Larry Ellison Still No. 1, and Doing What He Wants | Hacker News Reader

Larry Ellison Still No. 1, and Doing What He Wants

nytimes.com

24 pointsasaddhamani10 comments

Intuition based on many stories (yes plural of anecdote yada yada) heard over a few years working in the bay area: the vast majority of high power people are no better; they just happen to care more about their public image, and are more tactful about what they do.

The rich are different than you and I; they have more money?

I love the fact that I live in a world where Larry Ellison is a real person, even if it's only to serve as a cautionary tale.

I remember reading an article a few years ago about Larry Ellison owning the second-largest yacht in the world [1] but having to downsize because it felt too large and lonely, like an empty mall. I feel like that's a good metaphor for the ultra rich who live flashy lifestyles. Having lot's of money isn't all it's cracked up to be.

[1] http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2007/07/26/ellisons-new-yacht/ - Btw I spent almost 5 minutes googling for this, hit it on the first try on yahoo. Happening pretty frequently these days. Time to reconsider my search habits?

He bought a big yacht and didn't like it, so he bought a slightly-less-big yacht, and the logical conclusion is that "having lots of money isn't all it's cracked up to be"?

The last paragraph sums it all up for me:

"The America’s Cup left San Francisco a few million dollars in the red. It apparently wasn’t as big a draw as hyped. You’d think that the billionaire who brought the event to town could cover that deficit with his petty cash. It might be the right thing to do, but no one is holding his breath."

What would be the point to make all this money without possibility to spend some of them? The guy lives big - good for him! If he have those money by building legitimate business, paying employees fair wages and trying to improve (in some way) world - he deserves it.

News flash: billionaire lives large.

Not sure what exactly is the point of this article.

To serve enough ad impressions to make them closer to billionaires.

Exactly! This article is a piece horesh!t. I fell asleep through part of it, had to nudge myself awake with a pitch fork I leave next to my laptop for such uses. No where did he talk about something interesting like pondering the lack of eyebrow hair Mr. Ellison hosts. Or the likeness between Tony Robbins and his visage. Seriously, the man is 70 years old and living large. He has some money. Instead of being in a wheelchair and taking midol, he's out in a boat and living the dream.

The part about vomit and clown suits in the article was perplexing.

I hope the author never writes another piece again. What tittle-tattle yawnfest.

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