Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, sporting a gold chain and Gen Z curly hair, knows everyone’s roasting him online. From being called a lizard to claims he doesn’t blink, he’s ok with it. At 40, he says from his 387-foot mega yacht, if you’re gonna joke, “At least make them good memes.”
Mark Zuckerberg and other billionaires are building massive hidden bunkers
Mark Zuckerberg is building a $100M hidden compound on his Hawaiian island ranch — and he doesn’t want you to know about it.
I’m so fascinated by this. It’s not just the Meta CEO, either — billionaires worldwide are adding fortresses to their properties. Why? Good question.
🏝️ Island getaway (from the rest of humanity)
Zuckerberg bought the 1,400-acre Koolau Ranch on Kauai Island in 2014, but only in the last few years did he start a major construction project on the property. Of course, workers had to sign documents promising to keep the details quiet.
Good thing for us who want to be nosey: All the work requires permits. Planning documents show Zuck is building a sprawling estate with a dozen buildings (no surprise) with a 5,000-square-foot subterranean bunker hidden underneath.
Is Zuck preparing for the apocalypse, or at least some sort of societal collapse? Maybe. The plans do include what appears to be a blast-resistant door. Dang, I forgot to include one of those at my new house. Makes you wonder what he knows that we don’t
Billionaires club
If he is getting ready for the end of days, he’s not the first multi-billionaire to hedge his bets on the fate of humanity. Heck, he wouldn’t even be the only one to do so on Kauai. Another billionaire, Frank VanderSloot (his real name), recently bought a 2,000-acre ranch just south of Zuck’s compound for a cool $51M.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said that he and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel have an “arrangement” set up in case the world is ending. If things hit the fan, the pair would fly to one of Thiel’s properties in New Zealand to hide out.
Wonder where exactly they’re going to stay. In 2022, a local community council on New Zealand’s South Island blocked Thiel’s plans to build a bunker compound. They said it would disturb the local environment. Look at that, the little guy still wins sometimes.
BYOP (Buy your own passport)
More and more uber-wealthy people have been buying islands — or at least big chunks of them — in recent years. Richard Branson and Johnny Depp top listicles about privately owned islands, along with wealthy fams like the Du Ponts and the Disneys. (OK, I want to stay on the Disney private island. Know anyone?)
Google's AI Bard has some new tools that are actually useful
ChatGPT launched last November, and it didn’t take long for the alarm bells to start ringing at Google. “Uh oh, AI is here and it works — what do we have?” (That’s the convo I imagine, anyway.)
Google brought co-founder and billionaire Sergey Brin back from his island paradise to get working on a solution. And now, finally, something exciting enough you’ll actually want to use it — Google Bard integrates with Gmail, Google Calendar, Drive, Docs, you name it.
Hackers steal $285M in Bitcoin
$285 million in crypto — gone. Two hackers stole over 4,100 Bitcoin from a billionaire, but they didn’t get away with it. Plus, tips for using Perplexity AI, a shocking Titan submersible update, and a fantasy football fan caught sending fake threats.
Putting the “AI” in “fair?” Starting in January, the Los Angeles Times will add an AI-powered bias meter to its political stories. The paper’s billionaire owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, says the tool lets you read a different perspective on the same topic. Let’s all hope the AI doesn’t hallucinate too much.
Billionaire Warren Buffett plays a certain game online for at least eight hours weekly. Is it … A.) Bridge, B.) Chess, C.) Dominoes or D.) Monopoly?
$137 million market
For bomb and fallout shelters in the U.S. That figure’s expected to grow another $40 million by 2030 as fears of nuclear war continue to mount. One guy who builds and installs bunkers says his prices start at $20,000, with most averaging around $500,000. All the billionaires building bunkers are definitely inflating this, too.
💸 $260 million heist: Two men were arrested at a Florida mansion, surrounded by jewelry and luxury cars, after stealing 4,100 in bitcoin from a Washington, D.C., tech billionaire. The scammers laundered the money through crypto exchanges and went on a wild spending spree (paywall link). I bet the scammers SIM-swapped the billionaire’s phone. Here’s how it works and how to protect yourself.
👁️ Billionaire Larry Ellison’s prediction: He says AI will power a massive surveillance system to monitor all of us. Doorbell cameras, police body cams, dashcams — you name it — will be analyzed to keep everyone in check. If something’s off, the AI will report it to the “appropriate” authority (paywall link). Yikes.
🚀 A giant step: On the morning of Sept. 12, 2024, the Polaris Dawn mission made history. Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman and an engineer floated 435 miles above Earth, making them the first private astronauts to complete a spacewalk. Isaacman spent 12 minutes outside the spacecraft, relying on SpaceX’s new spacesuit for oxygen. Here’s the video. It’s incredible.
💸 Let’s have a pity party: Peloton’s former billionaire CEO says he’s broke and has lost almost all his money. Since stepping down in 2022, he had to sell his Hamptons mansion ($51 million) and a Manhattan townhouse ($35.5 million). Now, he’s back to work on a décor company that sells rugs online. I bet you have to rent stupidly expensive rugs by the month.
🚀 Polaris Dawn: Billionaire Jared Isaacman, the guy who led the first all-civilian spaceflight to orbit Earth, is gearing up to be the first private astronaut to take a spacewalk. The team is zooming there on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, reaching an altitude not seen since the Apollo moon missions. At around 435 miles from Earth, they’ll open the hatch and exit the spacecraft (paywall link).
🦎 The haves and have yachts: Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, sporting a gold chain and curly hair, knows everyone’s roasting him online. From being called a “lizard” to claims he doesn’t blink, he’s OK with it all. The 40-year-old says from his 387-foot mega yacht that if you’re gonna joke, “At least make them good memes.”
📚 Spilling the tea: An upcoming book claims billionaire Bill Gates was like a “kid in a candy store” with interns — so much so that Microsoft banned them from being alone with him. Another hot rumor: Bill was allowed one weekend a year at his ex-girlfriend’s place while still married to his now ex-wife, Melinda. Gates’ reps say it’s all bologna from anonymous sources.
Even celebs and smart people get scammed
Even the rich and famous aren’t immune — just ask billionaire Mark Cuban. Hear how he got scammed by a fake Google call and learn from his costly mistake.
📧 Mark Cuban scammed: The billionaire received strange notifications in Gmail before answering a phone call from someone ready to fix his account. He bought it, hook, line and sinker. Reminder: Google will never ask for passwords or verification codes over the phone, email or messages.
TikTok takeover? U.S. billionaire Frank McCourt made his fortune in real estate and wants to buy TikTok before it gets banned. He says he’s trying to keep it out of the hands of Big Tech companies that are destroying society and endangering kids. I’m sure that’s some part of his reasoning.
Billionaire Warren Buffett once said AI will change everything and likened it to the development of the atomic bomb. So, is this next sentence true or false? Warren Buffett lives in the same home he bought in 1958.
Tesla drowning: Billionaire Angela Chao met a tragic end when her Tesla dove into a pond on her Texas ranch. The Tesla Model X’s reinforced glass, meant to keep her safe, ended up blocking rescuers. The chilling twist? The sheriff’s department is calling it an accident, but there are whispers about a possible hack.
Billionaire adrenaline junkie: Meta just spilled the beans in its SEC filing. Turns out, Mark Zuckerberg’s hobbies (eh, hydrofoiling?) are wilder than a rodeo bull. The filing mentions the risk of “material adverse impact” on operations if any of his daredevil antics lead to serious injury or death.