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| Lifestyles
of the Rich and Shameless |
| James Packer, Australia’s richest man, learns from his mistakes. Back in 1999, the media and gaming king figured that a lavish wedding celebration would get his married life off to a suitable start. Packer would end up spending, on his Sydney wedding, $8.5 million in U.S. dollars. The featured entertainer: Elton John. Alas, Elton did not ensure marital bliss. In 2002, the newly weds divorced. Last week, a wiser Packer tried matrimony again, with a wedding celebration he vowed would be “low-key” and “nothing lavish.” The total tab this time: only $5 million U.S. The three days of festivities, held on the French Riviera, drew close to 150 guests, including the singer Prince. Bride Erica Baxter, a 29-year-old model, wore a $100,000 Christian Dior gown and walked down a 150-meter white carpet lined with “hundreds of thousands of flowers” flown in from Holland. The wedding’s ultimate “low-key” touch. The orchestra for the nuptials had only three pieces. June 25, 2007 |
| At Las Vegas, the old saw goes, the house always wins. But that winning streak, for the corporate giants that dominate Vegas, may be ending. Macau, the Hong Kong-like city on the South China coast, last year emerged as the world’s “most lucrative gambling destination.” But MGM Mirage and other big-time Vegas operators are fighting back. They’re rolling out the red carpet for Chinese high-rollers. The Paiza Club, a “Chinese-themed gambling salon” run by the Las Vegas Sands, offers big bettors who trek in from Asia free suites that come complete with “chartered jumbo jets, personal limousine service, and a 24-hour butler.” Will these freebies convince China’s new elite to sample Nevada’s charms? The Vegas gaming giants are hedging their bets. Two have opened up casinos in Macau. February 26, 2007 |
| In Moscow, party people are still clucking over the New Year's Eve bash that billionaire Vladimir Potanin threw to usher in 2007. Vlady had a special treat for his closest family and friends: a concert by singer George Michael. The British rocker entertained the private party for 75 minutes, singing 13 of his all-time greatest hits. Michael collected $3.3 million for the performance, a sum, the Moscow News reports, “thought to be the largest a recording artist has earned for a single gig.” The 46-year-old Potanin earned his first billion playing footsie with Russian President Boris Yeltsin’s daughter in the controversial 1990s program that shifted control over former state-run enterprises into private hands. Potanin’s current fortune, worth about $8 billion, ranks as Russia’s ninth-largest. January 8, 2007 |
| What would Gandhi say? In India today, United Nations researchers note, one of every 11 children dies before the age of six. Nearly half — 44.9 percent — get so little to eat they qualify as “growth stunted.” Meanwhile, a new wave of “super-chic bars and clubs” is offering India’s burgeoning ranks of beautiful people a “world class” night-life experience. In jumping joints like Mumbai’s Prive, a members-only club the India Times describes as “obviously limited to the super rich,” every member gets a “mini bar, personal butler, world music, and cocktails created by the renowned cocktail guru Grant Collins.” What’s behind the night-club boom? Wealthy Indians, the India Times explains, have become “at ease partying” in Paris and Miami and “they expect the same experience back home.” January 8, 2007 |
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