This man has already been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. But he earned his fortune on his own. He did not like people and loved art. He will be called the richest man on the planet. Legends will go about his thrift. The whole world will condemn him, but he will not pay attention to it. We are talking about oil tycoon Getty Field, who went down in the history of the 20th century as the meanest billionaire.
Book childhood
In the family of businessman John Getty in 1892, the second long-awaited child was born - it was a boy. They called him Paul. There was no end to the joy of parents, but excessive fear mixed in with her. A few years earlier, he and his wife had already lost their little daughter, who died in infancy. They could not survive the second tragedy, so instead of love, for the most part they protected the baby from hypothetical dangers and worried about any trifle. The emotional detachment of parents was also dictated by fear of pain due to strong attachment.
Despite the hyper-custody of his parents, the boy spent most of his time alone in books. He will shine with the information received in front of teachers and students, but this will not make Paul Getty popular among peers. The father will demonstrate the absence of at least some understanding of his child by the decision to send Paul to study at a military school. The boy did not possess a craving for such an activity, nor personal qualities. He was more attracted to literature, painting, sculpture. Naturally, the idea of making a “real” man out of a son failed miserably.
Europe forever
The child, who had many hopes, every year more and more disappointed his parents. John and Sarah Getty were religious people and expected that his son would be an exemplary Christian and a student at a prestigious university, but instead, he would leave the university at 17 and go into all seriousness. Paul Getty's rampant lifestyle provoked more and more parental anger and led to a great scandal, but the situation changed after one significant trip.
In 1909, the senior Getty first took a vacation and went with his family on a trip to Europe. Old Europe made a lasting impression on Paul. At the end of the trip, he told his parents that he was going to study at Oxford, which pleased them a lot. In 1913 he received a diploma in economics and political science. Father, seeing that his son has embarked on the true path, finances Paul's life and donates shares to his oil company Minneoma Oil. But the young Getty again disappoints his father with his behavior: after graduation, he goes on a tour of his beloved Europe. The father found this venture stupid, and in anger deprived his son of financial support, took away shares.
I will never forgive you
All the rest of Paul Getty's life is an attempt to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of his father. He will join his company, and many of Getty Jr.’s business ideas will double his capital and expand his father’s business. Already at a young age, Paul will earn his first million. But the joy of the parent will be overshadowed by the offensive behavior of the offspring. Paul Getty was an incorrigible womanizer and guilty. Even the marriage of Janett Demont and the birth of a son did not give the desired result: Paul remained true to his bad habits.
In 1930, John Getty died, and the last will was inexorable. Several million went to his wife, 350 thousand went to his grandson, and only 250 thousand to his son. But the biggest blow for Paul was the complete distrust of his father, because he did not provide the management of his company to him, but to the board of directors. Resentment will sit deep in Paul’s heart: he thought his father appreciated him as a businessman, but his will refuted this assumption. This attitude of Getty Sr. will force Paul to strive for fabulous wealth. He will want to surpass his father.
Love for life
Paul Getty's biography is a constant increase in his wealth. Everyone will know about his tightness. His stinginess will amaze and disgust, some will say that thanks to greed he was able to save his money. But the thing is different. Money was not a means of satisfying his desires for a millionaire; they were something more for him. They became his passion, love for life. The desire to prove his superiority, becoming the richest man in America in the middle of the 20th century, led to a pathological attachment to his condition. And no one wants to part with their loved ones, much less give them to someone.
Paul Getty will make his fortune thanks to the generosity of his mother, who will give half his money for his son’s business projects. He will be very entrepreneurial. He will be called a pioneer - the man who first began to develop oil fields in the Middle East. His company Getty Oil will settle in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. By the end of his life, his empire will have more than 200 enterprises: oil producing and oil refineries, an aircraft factory, etc. Getty's fortune by the end of her life was about $ 6 billion (in 2017 prices - more than 25 billion).
