A multi-billionaire I never heard of lives in Austin, and it's not Michael Dell... (Center: apartment complex, foreclose)
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Funny, I always thought M Dell was the richest guy in Austin, and he isn't even in the top 400.....maybe Dell's poor performance knocked him out, because I did recall seeing him on that 400 thingie awhile back.........how ironic that someone can get so rich with hair products. It's always pedestrian things that make people rich, never any amazing new product. Just different spins on the same old thing, or cutting out the middleman entirely(Wal-Mart, speaking of which, if all the Walton relatives at the top of this new 400 list were one person, he/she would be the richest in the world with 80 plus billion).......
Someone said there is lots of money in Austin...I agree, but there are incomparably more just hanging in there making under 16/hour, and doubling up with roomates and such. Also, the city has a huge percentage of jobs in services and entertainment that don't pay much. And all those musicians are struggling that you see at all these clubs as well.
You have about 20% doing very well from what I can see, and 80% hanging in there, a large number living in mega-apartment complexes, or struggling to pay mortgage notes, and many folks doubling up......and east of I-35, well, that area is so bad no one goes there that doesn't live there....
As an aside, a very large amount of Austin money comes from outside, as people continue to flock from unaffordable RE markets to come here, and bring their own bucks........per people born and raised here, not even close to the same.....
I've seen more than one article about him in the past few years. I'm not sure where, maybe "Austin" magazine and the Statesman. He's fairly well-known around here.
There's a LA podcast that features him in one of their podcasts....a bit cheesy and superficial, as you would expect from LA, but you can learn a bit more about John Paul DiJoria for what it's worth...BTW, he was born and raised in central LA....though Austin seems to adopt folks, as if they were actually FROM here(especially if they are worth 4 billion and donate locally)...He sounds like a very down to earth guy, and has a very pleasant speaking voice, almost like an announcer on the radio.... Off the Sunset Strip on Blog Talk Radio - Page: 2
Lastly, does JP have a landmark hair care salon in Austin? With that money, you would think he'd have some incredible one-of-a-kind place in Austin, especially as trendy and LA-ish as Austin is getting...
His wife Eloise is from Houston, which might explain his living in Austin. She might be the hottest 52-year-old I've ever seen.....
Here is the IMDB on her.....
She was also in her Birthday Suit in Playboy's April '88 issue, for those that care.......and, for those who care, prob not many, she is in this music video from Kiss when she was dating Paul Stanley....
However, the part in "Stop messing with the Zohan" with JP is a classic.....and I believe the only movie he ever appeared in......here is the trailer, one of the funniest movies of last year........
Funny, I always thought M Dell was the richest guy in Austin, and he isn't even in the top 400.....maybe Dell's poor performance knocked him out, because I did recall seeing him on that 400 thingie awhile back.........how ironic that someone can get so rich with hair products. It's always pedestrian things that make people rich, never any amazing new product. Just different spins on the same old thing, or cutting out the middleman entirely(Wal-Mart, speaking of which, if all the Walton relatives at the top of this new 400 list were one person, he/she would be the richest in the world with 80 plus billion).......
Someone said there is lots of money in Austin...I agree, but there are incomparably more just hanging in there making under 16/hour, and doubling up with roomates and such. Also, the city has a huge percentage of jobs in services and entertainment that don't pay much. And all those musicians are struggling that you see at all these clubs as well.
You have about 20% doing very well from what I can see, and 80% hanging in there, a large number living in mega-apartment complexes, or struggling to pay mortgage notes, and many folks doubling up......and east of I-35, well, that area is so bad no one goes there that doesn't live there....
As an aside, a very large amount of Austin money comes from outside, as people continue to flock from unaffordable RE markets to come here, and bring their own bucks........per people born and raised here, not even close to the same.....
Please give us some facts. Michael Dell's net worth was estimated by Forbes in 2009 at $12.3 Billion. That ranks him #25. He is massively wealthy by any standard. He is worth ten times as much as Dejoria - also massively wealthy.
Your 20/80 estimates are ridiculous. If in fact 80% of Austin is just hanging in there - I think we would see entire neighborhoods dying and foreclosed upon. More like what is happening in Las Vegas. Your characterization describes a wasteland city of a depression era film - or a sci-fi future film.
ITC claps his hands in glee at the opportunity to bring his doom and gloom into new threads here, methinks. No matter what the original topic is, he will strive to steer it back into 'Austin is crumbling and its residents are desperate transient creatures lacking a soul'.
I might be exaggerating just a tad ... but not much.
