
#190, Rupert Murdoch, $9 billion.
And Oprah? Oprah is only worth about $2.7 billion. But she’s only 54 – she’s still got time to crack the top 200. J.K. Rowling is said to have $1.1 billion at the young age of 43. With three more Harry Potter movies and the theme park yet to open, I predict that she’s definitely in the top 200 by the time she is 50, if not sooner.
Comments (11)
Comment
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You forgot the most interesting part of how Crassus acquired money – if he heard a house was on fire, he would go to the scene and buy the burning house as well as the surrounding houses, which were doomed and presumed worthless. He then had his “fire brigade” put out of the flames on the original house, and could sell the surrounding properties for a sweet profit.
posted by Josh on 9-30-2008 at 2:28 pm
My thinking might be a little off here, but if Nicholas II inherited his fortune from his father Alexander III wouldn’t that make Nicholas II one of the richest people ever?
posted by Phineas Gage on 9-30-2008 at 2:47 pm
I mean make Alexander III one of the richest people ever. My head hurts.
posted by Phineas Gage on 9-30-2008 at 2:48 pm
What about Soloman? Surely he would crack the list somewhere. Even if you don’t believe in the Judeo/Christian faith The Bible is accepted by Historians as an accurate depiction of Ancient Israel. Soloman was given a Biblical reputation of having some Bling Bling.
posted by Witty Nickname on 9-30-2008 at 2:57 pm
It’s very interesting to look at these people based on dollar amounts, but really dollar amounts hardl mean anything when there are hundreds of years between, even with inflation and whatnot factored in. I think it’s more interesting to consider the people that control the largest percentage of world wealth. Having several billion dollars in today’s world is a big deal, but it’s a little different from a single man/king owning something like 75% of the world’s wealth, such as with Witty’s example of Solomon. Can you imagine? Of course, it was also Solomon who says “Vanity Vanity, all is Vanity and chasing after wind.”
posted by shadrach on 9-30-2008 at 3:35 pm
shadrach, if you look closely it’s adjusted based on the GDP of the country, and then adjusted for inflation and put translated to the dollar amount you see. So a lot of that is taken into account. As for Solomon, the issue might be how do you compare him as we don’t have the GDP of his country at the time, nor an accurate account of exactly how many assets he controlled.
posted by Kinglink on 9-30-2008 at 6:04 pm
Dear creationists, there is NOT historical evidence of King Solomon (independent of the biblical accounts/tales). Nothing indisputably of Solomon’s reign has been found… So please, just check for other names for this list. We are talking about REAL people.
posted by Noah on 9-30-2008 at 8:01 pm
Noah,
In archeology, the absence of evidence is not the same as evidence of absence.
While there may be no solid historical proof (name written in stone, for instance) for Solomon, there may be proof of his father, David.
From the wonder that is Wikipedia:
“An inscription found at Tel Dan and dated c.850-835 BC has been interpreted as containing the phrase ‘House of David’ (ביתדוד); the Mesha Stele from Moab, and from a similar time, may contain the same phrase;…”
I would hazard to say that the existence of the father would be valid proof of the existence of the son.
Since you begin your argument by addressing it to Creationists I am going to guess that you believe in the validity of the whole of Evolutionary theory. Part of the theory posits transitional forms. Forms that are, for the most part, without solid evidence (no skeletal or fossil remains). So by your reasoning, if no historical evidence exists for these then they do not exist. Do I have that correct?
posted by Todd S on 10-1-2008 at 11:21 am
Could you expand on that list. And does Ben Franklin mean “the” Benjamin Franklin?
posted by Philip on 10-28-2008 at 12:32 pm
I always find it a bit annoying when someone refers to a billionaire as very generous when they give large sums to charity. Giving 100 billion dollars to a worthy cause when you have 110 billion is not all that noble. But giving $3000 dollars to charity when you make only $30,000, now THAT’s generosity.
posted by mark on 10-31-2008 at 10:24 pm
There was a book i read that said king Solomons wealth was over a thrillion and a half…The richest man that ever lived. I have to find the book.
posted by King on 1-2-2009 at 2:50 am