James Packer: Not Australia’s Richest Man anymore.

I regret not having reporting on James Packer before. Of all the richest men of a specific country, Australia’s former Richest Man used to be one of my favourites. Just look at this guy: If you see him, you would think he’s the bodyguard to a billionaire, not one himself.

James Packer inherited his roughly $5 Billion fortune from his father, Kerry Packer who passed away in 2005. In Aussie Billionaire-style, the Packer empire comprises of a media and entertainment empire. James took over from his father and become one of the youngest billionaires in the world. He recently made headlines with allegations of acts fraud in his company, but direct links to him and his management was never proven.

Today James Packer has his sights squared on Las Vegas and Macau (China’s Las Vegas). He was reported to looking at buying a $1.8 Billion stake in one of the Vegas Strip’s most popular Casinos.

But… today the news came that Andrew Forrest (left), billionaire founder of Fortesque Metals Group Ltd have been reported to pass Packer as the Land Down-Under’s Richest Man. According to a West-Australian Newspaper, gains in Fortesque’s stock has yet again proved that Metals and Resource owning Billionaires are laughing harder to the bank than the Entertainment/ Internet/ Software Billionaires. Case in point: 2007 has been a great year for Lakshmi Mittal (Steel) and Carlos Slim (Mexican Resources and Telecommunication). Both Billionaires have made huge gains on traditional Richest men like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.

Surface Computers - Microsoft designed the next evolutionary step in computing

I have close to 14 blog articles which I have done the research for, but never actually took the time to write and publish them. But every now and again a story comes along that fascinates me so much, that I have to publish it immediately. This is such a story.

Microsoft is once again changing the face of computing: The latest evolutionary leap in computing. Ever watched the movie The Island with Scarlet Johansson and Ewan McGregor? In the movie the character that plays the director of the facility uses a “surface” / table computer. His desk becomes the computer, with “files” (computer files) scattered across the table. Just by touching the table and moving his fingers on it, he manipulates the files, type and operates the commands.

Well, Microsoft is making this all a reality. Click here to watch the video clip of a demonstration of the product.

This is really fascinating! I can see that these tabletop/ “surface” computers will soon replace our standard desktop PC’s. Pretty soon, your computer will be bought in a computer retailer and also available in furniture shops! Bill Gates will once again become the richest man in the world. Rumour has it that Carlos Slim Helu now holds this position. I will report on this shortly...

Source

Brands - The most expensive thing you can buy - Interbrand Rankings

So three of my colleagues and I were stranded in the waiting lounge at Heathrow airport on Sunday, waiting for our plane to board. And we were bored. So I showed them my blog and we started talking about the theme. We talked about what the mega rich can buy with all that money and the subject changed to the most expensive stuff in the world. I told them about Updown Court, Lakshmi Mittal’s house and what the prices are on Gulfstreams and Mega Yachts.

Then Charl, our South African colleague raised an interesting point. These tangible luxuries are NOT the most expensive stuff a billionaire can acquire. They are mere fractions in comparison to the most expensive item you can buy: A brand.

The top brands in the world are worth billions. They are merely a design with brand value connected to it: Totally intangible. This made me go and look at the Interbrand ranking list again. I used their rankings in my studies at university and almost forgot what an interesting read it actually is. For that reason, I’m posting the 2006 ranking for you guys. As far as I know, the 2007 rankings have yet to be announced.

Billionaires’ worth are actually in large part comprised of a brand’s worth. Donald Tump’s name is so valuable, that it could sell almost any piece of property. So when they measure his net worth, they factor in what his brand name is worth. This is NOT money in the bank though: He has to sell that brand before he can see it in his bank account.

Interesting, right? These brands can be worth as much as $67 billion. Take Microsoft: And you wonder why Bill Gates is so rich? Take Warren Buffett as an example. He has a stake in Coca-Cola and Budweiser, two of the brands in the top 100. Billionaires get richer, the more people value their brands. Look at Louis Vuitton. Their monogram designs have catapulted them into top 20.

So forget the $200 million mega yacht, the $130 million house and $100 private jet. Or even the $70 million private island. Go and buy a multi-BILLION dollar brand!

The Interband ranking list for 2006. Just see which brand made the top 100.

Rank, Brand $million
1 Coca-Cola 67,000
2 Microsoft 56,926
3 IBM 56,201
4 GE 48,907
5 Intel 32,319
6 Nokia 30,131
7 Toyota 27,941
8 Disney 27,848
9 McDonald’s 27,501
10 Mercedes 21,795
11 Citi 21,458
12 Marlboro 21,350
13 Hewlett-Packard 20,458
14 American Express 19,641
15 BMW 19,617
16 Gillette 19,579
17 Louis Vuitton 17,606
18 Cisco 17,532
19 Honda 17,049
20 Samsung 16,169
21 Merrill Lynch 13,001
22 Pepsi 12,690
23 Nescafé 12,507
24 Google 12,376
25 Dell 12,256
26 Sony 11,695
27 Budweiser 11,662
28 HSBC 11,622
29 Oracle 11,459
30 Ford 11,056
31 Nike 10,897
32 UPS 10,712
33 JPMorgan 10,205
34 SAP 10,007
35 Canon 9,968
36 Morgan Stanley 9,762
37 Goldman Sachs 9,640
38 Pfizer 9,591
39 Apple 9,130
40 Kellogg’s 8,776
41 Ikea 8,763
42 UBS 8,734
43 Novartis 7,880
44 Siemens 7,828
45 Harley-Davidson 7,739
46 Gucci 7,158
47 eBay 6,755
48 Philips 6,730
49 Accenture 6,728
50 MTV 6,627
51 Nintendo 6,559
52 Gap 6,416
53 L’Oreal 6,392
54 Heinz 6,223
55 Yahoo! 6,056
56 Volkswagen 6,032
57 Xerox 5,918
58 Colgate 5,633
59 Wrigley’s 5,449
60 KFC 5,350
61 Chanel 5,156
62 Avon 5,040
63 Nestlé 4,932
64 Kleenex 4,842
65 Amazon.com 4,707
66 Pizza Hut 4,694
67 Danone 4,638
68 Caterpillar 4,580
69 Motorola 4,569
70 Kodak 4,406
71 adidas 4,290
72 Rolex 4,237
73 Zara 4,235
74 Audi 4,165
75 Hyundai 4,078
76 BP 4,010
77 Panasonic 3,977
78 Reuters 3,961
79 Kraft 3,943
80 Porsche 3,927
81 Hermés 3,854
82 Tiffany & Co. 3,819
83 Hennessy 3,576
84 Duracell 3,576
85 ING 3,474
86 Cartier 3,360
87 Moet & Chandon 3,257
88 Johnson & Johnson 3,193
89 Shell 3,173
90 Nissan 3,108
91 Starbucks 3,099
92 Lexus 3,070
93 Smirnoff 3,032
94 LG 3,010
95 Bulgari 2,875
96 Prada 2,874
97 Armani 2,783
98 Burberry 2,783
99 Nivea 2,692
100 Levi’s 2,689

