Written by Caitlyn Moorhead
|
Edited by Ashleigh Ray
You skip guac because it’s “extra.” You put off upgrading your phone storage and just delete old photos instead. Meanwhile, billionaires are out here buying yachts, jets and entire social media platforms, then turning around to tell you that the reason you’re not rich is too many oat milk lattes.
It’s not just that billionaires are playing a different game. They’re playing on a different field entirely, one with free piggyback rides from minimum-wage employees and Fabergé-egg brunches. So, while you’re doing mental math over a $6 latte, here are five of the most absurd and unrelatable billionaire money moves from the last decade.
Read Next: Making $80K vs. $200K: How Life Changes Completely
For You: 9 Subtly Genius Things All Wealthy People Do With Their Money — That You Should Do, Too
1. Buying an Entire Social Media Platform (Just Because You Can)
In 2022, Elon Musk purchased Twitter (which he then rebranded to X) for a casual $44 billion, according to Yahoo! Finance. As of 2026, though X has achieved higher adjusted operating profits than Twitter did, this profitability relies heavily on drastic cost-cutting rather than actual business growth, and you can retweet that.
Instead of buying a social media platform so your opinions and dirty laundry can have a bigger audience, maybe start smaller with your investment strategy. Your money is probably safer in a high-yield savings account, index fund or dividend stock (especially if your financial situation has you regretting buying a premium app subscription for $4.99).
2. Dropping $55 Million on a Wedding
Weddings are expensive no matter who you are, but for most people, “expensive” doesn’t mean more than they’ll earn in a lifetime. Last year, Jeff Bezos, worth an estimated $252.5 billion, married Lauren Sanchez in a ceremony Forbes reported cost between $46 million and $55 million.
For context that will make you choke on your pre-selected chicken dinner, The Knot puts the average wedding at around $34,200. Bezos didn’t just clear that bar; he cleared it by roughly 1,500 times, which is less “special day” and more “line item that could fund a small country’s infrastructure budget.”
3. Treating Sports Teams Like Pokémon Cards
Since being a billionaire was invented, rich guys from Mark Cuban to Steve Ballmer have snapped up sports franchises and stakes like collectibles. In the last decade, however, major investors have spent tens or hundreds of millions acquiring partial ownership of teams.
For example, according to CEOWorld, tech leaders Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, Shantanu Narayen and Nikesh Arora teamed up to purchase a 49% stake in London Spirit for approximately $185 million. At this level, your hobby isn’t fantasy football; it’s owning the actual team, which is a problematic expenditure if you’re someone who always forgets to set their lineup.
4. Owning Any Kind of Luxury Transportation
Private jets have been a billionaire staple for decades, with a single aircraft running tens of millions of dollars. Elon Musk’s fleet reportedly includes a Gulfstream G700, priced around $75 million. Nothing says “time is money” quite like spending eight figures just to skip the TSA line.
And jets are only half the story. Page Six reported Jeff Bezos spent roughly $500 million on a superyacht, because apparently when you’re worth hundreds of billions, even your midlife crisis needs multiple helipads. He’s since reportedly put the yacht up for sale, so maybe even Bezos hit a point of “okay, that’s enough boat.”
5. Building a Private Home for Over $1 Billion
Mukesh Ambani’s Antilia, a 27-story private residence, reportedly cost $1 billion to build, according to Seattle Travel (though some estimates push it closer to $2 billion). The Reliance Industries chairman, who currently has an estimated net worth of about $89.9 billion, created a private home that is bigger than many apartment complexes. It includes garages, wellness centers and staff quarters, or, you know, everything except the stress of comparing grocery prices.
Bottom Line
The truth is, the richest people on earth now operate in a financial universe where billion-dollar decisions are strategic, symbolic or, honestly, just kind of silly. Meanwhile, the median American household net worth sits at $192,900, according to the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances, and even that number is inflated by a handful of ultra-wealthy outliers skewing the average upward.
So, the next time you feel guilty about a $6 latte or a delayed phone upgrade, remember: somewhere out there, a billionaire just dropped more on a wedding centerpiece than you’ll spend on rent this year. Budget accordingly.
This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.
More From MoneyLion:
