Bill & Dopey's Big Adventure…

Big ego, big palazzo: Critics bash bachelor Bill Gates’ Roman real estate conquest

June 30, 2022

"Bill Gates is saying buongiorno, Roma!

The billionaire — who is the brand-new owner of more than 2,000 acres of prime farmland in northeastern North Dakota — is adding something more luxe to his burgeoning real estate portfolio: the Palazzo Marini in Rome. Reports say Gates plans to convert the 17th-century structure, located near the fabled Spanish Steps, into a six-star hotel.

The building is very close to the Trevi Fountain, Piazza di Spagna and Via Condotti, and not far from the Piazza Navona and Via Veneto.

Gates, 66, the former CEO of Microsoft and its largest shareholder, and his frequent investment partner, Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, 67, are paying about $170 million for the property, Corriere della Sera reported.

The palazzo is reportedly a “real fixer upper” that’s been used as a pop-up Ikea shop selling kitchenware and as a canteen for legislators in the country’s lower house of Parliament in recent years.

Gates and the prince likely will shell out big bucks to turn the building, which spans four city blocks in the heart of Rome, into a luxury hotel that reportedly will include about 100 rooms and possibly space for a conference center, gym and spa.

It’s planned as a “six star” hotel, even though such a ranking doesn’t officially exist. According to at least one travel writer, other extremely high-end hotels worthy of six stars include the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, the Baur au Lac in Zurich, Le Bristol in Paris, the Mandarin Oriental in Thailand and the Taj Falaknuma Palace in south India.

A spokesperson for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts disputed the characterization of Palazzo Marini being purchased by Gates and the prince. He said it was more accurate to say the Rome property was bought by Fort Partners, a Puerto Rican company, and will be managed by the Four Seasons.

Gates and Prince Alwaweed were stymied in their efforts to buy the venerable Danieli Hotel on Venice’s Grand Canal earlier this year because Venetians didn’t want foreign investors taking control of the property."

Sauce/moar: https://nypost.com/2022/06/30/critics-bash-bill-gates-real-estate-conquests-in-rome-nd/

>>16579413

>>16579418

kek

>>16579424

And Washington State. Dude is trying to buy the world.

"Last year, a reporter for the Land Report tracked down the new owner of 14,500 acres of prime eastern Washington farmland — purchased for $171 million — to an LLC with revenues of less than $300,000 and just two employees in the tiny bayou town of Monterey, Louisiana.

He eventually traced the LLC to Cascade Investments and Gates. Cascade has been managed since 1994 by the publicity-shy Michael Larson, who The New York Times last year said fostered a “culture of fear” at the firm."

>>16579501

Who is there with Muskie and the anti-pope? Is that an offering to Mithra/Romus-Romulus or what?

>>16579503

Michael Larson

Alan Heuberger

Cascade Investment

ARCO (rings a bell, The Arcos Affair)

Larson is a regular attendant of the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors at Western Asset and has been a member of the Board of Directors at Teledesic, Pan American Silver, Ecolab, Hamilton Lane, FoodTrader.com, Republic Services and AutoNation. Larson has served on the Board of Trustees at Claremont McKenna College, Lakeside School and the United Negro College Fund. He has served as the Chair of the Investment Committee at the University of Washington

Larson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Larson_(businessman)

The Arcos Affair (Heuzenberg-Spying Bolsheviks and Ukraine, oh my): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Russian_Co-operative_Society

>>16579549

The elusive Michael Larson, recruited by

West Point (who you know and who you blow for this recommend)

The Coast Guard Academy

The Merchant Marine Academy

This guy had juice since the day he was born.

"Michael Larson, manager of Gates’ $170 billion who was supposed to keep them out of the news

Bill and Melinda Gates' divorce announcement cracked the curated image. Unflattering details spilled out, including a report that Larson allegedly harassed & bullied some employees."

June 22, 2021

"New York: For almost three decades, Michael Larson has quietly shuffled around one of the world’s biggest fortunes with a chief priority: Keep his fabulously wealthy bosses out of the headlines.

The conservative bets, the nondescript office, the investment firm’s generic-sounding name; they were all carefully designed to shield Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates from criticism and produce steady, if seemingly unimpressive, returns.

The couple’s divorce announcement last month cracked the curated image. Unflattering details spilled out, including a report that Larson had allegedly harassed and bullied some employees.

On Monday, a spokesman said that Bill and Melinda Gates Investments — the 100-person strong team led by Larson that’s overseen their personal fortune and the endowment of their namesake foundation — changed its name to Cascade Asset Management Co. The moniker closely resembles Cascade Investment, which historically has been the part of BMGI that manages the Gateses’ personal wealth.

The rebranding is the latest step in the unfolding story of what will happen to one of the world’s largest fortunes when Gates and French Gates finalize their divorce. Larson was hired by the Microsoft Corp. billionaire in the mid-1990s to oversee that wealth.

The sprawling portfolio under his purview, estimated by Bloomberg News to be valued at about $170 billion, has over the years generated returns that beat the broader stock market by about a percentage point, according to financial filings and people familiar with the matter.

The record illustrates the priorities of the uppermost strata of the ultrarich, where investment horizons span generations and riskier bets often don’t outweigh the value of a good reputation. Part of Larson’s job was to help Bill Gates uphold his image as a wonky billionaire devoted to fixing the world’s challenges, rather than make bold moves that could draw scrutiny.

“The price some of these guys are willing to pay to stay out of the news is high,” said Tayyab Mohamed, co-founder of family office recruiting firm Agreus Group.

The divorce and recent revelations about Cascade’s workplace culture, reported by the New York Times, raise questions about what’s next for Larson and the fortune he oversees. A spokesman for Cascade said BMGI is changing its name “to allow for the evolving needs of the Gates family and their philanthropic work” and that the group’s investment strategy and organizational structure won’t change.

French Gates, whose name was added to BMGI in 2014, has been in focus after Cascade transferred equity stakes worth more than $3 billion to her, leading some in the industry to speculate she’s in the process of claiming an even larger control of her share of the riches. Their combined wealth stands at more than $140 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index."

https://theprint.in/world/michael-larson-manager-of-gates-170-billion-who-was-supposed-to-keep-them-out-of-the-news/682105/

>>16579477

Just an oversight when packing…(for fun and profit?)

"2 Indians caught with over 100 animals at Suvarnabhumi Airport"

June 28, 2922

"Two Indian women were arrested by wildlife authorities at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport yesterday after 109 live wild animals were found in their luggage just before they boarded a flight back to India.

50 lizards, 20 snakes, 35 turtles, 2 white porcupines, and 2 armadillos were all found in their bags.

When authorities x-rayed the women’s suitcases, they spotted the animals, according to the chief of the wildlife checkpoint at Suvarnabhumi, Sathon Khong-ngern.

The women were held and accused of breaking the Animal Disease Act of 2015, the Customs Act of 2017, and the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act of 2019.

For legal action, the 2 Indians, 38 year old Nithya Raja, and 24 year old Zakia Sulthana Ebrahim, have been turned over to the Suvarnabhumi airport police station and are currently in custody pending official prosecution."

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/crime/2-indians-caught-with-over-100-animals-at-suvarnabhumi-airport

109 live animals — including snakes— found in two women’s luggage

June 28, 2022

https://nypost.com/2022/06/28/109-live-animals-found-in-womens-luggage-in-thailand/