Billionaire weaknesses
Paul's second passion after money was women. He had 5 official marriages in which five sons were born, one of them died of cancer at the age of 12, and 14 grandchildren. More than a hundred lovers and countless ladies for one night. To be always in shape, he will always paint over the gray hair in brown-red color and will do 5 plastic surgeries. The last surgery will turn the magnate's face into a crooked mask.
Another affection will be works of art. He will buy them all over the world: paintings, sculptures, carpets, furniture and tapestries - everything that was of historical and cultural value. At the end of his life, he will get his treasure from the storerooms and open a museum, which will simply be called the Getty Museum.
Black and white
Greed, avarice, frugality and frugality - these feelings balance on the scale of good - bad. Greed and stinginess are bad, and frugality and frugality are good. However, there is a very fine line between these opposites. When does frugality become mean, when does profit turn into greed? Everyone who knew Getty was amazed at how contradictions could get along in one person.
On the one hand, he washed his laundry every day, wrote the answers on the margins of letters and, if possible, sent them in the same envelopes. As for the children and grandchildren, the billionaire never spoiled them with a luxurious life. In his castle in England, he installed a pay phone after he saw huge bills for international negotiations. Numerous guests talked on the phone without hesitation, after which they had to pay bills themselves.
On the other hand, he invested a lot of money in business development, spent on acquiring works of art, organizing parties and opening a museum, which will have free admission. In addition, he was discouraged by the case when he bought a photograph for big money: in the photo, Paul Getty and the King of Saudi Arabia sign a cooperation agreement. He was disliked and envied, criticized and admired. He was an extraordinary person and aroused complex feelings among others. But in his declining years an event will occur that will ruin his reputation completely by sticking to him the label of “the most greedy millionaire”.
Grandson abduction
Paul Getty was more than cool about his ex-wives, children, and grandchildren. He considered his relatives useless and incapable. Sons all the time were at enmity with each other for the mercy of his father, who periodically brought closer one or the other. The rivalry and craving of the head of the family to appoint another favorite contributed to the establishment of tense and hostile relations between members of the Getty clan.
July 10, 1973 in Rome, bandits attack the seventeen-year-old drunk grandson of Paul Getty John Paul Getty III, wring his hands. He tries to resist, but gets hit on the head, after which the guy falls into oblivion. He is stuffed into a car and taken away in an unknown direction. When Paul Getty III woke up, the abductors forced him to write letters to his family asking for help. Such letters were received by father, mother and grandfather. After which the criminals called their mother and announced the amount of the ransom of $ 17 million.
Precedent
No one is in a hurry to escape to the rescue of a slave. The fact is that the young man led a dissolute lifestyle: drugs, alcohol, nightlife, etc., and, accordingly, was out of favor with his grandfather. The first thing that relatives thought was that the grandson planned the abduction himself in order to draw money from his grandfather for a wild life. And they weren’t particularly worried: he would sit out and come back. In addition, the billionaire will tell the press that he does not want to set a precedent: if he pays for one, then the rest of his grandchildren will be kidnapped tomorrow. So taking care of other family members, he explained his reluctance to follow the bandits.
So four months passed. During this time, the mother and father of the kidnapped try in various ways to persuade the elder Paul Getty to give money: they turned for help to the influential friends of the billionaire to influence him. But the oil tycoon remained adamant. Because of powerlessness and anger, the guy’s mother turned to newspapers, where she poured mud on her former father-in-law, setting the public against him.
Last straw
In November 1973, the story of Paul Getty’s grandson took on a serious character: a parcel arrived in the editorial office of a Roman newspaper in which the editorial staff found a cut-off ear and a cover letter. In it, the kidnappers spoke of their most serious intentions to send the guy to pieces, if there is no ransom in the near future. Under the pressure of the terrible events, Paul Getty agrees to give the money, but not the amount that the captors voiced.
The period of negotiations began, the repurchase amount was brought down to 3 million. But here, the stingy knight remained true to himself: he gave 2.2 million dollars - the maximum that is not taxed, and 800 thousand he lent to his son at 4% per annum. So did his father with him, so he did with his son. In December 1973, the grandson of a billionaire was released, five months after the abduction.