Forbes' Top 10 Richest Billionaires in the world list 2007

It should not come as a surprise that I follow the Forbes anual Billionaires' list very closely. I follow the success stories of the people on the list and love to see how the list changes year-after-year. 2007 however, came as a huge shock to me: There are so many new faces to the top 10 and gone are some of the familiar ones.

Out of contention are the Waltons (Wal-Mart). The late Sam Walton's estate is being enjoyed by his wife and children; however they are not able to keep abreast with the onslaught of the new entrepreneurs on the list. Gone is our favouite Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich: He is going through the world's most expensive divorce!

The biggest winner on the list is Amancio Ortega who came from nowhere to land in the 8th position. Last year he did not even make the top 50! The Lucky S-O-B award this year goes David Thompson who makes his debut to the Forbes list on #10. Read his entry to see why this is a success none the less.

1. Bill Gates

Country: United States
Industry: Microsoft (IT)

No surprise here. He is still the Richest Man in the world. What is interesting though, is that the bulk of his investments are not in the Microsoft Corporation anymore! He and his wife spends the bulk of there time doing
charitable work.

2. Warren Buffett

Country: United States
Industry: Berkshire Hathaway (Investments)

The world's best investor keeps his number 2 position.

3. Carlos Slim Helu

Country: Mexico
Industry: Telecommunications in Northern and Latin America

One thing that I like about the top 3 Richest people in the world, is there willingness to donate money to good causes. Warren Buffett donates to Bill Gates' charity fund while Carlos Slim Helu donated $4 Billion to upliftment causes in his native Mexico. His empire has grown n the last year. Telecommunications is still one of the most lucrative industries to be in.



4. Ingvar Kamprad

Country: Sweden (Lives in Switzerland)
Industry: Retail (Ikea group)

The cheapo on the list. He loves to lead a very modest life; furnishing his houses with furniture from his stores and still driving his old 1988 Volvo station wagon. Live a little Ingvar. Read my blog and get a couple ideas what to spend those Billions on!

5. Lakshmi Mittal

Country: India (Lives in UK)
Industry: Steel

Magnate, Tycoon, Monopolist. These are three words that describe Mittal. He absolutely controls the world's steel industy. I think I should do an entry on his house in London; it's splendour is inspiring.

6. Sheldon Adelson

Country: US
Industry: Entertainment and conferencing

The ugliest man on the list! Yet, my absolute favourite. His story is very inspiring. He made his fortune through being a very good middle man. He started off by renting conference space $5 per square foot and renting it out for $200 per square foot. Simple and effective with huge profit margins. Click on the link and read his story. I'm inspired every time I read it. He loves to break the mould and build new business rules. Just read what he did in Las Vegas.

7. Bernard Arnault

Country: France
Industry: European Luxury Goods

The growing demand for luxury labels has got Arnault smiling all the way to the bank. With more than 3 million US $ millionaires in the world, Arnault has perfected the art of targeting the fairer sex of this group. And he just loves acquiring more fashion houses.

8. Amancio Ortega

Country: Spain
Industry: Clothing and accessories

As a student I dreamt of making my fortune in the same way as Ortega: Apparel. I still think it's a good business idea. Get a company that manufactures bags (as an example), and brand them with other people's non-clothing brands. When you buy an Aston Martin, you get a branded bag with it... who manufactured that bag? It's better to use established brands than start creating brand awareness for a new one.

This is kinda how Ortega made his fortune. His debut in the top 50 and it's in position number 8!

9. Li Ka-Shing

Country: Hong Kong
Industry: Asian Commodities

Commodities are a lucrative business, but getting in it is a b**ch. Ka-shing does not have the business ingenuity that the other on the list have, but he is probably the best leader of the bunch. More people work for him than any other on the list. To make money in commodities takes leadership: Working with and relying on Blue-collared employees to make the business work.

10. David Thomson (son of Kenneth)

Country: Canada
Inherited Income

Kenneth Thompson never made the top 10: He died before the honor could be bestowed upon him. Instead his son, David made his debut in the number 10 position. David took the reigns of Thompson Corp in 2006, after the death of his father. His personal and inherited wealth pushed him into the top 10. He is the first Canadian, which I know off that ever made it to the top 10. I would love to see if he could take the family owned company and increase his position in 2008.