Wealth Facts

Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.

Oprah Winfrey makes $10 per second.

During the peak of his career in the 1950s and 1960s, Elvis Presley was in the highest tax bracket—which reached 91-92%—making him one of America's top taxpayers.

The costliest cat ever is named Little Nicky, who cost his owner $50,000. He is a clone of an older cat.

In 2000, China had zero billionaires. By 2024, it had over 800 billionaires, the second-highest number in the world after the United States.

Judge Judy makes $45 million a year.

One cubic mile of seawater contains about 25 tons of dissolved gold.

About 37% of millionaires buy used cars, and fewer than 25% drive current-year models—most prefer practical brands like Toyota, Honda, and Ford over luxury vehicles.

The world's ten richest billionaires have more combined wealth than the 40 poorest countries' annual GDP.

(Former) Billionaire Chuck Feeney gave away over 99% of his multi-billion dollar fortune to philanthropic endeavors, such as helping underprivileged kids go to college. He is now worth a few million dollars.

85% of movie actors earn less than $5,000 a year from acting!

The founder of IKEA was worth $50 billion. He drove a 1993 Volvo. He flew economy. He ate at IKEA. He bought his clothes at flea markets because "it's a waste to throw out good things." His employees were embarrassed to ride in his car. Ingvar Kamprad built the world's largest furniture empire and lived like he was furnishing his first apartment from it.

Hong Kong has more Rolls Royces per person than anywhere else in the world.

Sheikh Hamad, billionaire and royal family member in the United Arab Emirates, had a huge carving of his name that's even visible from space etched into a private island.

If you have 1 billion dollars and spend $1,000 every day, it would take you 2,740 years to go broke.

Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) has more money than Prince Harry, the Prince of Wales.

As of April 2010, Bill Gates had donated $36,854,000,000 in his lifetime! That's more than half of his total net worth!

Bill Gates could give away 98% of his wealth and still be a billionaire.

Indian housewives hold 11% of the World’s gold. That is more than the reserves of USA, IMF, Switzerland and Germany put together.

Yu Youzhen, a Chinese millionaire, works as a street sweeper for the sanitation department to set an example for her children.

Singapore has one of the world's highest concentrations of millionaires, with approximately one in six households holding at least $1 million USD in net wealth.

In 1324, Mansa Musa — ruler of the Mali Empire — made a pilgrimage to Mecca with a caravan of 60,000 men and thousands of pounds of gold. When he stopped in Cairo, he gave away so much gold that he crashed the local economy. The price of gold didn't recover for twelve years. He is widely considered the wealthiest person who ever lived.

George Clooney made tequila in his garage as a hobby — gave bottles to friends for two years — then sold the company for $1 billion. Years earlier, he'd filled 14 suitcases with $1 million each and hand-delivered one to every friend who'd let him sleep on their couch when he couldn't pay rent. The man treats money like it's contagious.

Chuck Feeney co-founded Duty Free Shoppers and became a billionaire. Then he secretly gave it all away. He wore a $10 Casio watch. Flew economy. He gave away $8 billion. None of the 1,000 buildings his money built bear his name. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett both credit him as their inspiration. He died at 92.