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Looking for love? There are more than 70 billionaires around the world who are single |
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Monday, 18 May 2009 |
Looking for love? There are more than 70 billionaires around the world who are single - and loaded with cash.
Looking for someone who is outgoing, fun - and rich - to snuggle up with during the cold hard winter of economic despair? You're in luck.
This year, there are 72 single moguls on the Forbes list of the World's Billionaires. Of those plutocrats, 21 are perennial bachelors while the other 51 are divorcées yearning for a new chance at love.
The world's billionaire bachelors and bachelorettes have an average net worth of $US3.5 billion and hail from 17 different countries across five continents. The greatest concentration of single billionaires is in the United States, which more than 60% of them call home.
The richest bachelor on the planet is New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The 67-year-old former Salomon Brothers trader struck it rich with his financial data and news outfit Bloomberg LP. Today, he's worth $16 billion, and has given away nearly $800 million to charity in the past five years. Divorced since 1993, Bloomberg hopes to stay in the public eye for a while. Last year, New York's City Council passed a law allowing him to run for a third term later this year.
America's most sought-after billionaire bachelorette is the Queen of All Media, Oprah Winfrey. Though she's been in a serious relationship with businessman Stedman Graham since 1986, the talk show queen (net worth: $2.7 billion) hasn't shown much interest in a trip down the aisle.
Maybe she's too busy: The Oprah Winfrey Show now airs in 144 countries. Her production company produces Dr. Phil and Rachael Ray, and is adding a new show hosted by frequent guest Dr. Oz. She's also launching the Oprah Winfrey Network with Discovery later this year or early next year.
You'd have to go to Europe to find a real Prince Charming. Worth $2.1 billion, German royal Albert von Thurn und Taxis is a frequent face on the European social scene and spends much of his time driving cars on a European auto-racing tour. He lives in a Bavarian castle - with his mother and two older sisters.
South of the equator, Brazil's richest man is also single. With a net worth of $7.5 billion, mining tycoon Eike Batista is a rare commodity these days. He's one of only a few billionaires who actually got richer in the past 12 months.
The 52-year-old college dropout's fortune soared $900 million this year, in part because of the $5.5 billion sale of his Brazilian mines to mining giant Anglo American.
Batista, a former offshore powerboat-racing champion who was once married to a Playboy cover model, could be considered a bad boy. Police raided his home and office in July, alleging he smuggled gold and unfairly influenced the acquisition of a railroad. Batista denied all wrongdoing and has emerged unscathed so far.
Hong Kong bachelor Joseph Lau, who heads property developer Chinese Estates Holdings, has a taste for the finer spoils of wealth. And with a fortune of $4 billion, he can afford them.
In 2007, Lau paid $39 million for Paul Gauguin's painting "Te Poipoi." He owns three private jets and reportedly has a stash of 10,000 bottles of fine red wine.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 03 January 2010 )
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