Michael Dell is in fact in the top 400. Using the exact same list that the OP originally referenced, Dell is number 13, with 14.5 billion dollars: The 400 Richest Americans 2009 - Forbes.com
I, too, am curious as where the OP got his number that 80% of Austinites are just barely hanging in there. Or is it just one of those made-up "facts" that get presented online (like the "fact" presented in another thread that Austin's crime rate increases eight-fold every year, which isn't even close to true.)?
ITC claps his hands in glee at the opportunity to bring his doom and gloom into new threads here, methinks. No matter what the original topic is, he will strive to steer it back into 'Austin is crumbling and its residents are desperate transient creatures lacking a soul'.
I might be exaggerating just a tad ... but not much.
You're not exagerrating, but you did forget to add that "we all spend too much time online so I'm never posting here again because none of you time-wasting narcissists have ever told me anything that I didn't already know."
Please give us some facts. Michael Dell's net worth was estimated by Forbes in 2009 at $12.3 Billion. That ranks him #25. He is massively wealthy by any standard. He is worth ten times as much as Dejoria - also massively wealthy.
Your 20/80 estimates are ridiculous. If in fact 80% of Austin is just hanging in there - I think we would see entire neighborhoods dying and foreclosed upon. More like what is happening in Las Vegas. Your characterization describes a wasteland city of a depression era film - or a sci-fi future film.
I stand corrected per Mike Dell....he just ranked #13 with $14.5 Bill, but he would have to have 40 billion, ala W Buffet, #2, to have 10 times Dejoria...was late last night when I posted it, and nodding off...BTW, 4 billion sure isn't anything to sneeze at, and Dejoria gives far more % of his money to Charity than Dell. Dell hasn't endowed a single cultural institution in Austin, and Dell Diamond was just a naming rights thing.
Not sure I'm so far off per the 80% hanging in there...check out our other thread per making $8.72 an hour in Austin/living wage info.....there are a motherload of mega-apartment complexes all over the area, and I saw foreclosed folks with families struggling all over the Quarry Oaks mega on Mcneil I lived in, in 2007......
And people made far more in blue-collar jobs in Vegas than here, so if anything it would be worse here per the retail and service jobs common here...in Vegas, you could make 40-50K parking cars, and easily the same in any casino, amongst many others....tips made a huge difference....
It was considered a blue collar mecca in the day, which wasn't long ago, say pre 2004 or so before housing shot up to the Stratosphere(not the actual structure itself, LOL!).....
I think the pay inequity in Austin is it's little secret........and I have never ever seen so many panhandlers in any city, from freeway exits to major intersections, as I have in Austin......even in the DT area, I get hit up all the time for change.....
Again, we are closer to Vegas' situation than you might think....
Dell hasn't endowed a single cultural institution in Austin, and Dell Diamond was just a naming rights thing.
You have got to be kidding me. You seriously have no idea what you are talking about.
Michael Dell's view from the top (http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/archive/0502dell.html - broken link)
From The Austin Statesman:
In recent years, he has plowed more than $1 billion worth of stock into the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, which now is one of the country's largest private charities. Dell began giving substantial sums of money more than a decade ago. One of the first instances involved a long wished-for campus for Austin's growing Jewish community. It was just talk until 1992 or 1993, when the group learned about a 40-acre site on Hart Lane in Northwest Austin. "It was a very, very valuable piece of property," said attorney Michael Deitch, who chaired the committee that oversaw construction of the Dell Jewish Community Campus. "So we asked the Dells, 'Would you help us out?' And they bought the land and donated it." The land was worth more than $3 million. The Dells structured the gift, as they do most contributions, as a matching program. "That sparked several million in other contributions," Deitch said. "They made sure that the community is just as big a stakeholder as they are." It became a model for Dell's giving. "I'm a pretty results-oriented guy," he said. "If I'm going to give away some money, I want something good to happen rather than just people feeling good for a while. I want something really good to happen." Last year, Dell family foundation gave away about $20 million. It's part of a conscious effort to give money away before they die. "A bunch of guys sitting around trying to decide what we want to have done with our money after we're dead, that's not a very good idea," Dell said. "Maybe they would have wanted this. No, maybe they would have wanted that. Maybe we want this. No, no, no. Forget all that. We're going to do this while we're still here and get it right." But Dell doesn't micromanage his donations, Deitch said. And despite multimillion-dollar donations to the Jewish community campus, the Austin Children's Museum and the Long Center for the Performing Arts, as well as children's health insurance and education programs, the Dells keep a surprisingly low public profile.
I haven't even mentioned the additional money he has given to the Dell Children's Hospital over the years - 25 million dollars, to be exact.
Please ... read more and post less, ITC. You are losing credibility with each additional post you make.
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