Where the richest people in the world hang out through the year – from the US event where billionaire Jeff Bezos and Disney landed major deals, to Cannes Film Festival and Art Basel Hong Kong

Nov 27 , 2023

Stan Druckenmiller, Bom Kim and Kevin Warsh at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference 2023, where the world’s most wealthy and powerful figures from media, finance, technology and politics come together. Photo: Getty Images via AFP

There are exactly 2,640 billionaires in the world, according to Forbes. That’s about 0.00003 per cent of the global population.

Despite their scarcity, these billionaires are surprisingly easy to find. After all, birds of a feather – especially those of a small brood – flock their private jets together. At the start of the year, they descend en masse on Davos. In July, they fly to Sun Valley. In December, their yachts stop by St Barts.

Here’s where billionaires mingle, wheel and deal, and relax, and how you can join them – for a small price, of course.

January: Davos

The annual World Economic Forum gathering of political leaders, top executives and celebrities takes place in Davos, Switzerland in January. Photo: Bloomberg

After billionaires shake off their New Year’s Eve hangovers, many make their way to Switzerland for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos to attend lavish dinners, hit the slopes, and discuss the global problem du jour.

Many of Davos’ luxury hotels, like the Steigenberger Icon Grandhotel Belvédère and AlpenGold, are closed to the public, so you’d be better off renting a flat. Those don’t come cheap, though. One flat with two double beds and a pull-out sofa costs nearly US$27,500 to rent for the five nights of the conference.

And good luck finding food. With most of the restaurants booked up for conference events, you may be left paying US$43 for a hot dog.

February: Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is America’s sporting event of the year, and billionaires take up private suites in the stadium to watch the action. Photo: The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

NFL teams are among the most popular toys of the ultra-rich.

So it’s no surprise that a number of billionaires flock to the sport’s biggest game every year, though Super Bowl weekend as a billionaire involves more than just chicken wings and great commercials.

Host committees and travel agencies have curated luxury experiences for the richest football fans that cost six figures and include chartered jets, five star accommodation and access to the field after the game. Suites in the stadium for this season’s game in Las Vegas are going for up to US$3 million on rental platform Suite Luxury Group.

March: Hong Kong’s Art Basel

Art Basel Hong Kong saw more than 12 seven figure sales this year. Photo: Handout

Last year marked the grand reopening of Hong Kong’s Art Basel after a three-year coronavirus hiatus. Wealthy Chinese carpooled together in private jets to the fair, according to Bloomberg, and spent millions adding to their collections.

Artsy clocked more than a dozen seven-figure sales at the art fair, including work such as George Condo’s “Purple Compression” and Kazuo Shiraga’s “Kisan”, which sold for US$4.75 million and US$5 million, respectively. One of the fair’s most famous sales came in 2018, when Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sold Willem de Kooning’s “Untitled XII, 1975” for US$35 million to a private collector.

April: The Masters Tournament

The Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia attracts plenty of wealthy spectators. Photo: Getty Images/AFP

Each year, The Masters Tournament kicks off the run of major professional golf championships at Augusta National. The famously exclusive club in the US state of Georgia – it didn’t allow women to join until 2012 – counts a number of billionaires among its members.

Pals Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, as well as investors Warren Stephens, Dirk Ziff and Stanley Druckenmiller belong to the club, Bloomberg reported in 2015.

You can spectate alongside some of the biggest names in business. Tickets for The Masters are available through a lottery system – or for as much as US$10,000 on the secondary market.

May: Cannes Film Festival

Salma Hayek and her billionaire husband Francois-Henri Pinault at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Photo: Reuters

Summer starts early for billionaires, who dock their yachts for the Cannes Film Festival at the end of May. While the event is technically reserved for industry professionals, per its website, the super-rich can, of course, pay to play. For them, the fete is as much an opportunity to get a first look at Oscar winners as it is an opportunity to mingle with stars on the Croisette.

June: The Royal Ascot

Britain’s Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales arrive for the Royal Ascot horse racing meeting on June 23. Photo: AP

While a number of billionaires spend June in the Hamptons in the US or criss-crossing the Mediterranean, some prefer to spend it on dryer land. The headline billionaires at the Royal Ascot – an annual horse race held about 25 miles outside London – are, unsurprisingly, the members of the British royal family.

