The Homeless and Nomad Billionaire: Burger King Boss Nicolas Berggruen

From the Daily Mail (hat tip Sovereign Man)

Like most nomads, Nicolas Berggruen travels light.

He doesn't own a house, car or even a watch and the few belongings he does have are carried around in a paper bag.

Possessions have 'zero appeal', he says. It's our actions that have real value.

But what sets the 50-year-old apart from nearly all other homeless people is the small matter of his £1.5billion fortune.

Berggruen got rid of his New York pad and private island 12 years ago. Home is far more transient nowadays.

Life for him is a jet-set one - trotting the globe, hanging out with beautiful women and staying in luxury hotels, sometimes in 14 different cities in a month as he builds his enormous business empire.

His most recent acquisition has been a £881million stake in Burger King.

But in spite of his wealth, the Franco-German tycoon insists he doesn't need, or want, material goods.

'Possessing things is not interesting,' he told the Daily Mirror. 'Living in grand environments to show myself and others that I have wealth has zero appeal.

'Whatever I own is temporary, since we're only here for a short period of time. It's our actions that will last for ever. That's real value.'

A billionaire with no house, car, watch and a few belongings but hangs out with different beautiful women exhibits unique values and priorities.

Mr.Berggruen’s life philosophy seem to revolve around the non-attachment creed of Buddhism. Yet where he says ‘our actions’ signifies as the ‘real value’ then his penchant for many chicks must be his ‘real’ non-attachment value.

Since like Mr. Berggruen, I only rent my home, don’t have a car, watch and only have a few treasured belongings (yeah books), and used to desire traveling, he should be my idol.

Unfortunately, I am nowhere near being like him (in money, women, and importantly, in philosophy).

World’s Richest Women

Here is another interesting development, the world’s richest women are mostly Chinese.

According to the Economist,

ZHANG YIN, who made her money in the paper industry, is the wealthiest businesswoman in the world, according to Hurun Report, a Chinese magazine. Its ranking of the 20 richest self-made women (those who earned their money) combines its own findings with those ofForbes and the Sunday Times. Over half of the women in the top 20 are of Chinese origin, perhaps because of a communist ethos of gender equality, perhaps because previous generations of Chinese left so little wealth to be inherited. The richest non-Chinese is a Spaniard, Rosalía Mera, one of three on the list to have made her fortune in fashion.

Certainly signs of changing times.