Latest news with #ultrarich
New York Times
3 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
What Does Ultra Wealth Look Like?
When Paul Eskenazi, the location manager for 'Mountainhead,' a new film from the 'Succession' showrunner Jesse Armstrong, set out to find a house to serve as the primary setting for this satire about a group of ultrarich tech bros, he needed a very specific kind of extravagance. In the same way that 'Succession,' which Eskenazi also worked on, reveled in 'quiet luxury,' 'Mountainhead' needed its moneyed protagonists to be living large but without flamboyance. Its characters are too wealthy for mere McMansions, and not any private residence would do. Portraying how the ultrawealthy really live — with all their subtle signals and status cues — has become something of a specialty for Armstrong and Eskenazi. It's about not just private jets and sprawling homes, but the quiet hierarchies within the top 1 percent. There's a pecking order between the 0.01 percent and the 0.001 percent, the kind of distinction that insiders equate to owning a Gulfstream G450 versus a Gulfstream G700. When Eskenazi found a lavish, 21,000-square-foot ski chalet built into a hill of Deer Valley in Utah, he knew it was the right fit — not because it was so large and impressive, though it's certainly both, but because its extravagance had a subtlety that made it almost understated. 'There's a kind of quiet wealthy embedded in that location that doesn't necessarily scream at you. It reveals itself slowly,' Eskenazi said, pointing out that it has a private gondola with direct access to a nearby ski resort. 'It's not flashy, but it's deeply exclusive — the kind of feature that signals a level of access and control money affords without ever needing to show off.' 'Mountainhead' is a tightly wound satirical chamber drama about four rich friends in tech who gather for a weekend of carousing while the world is plunged into chaos. There's Venis (Cory Michael Smith), the founder of a Twitter-like app whose new A.I. creator tools have triggered a tidal wave of online disinformation; Jeff (Ramy Youssef), whose content-moderation software holds the key to resolving global strife; Randall (Steve Carrell), an elder plutocrat with a philosophical bent; and Hugo (Jason Schwartzman), whose meager $500 million net worth has earned him the nickname 'Soups,' for 'soup kitchen.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Wall Street Journal
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
Why Being A Mere Millionaire Is a Failure, According to Jason Schwartzman
This article contains spoilers for 'Mountainhead.' In the world of the ultrarich, some wear the scarlet 'M.'
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Inside the lavish world of multi-million-dollar superyachts... and why the ultra-rich's secret island sanctuary could soon be in peril
Decked out with more marble than an Italian palace, enough staff for a CEO to call it their home office, and price tags that would make anyone who isn't a multibillionaire choke on their caviar, the superyacht lifestyle of the elite seems to be a world away. But even in the luxurious fantasy land of the ultrarich, it's not all smooth sailing.
Fast Company
26-05-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Books on the ultrarich dominate the Modern CEO summer reading list
Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I'm Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. Summer officially starts in a few weeks, but I've already ordered and preordered the books that will keep me company on airplanes and trips to the beach. The first Modern CEO reading list was heavy on buzzworthy titles. Last year's edition was a bit more dutiful, highlighting three works that explored the complexities of capitalism. This year, I'm diving into the lives of the ultrarich, whose impact on culture, society, and policy continues to rise. The Haves and the Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich by Evan Osnos Thanks in part to social media, consumption—of luxury goods, five-star resorts, rare wines, and the like—is increasingly conspicuous. One place where the ultrarich can avoid prying eyes? Aboard their superyachts. As Evan Osnos, a staff writer and podcast host at The New Yorker, writes of such floating mansions: 'These shrines to excess capital exist in a conditional state of visibility: they are meant to be unmistakable to a slender stratum of society—and all but unseen by everyone else.' Osnos's collection of essays promises to shed light on the excesses but also on how the rich amass and keep their wealth and the power that it affords. Personal History: A Memoir by Katharine Graham and Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein One of the biggest business stories of the year—Warren Buffett's announcement that he will step down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway—and the ongoing struggles of The Washington Post under Jeff Bezos (a superyacht owner), are prompting me to reread two great books on my bookshelf. Personal History is Graham's candid memoir of the personal and professional hurdles she had to overcome en route to becoming CEO of The Washington Post Company and one of the most admired executives in media. Lowenstein's masterful portrait of Buffett is part biography, part investing tutorial. Graham and Buffett were longtime friends, and Lowenstein seems to credit Graham with leavening some of Buffett's thrifty instincts. Stories of Buffett's frugality—his primary residence is a home he bought in Omaha in 1958 for $31,500—will surely be a good palate cleanser after the Osnos book. Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI by Karen Hao Hao, an Atlantic contributor, is one of the leading journalists covering artificial intelligence (AI), and her book promises to be an unflinching look at the potential and perils of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's ambitions for generative AI, which seem to mirror the 'move fast and break things' ethos of many tech companies. Luckily for readers, Hao seems willing to explore the unintended consequences of unfettered AI expansion, including the environmental impacts of water- and energy-hungry data centers. So Far Gone by Jess Walter Walter's latest book—my one fiction pick—has many of the things I love in novel: a road trip, multigenerational conflict, and a gruff former journalist as the protagonist. In So Far Gone, Rhys Kinnick sets off to rescue his daughter and grandchildren from a radical militia group. It's a world Walter knows well: As a journalist for the Spokane, Washington Spokesman-Review, Walter covered the 1992 standoff at Ruby Ridge in Northern Idaho, which is credited with fueling the anti-government militia movement. Challenging stuff, but an early review from Ann Patchett confirms why I love Walter's writing: 'Jess Walter managed to build such a warm, funny, loving novel out of so many horrible parts.' What are you reading this summer? What's on your summer reading list? Please send the name, author, and a sentence or two about why you'd recommend it to modern leaders to stephaniemehta@ I'll publish a bonus newsletter with reader suggestions before the official start of summer.