For over 200 years, the Royal Ascot has been open to the public – about 300,000 people attend the five-day event – but don’t expect to get anywhere near the rich and famous. Joining the Royal Enclosure requires a special application process, including having two sponsors. Plus, there’s a strict dress code – no spaghetti straps or bow ties allowed – and kids under 10 years old are also not permitted.

July: Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, walks to lunch at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 13 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Photo: Getty Images/AFP

Every July, private jets descend on the small town of Hailey, Idaho, for the summer counterpart to Davos: the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference – also known as billionaire summer camp.

It’s reportedly where Jeff Bezos snagged The Washington Post for US$250 million in 2013 and where the seed for Disney’s US$19 billion acquisition of ABC was planted in 1995.

The most basic rooms cost upwards of US$500 a night over the summer, and suites go for upwards of US$1,500. But don’t feel too bad for the billionaires, Allen & Co foots the bill.

August: Burning Man

Burning Man is more associated with hippies and anti-capitalist culture than billionaires, but that won’t stop the world’s wealthiest attending. Photo: Reuters

On its face, Burning Man – the anti-capitalist art and music festival in the Nevada desert – doesn’t really seem like an event for billionaires. But the richest people in the world don’t seem to care about whether they’re wanted.

Since the 1990s, attending Burning Man has become a sort of status symbol of the tech elite. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are long-time Burners – the festival inspired the very first Google Doodle – as is Eric Schmidt, who they chose to be Google’s CEO.

September: The Monaco Yacht Show

There are usually billions of dollars’ worth of rare superyachts on sale at the Monaco Yacht Show. Photo: Handout

There are yachts, and then there are the superyachts – and those are aplenty at the Monaco Yacht Show in Monte Carlo, where billionaires gather at the end of the summer to scope out their new toys.

If you’re looking to peruse boats that you can’t afford – or maybe meet a billionaire who will invite you on theirs – you’re in luck: The Monaco Yacht Show is open to the public for the small price of US$640 a day.

October: The Frieze Art Fair

The Frieze Art Fair attracts those with deep pockets looking to expand their contemporary art collection. Photo: Getty Images

The Frieze Art Fair, held annually in London, draws the rich – and the staff of the rich – from around the world looking to add very expensive contemporary art to their collections. For those who prefer pre 21st century art, there’s the nearby Frieze Masters.

While anyone can buy tickets to the fair itself – this year for as low as £46, or US$57 – the fetes surrounding Frieze Week are a more sure-fire place to spot a billionaire, or their younger, edgier heirs.

November: Le Bal des Débutantes

A Debutantes Ball may seem old fashioned, but many of the children of the world’s wealthiest still attend. Photo: @lebal.paris/Instagram

Le Bal des Débutantes continues the centuries-long tradition of rich, famous women reminding society that they are, well, rich and famous.

Past debutantes have included royalty like French Princess Hélène of Orléans and Nepali Princess Akshita Bhanj Deo; children of Hollywood elite like Forest Whitaker’s daughters Autumn and True, and Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe’s daughter Ava; and, of course, the heiresses of billion dollar fortunes such as Araminta Mellon, Kayla Rockefeller, Laila Blavatnik, and Amanda Hearst, usually with their very wealthy and very powerful parents in tow.

December: New Year in St Barts

Billionaires usually flock to the beautiful Caribbean island of St Barts at the end of the year. Photo: Shutterstock

Billionaires ring in the New Year seemingly anywhere but at home. And while Aspen and the Maldives are popular choices for the wintering elite, there is perhaps nowhere with more billionaires-per-square foot during the holidays than St. Barts.

Unfortunately for the rich, one of the most famous St. Barts New Year’s parties will be cancelled this year. Roman Abramovich – the former Chelsea FC owner, sanctioned Russian billionaire, and unlikely hero of St. Barts – will not be hosting his multimillion dollar extravaganza, which has featured performances from Prince and Beyoncé, millions worth of food and alcohol, and guests including Orlando Bloom and Rupert Murdoch.

This article originally appeared on Business Insider

Millionaires and billionaires

The world has 2,640 billionaires – all of them undoubtedly among the most influential people on the planet – but their predictable social calendar makes it easier to bump into them than you’d think
From Salma Hayek and François-Henri Pinault at Cannes, to Bill Gates’ and Jeff Bezos’ regular trips to Idaho and tech billionaires Sergey Brin and Larry Page at Burning Man, these are their must-dos