All the Money in the World
How the Forbes 400 Make--and Spend--Their Fortunes
IntroductionThe Forbes 400 is the dominant symbol of wealth in America. It recalls the earlier 400 list of Mrs. Astor but differs from hers in one telling respect. Whereas the original 400 referred to the collection of socially prominent New York families who filled the ballroom of Mrs. Astor in the late nineteenth century, the Forbes index spotlights individual wealth. It measures the size of this or that personal fortune. It asks not where you came from or who you work for, but who’s richer? It’s the big-banana index—simple, primal, direct—and for those reasons irresistible.
Malcolm Forbes, a passionate believer in fortune-making, established the list in 1982. There was nothing elitist in his ebullient approach to wealth. Forbes was unashamed by his fortune; he relished the idiosyncratic (and he knew the value of publicity in promoting his brand). His favorite form of transportation was neither the everyman’s Chevy nor the aristocrat’s polo pony, but a motorcycle and a hot-air balloon—both of which kept him and his eponymous magazine, Forbes, in the news. Several years before the creation of the 400 list, Forbes developed a Cost of Living Extr ...
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