About

Putting enormous fortunes into perspective

Spend a Billion is a free, interactive thought experiment. It turns wealth figures that are difficult to imagine into a simple question: what could that money buy?

How it works

Choose a public figure, browse the fictional shop, and build a receipt. The simulator subtracts each purchase from an estimated fortune so you can compare everyday prices, luxury goods, companies, infrastructure, and charitable projects on the same scale.

Our estimates

Fortunes and product prices change over time. We use Forbes Real-Time Billionaires as a reference for wealth estimates and linked Wikipedia articles as starting points for biographical facts. Figures shown here are manually recorded, approximate snapshots; they are not a live data feed, valuations, offers, or investment advice. Every simulator page displays the date of its wealth snapshot and its profile sources.

How we research and write

We do not copy source articles. Profile text is written for this site, checked against the linked references, and focused on explaining where an estimated fortune comes from and why it can change. A published net-worth figure normally combines company shares, private businesses and other assets, then accounts for debt. It is not the person’s bank balance.

Forbes updates public holdings as markets move and periodically estimates private-company interests. Wikipedia is useful for orientation and its citations, but it can change; when sources disagree, we use cautious language and avoid presenting uncertain details as fact.

Editorial approach

We aim to use recognizable examples, clear calculations, and neutral descriptions. Profiles do not imply endorsement by, affiliation with, or approval from the people and companies mentioned.