There might not be any official data to back up this claim, but there are very few people who through hard work, dumb luck, or a combo of both get filthy rich and don’t either have some very serious fantasies about this, or do it almost immediately once they realize they can easily afford it.
Buy a private jet. The status, convenience and sex appeal area all roughly equal, and the thought of never being groped by a TSA agent or sitting next to a ring baby unless it’s your own is just too tempting to pass up!
But some billionaires take it a step further, and need more than one…
With the exception of billionaire Sir Richard Branson, who owns a freaking airline, and maybe a Saudi prince, most mega-rich people are able to keep their jet-collecting tendencies in check.
One is usually enough for most.
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, two of the three richest people on the planet have a single plane apiece. Now granted, they both own G650’s, the gold standard of private jets which fly further and faster than any other business aviation vessel.
Maybe the most famous billionaire in the U.S. is also known as being one of the most competitive, and that could be at least part of the reason why he trumps his fellow tech titans and keeps three private jets stashed in hangars, ready to go anywhere he wants at a moments notice.
Shark Tank star, and Dallas Mavericks team owner Mark Cuban goes big whenever he can. He was known for years as they guy who made the single largest purchase over the internet. Ever. That’s when he sold his company broadcast.com to Yahoo and became a billionaire overnight. His first big move was to purchase his first Gulfstream with one click of a button on his computer. It cost $40 million, the “single largest e-commerce transaction ever.”
He simply loves big, fast, envy-inducing jets. But as Cuban once told Men’s Journal, owning private jets is mostly about practicality.
It is obviously brutally expensive, but time is the one asset we simply don’t own. It saves me hours and hours.”
Here’s his arsenal:
Gulstream V busines jet
This was the jet he purchased in 1999 online. Cuban once told Business Jet Traveler he emailed Gulfstream after doing his research, and they set up a demo flight for Cuban’s pilot. The pilot loved it, raved about it to Cuban, and that was enough for Cuban to purchase it without ever seeing it in person.
The Dallas Mavericks Boeing 757
There is no owner in professional sports who treats his players better than Cuban. Case in point, the 28-year old Boeing 757 he purchased for $36 million for his NBA team to travel in comfort and style.
He played a part in the re-configuration of the cabin, in order to accommodate tall players. It has a weight room, conference room, and a space for medical treatments so players can be taken care of immediately after a game. 35,0000 feet in the air.
The team uses it for roughly 600 hours per year, then Cuban charters it out.
Boeing 767-200
Since Cuban is the star on a network television series about investing, it makes sense he owned a plane that was simply an investment. Cuban had in his portfolio of planes a Boeing 767-200, which he used to charter out to high-end clients.
Three planes. Billions of dollars. No wonder Cuban seems like the happiest Shark in the Tank
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