According to Forbes, there are 2,640 billionaires in the world, which is about 0.00003% of the global population. How do the world's richest people entertain themselves when they are always busy?
Besides appearing on the guest list of the most prominent film festivals, yacht shows... according to Business Insider, these are the places where billionaires socialize, trade and relax throughout the year.
January in Davos
After the New Year's festivities, many billionaires travel to Switzerland for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where they can enjoy lavish dinners, ski and discuss global issues.
Many of Davos' luxury hotels, such as the Steigenberger Icon Grandhotel Belvédère and AlpenGold, are closed.
If you want to visit Davos at this time, you should rent an apartment, although it won’t be cheap. A suite with two double beds and a pullout sofa will cost you nearly $27,500 for five nights of the conference. And most restaurants are booked for the conference, so you can expect to pay $43 for a hot dog.
The World Economic Forum's annual meeting in January is regularly attended by billionaires and world leaders. Photo: Chris Ratcliffe.
Watch the Super Bowl in February
NFL teams are one of the most popular pastimes for the super-rich. It's no surprise that some billionaires flock to watch the sport's biggest game every year.
Travel companies have curated luxury experiences for the wealthiest fans, with six-figure prices. Services include chartered jets, five-star accommodations and post-game access. A stadium suite in Las Vegas, for example, will cost up to $3 million.
The Super Bowl is America's sporting event of the year, and billionaires occupy private stadium suites to watch the game. Photo: The Philadelphia Inquirer.
March to Art Basel art fair
2022 marks the return of Art Basel in Hong Kong (China) after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic. According to Bloomberg, wealthy Chinese have been sharing private jets to the fair and spending millions of dollars on art.
One of the fair's most famous sales took place in 2018. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sold Willem de Kooning's "Untitled XII, 1975" for $35 million to a private collector.
Art Basel Hong Kong saw more than 12 seven-figure sales in 2023. Photo: Handout.
April Masters Tournament
Each year, the Masters Tournament kicks off the major professional golf championships and is held exclusively at Augusta National Golf Club.
The famous exclusive club in the US has several billionaire members, such as billionaires Warren Buffett, Bill Gates as well as investors Warren Stephens, Dirk Ziff and Stanley Druckenmiller.
Going to Cannes Film Festival in May
The Cannes Film Festival in France in late May is reserved for industry professionals. But according to the festival's website, the super-rich can pay to attend.
It's both a chance to get a first look at Oscar winners and a chance to mingle with the stars. Billionaires like François-Henri Pinault and the late Paul Allen have hosted their own parties at the festival.
Actress Salma Hayek and her billionaire husband Francois-Henri Pinault at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Photo: Reuters.
Royal Ascot horse racing in June
The billionaires who appeared at Royal Ascot – an annual horse race held about 40 km from London (UK) – were not surprisingly members of the British royal family.
For more than 200 years, Royal Ascot has been open to the public. Around 300,000 people attend the five-day event, but children under 10 are not allowed to attend.
Billionaire Lord Anthony Bamford has horses racing in this event. Photo: John Walton.
July features Allen & Company's Sun Valley Conference
Every July, private jets land in the small town of Hailey, Idaho, for a summer event similar to Davos: the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, also known as Billionaires' Summer Camp. This is where billionaire Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post for $250 million in 2013.
Burning Man music festival takes place in August
On the surface, the Burning Man music festival doesn't look like an event for billionaires. But the world's richest people don't seem to care whether they're in demand.
Since the 1990s, attending Burning Man has become a status symbol for the tech elite. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are longtime attendees of the event.
Facebook co-founders Dustin Moskowitz and Mark Zuckerberg, Uber co-founder Garrett Camp also attended the Burning Man festival. Photo: Reuters.
September has Monaco Yacht Show
There are plenty of yachts and superyachts at the Monaco Yacht Show in Monte Carlo, where billionaires gather at the end of the summer to look for new luxury vehicles. If you want to see the show or meet the billionaires, you can attend the event by purchasing a ticket for $640 a day.
Rare superyachts worth billions of dollars are often put up for sale at the Monaco Yacht Show. Photo: Handout.
Attend the Frieze art fair in October
The Frieze art fair is held annually in London, attracting wealthy people from all over the world. Anyone can buy a ticket to attend the fair. In 2023, the lowest price is 46 pounds (equivalent to 1.4 million VND).
November has Le Bal des Débutantes gala
Le Bal des Débutantes is a fashion event and debutante ball held annually in November in Paris, France. The gala is by invitation only, and even billionaires cannot buy tickets.
As usual for the rich, everything is free. Dance lessons, haute couture dresses, jewelry are all paid for by sponsors.
Heirs to billion-dollar fortunes, such as Araminta Mellon, Kayla Rockefeller, Laila Blavatnik and Amanda Hearst, often have very wealthy and very powerful parents accompanying them. Photo: Harper's Bazzar Arabia.
December New Year's Eve in St Barts
While Aspen (Colorado, USA) and the Maldives are popular choices for the elite to spend the winter, perhaps nowhere has more billionaires per square foot during the holiday season than St. Barts.
Over the years, St. Barts has attracted yachts owned by the likes of David Geffen, Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg, and Bernard Arnault to join in the year-end festivities.
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