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Comment by pyrrhotech | Hacker News Reader

150 million after tax = 75 million. Spend half and save half, left with 37.5 million. Investing 3 million a month at 10% returns gets you to 800M after 12 years. It's damn hard to become a billionaire, even when you make 150M. Most reports I've seen have Kotick's net worth significantly less than 800M though. He's known as a very high spender

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I feel like you are intentionally making the numbers not work. Who in their right mind spends 37 million a year on assets with no value? That does not happen, he would not be leading a company for 12 years if he was doing that.

> Who in their right mind spends 37 million a year on assets with no value?

Buy a boat, then you will see exactly how one could do this...

Instead of telling us to buy a boat, you could describe why you think buying a boat will lead to assets with no value.

> A 180-foot superyacht and/or mega yacht costs a minimum of $4.75 million per year to operate and maintain. Kitty McGowan of the US Superyacht Association estimates an annual budget of $1 million for maintenance and repairs, $350,000 for dockage, $240,000 for insurance, $400,000 for fuel, and $1.4 million for the crew.

It's not hard to figure out how to hemorrhage cash. There was a movie about this - Brewster's Millions.

That's a great quote. The $4.75 million given is an order of magnitude lower than the $37 million per year that Kotick would need to spend. Surely he doesn't have eight 180-foot mega yachts.

Instead of whining for hand holding, perhaps take 45 seconds and research why buying a boat is a huge money sink?

Regardless my post was half humor and half truth and you asking for a break down is baffling to me.

> Instead of whining for hand holding, perhaps take 45 seconds and research why buying a boat is a huge money sink?

I have researched way more than 45 seconds. In fact I've invested in a company that buys large ships for the purpose of making money off of them. So you see, your obvious statement that buying a boat leads to loss of money goes counter to my experience.

> Regardless my post was half humor and half truth and you asking for a break down is baffling to me.

I figured it might just be bar talk, without a strong basis. Given that I don't have direct experience with plenty of boat types myself, I thought I'd open a door for some explanation.

> In fact I've invested in a company that buys large ships for the purpose of making money off of them.

Is that why you are so sore? Why didn't you just say so?

It doesn't take a lot of brain power to understand that most wealthy people don't buy yachts to make money, but to show it off. So your entire "don't you dare say that boats are money sinks because I invested in a boat company" is pretty tone deaf.

private jets and yachts depreciate at 5-10% per year and cost an additional 5-10% per year to maintain and crew. On the low end that's 10% per year in pure expense. Buy a $50M yacht and $50M jet and you are out $10-$20M per year right there. He has his own non-corporate jet for pleasure travel, not sure on yacht, but most of his stature do.

He probably also has several $10M+ properties that while appreciate some, have a lot of upkeep that likely result in a net loss. On top of that, I'm sure he takes plenty of pricey vacations and eats at $1000/person restaurants. It all adds up quickly if you are living a CEO lifestyle. Most here just haven't been exposed to that world.

CEO's don't buy there own private jets.

He has a private jet, but Activision Blizzard pays that bill.

And once he retires and he has to pay for his travel, he will still fly private, but he won't buy a private jet. They do weird time/share type shit to keep the costs way down.

> 150 million after tax = 75 million

That's utterly ridiculous, you haven't even accounted for 401k and IRA deductions. /s

Jokes apart, why would you spend $37.5m/year? At that level of wealth and compensation, I'm sure there are super-low-interest, tax-deductible loans available for most of one's spending.

It's not hard if you make that much, just make $150 million and live like you make $100,000. Invest $74.9 million a year at even just 3% a year makes you a billionaire.

I don't see how not spending $37 million is hard.

Live like you make $100k? So like border line poverty?

The median income in the US is around $36,000 a year. $100k a year is a lot of money.

Besides, you could also live as if you make a million and still have 74 million a year after tax to save.

But, why?

If you're making $150 million / year, why would you "live as if you make a million"?

Like, what are you saving up for? A rainy day?

To become a billionaire, of course!

I mean, yeah, I wouldn't care, life's too short not to use the money for something.

Do you actually believe that's borderline poverty?

This is true, but I think there's plenty of evidence that Bobby doesn't live like he makes $100k. The private jet alone would be many times more than that.

You say that like saving more than half of $75M is really hard...

Private jet fuel and maintenance aren't cheap.

As if that $150M were paid in cash alone. The majority of it is in stock, because of course it is.

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