15 Record-Breaking Milestones in the History of Capitalism

The first American millionaire was John Jacob Astor, around 1820. The first billionaire, John D. Rockefeller, had a thousand times more money less than a hundred years later, in 1916. He was worth about 2 percent of the entire U.S. economy at the time. 

The biggest single transaction ever was the acquisition of Mannesmann AG by Vodafone Air Touch PLC in 1999, which cost $202.8 billion. Imagine doing that on your banking app — you’d be shaking like a shitting dog.

The most money ever spent on a bottle of wine is $558,000, paid at a 2018 Sotheby’s auction for Domaine de la Romanée Conti 1945. Is it as nice as a cold Pepsi though? 

The most valuable home in the world is thought to be Buckingham Palace, valued at around $4.9 billion. The most expensive built recently is Antilia, the $2 billion, 27-floor home of Mumbai’s richest family, with space for 600 staff. 

Mukesh Ambani, owner of the world’s most valuable home, inherited a $94.6 billion fortune. His net worth is currently $91.2 billion. Feels like if you lose three billion dollars you shouldn’t still be rich, right?

There is a chocolate pudding on sale at the Lindeth House Hotel in the U.K. that costs $35,000 and comes with a diamond on top. If there were any justice in the world, anyone who ordered it would have their head immediately chopped off. 

In 2009, a $30 million dress known as the Nightingale of Kuala Lumpur was designed by Faisal Abdullah. It’s covered in diamonds — just the ass bit of the dress is worth more than most people’s entire lives.

There’s an omelette on sale in Norma’s restaurant in Le Parker Meridien Hotel in Manhattan that costs $2,000. It’s called the Zillion Dollar Lobster Frittata and your body turns it into shit.

If you’re a true dickhead, you can spend 5,000 Euros ($5,227) on a burger. The Golden Boy, from De Dalton’s in the Netherlands, includes Beluga caviar, king crab, white truffles and barbecue sauce made with expensive Scotch.

If you ever find yourself in Salerno, Italy with a hunger on, a heavy wallet and a head full of rocks, you can spend $9,250 on a pizza. Not even a big one — it’s only eight inches in diameter, so you’ll want to hit the salad bar (not included). 

In 2017, a painting named Salvator Mundi that may or may not be by Leonardo da Vinci sold for $450.3 million. There’s no consensus at all it was by him — it might have been farted together by one of his pupils — but rich people don’t give a shit! 

The Walton family, owners of Walmart, managed to lose $11 billion in 2022 and still be the richest family on Earth, with a net worth of $238.5 billion. So, they pissed away more than the annual GDP of Guadeloupe and are still worth more than God. 

Want some new wheels? The most expensive new car available is the Rolls-Royce Boat Tail, for a mere $28 million. It has two fridges and a Mont Blanc pen in the glove box, but there’s jack shit in terms of trunk space, it’s useless for moving house. 

The most ever paid for a car, though, remains the 135 million Euros ($142.6 million) paid for a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé from 1955 by some chucklehead. 

Elon Musk is currently the richest person in the world, with a net worth of $247.2 billion. That’s insane — if he gave each of his friends $247.2 billion, he’d still have $247.2 billion.