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Notch Buys Beverly Hills Mansion

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Re: Notch Buys Beverly Hills Mansion

#51

Post by [deleted] »

boracay wrote: post #40
Udo wrote: post #35

There are certain aspects about Notch's rise to fame and fortune that make his story more inspiring to me than practically any other celebrity. He got wealthy doing what he loved, he never bullied anyone or got into any kind of real drama, he didn't need to build an oppressive empire, his product was something that enabled and inspired people in itself, and when it wasn't fun anymore he just quit and is (from the loo…

I would imagine the biggest opportunity of "unexpected wealth" is that you have the benefit of knowing better. As in that you don't have to value the same things as society at large and can go on and do things that really matter. Seems like he's wasting that opportunity.

[deleted]

Re: Notch Buys Beverly Hills Mansion

#52

Post by johnyzee »

easytiger wrote: post #46

> When the home was purchased, the Minecraft creator also purchased all of the furniture for $6 million. I know good furniture is expensive, but seems like a lot!

I think, when you have the kind of money that Notch now does, your time becomes by far your most precious asset. Saving the hassle of interior decoration probably makes it well worth it for him.

Tangentially, it is probably a lot of pressure to be that rich. Must be easy to feel that you are not making the most of it, when at any given moment you could be doing whatever ridiculously expensive thing you can imagine, rather than sitting in a dentist's chair or being stuck in traffic somewhere.

Re: Notch Buys Beverly Hills Mansion

#53

Post by georgespencer »

Fuxy wrote: post #47
georgespencer wrote: post #19

Good for him. I also enjoy the fact that he's bought something which I can imagine would be relatively straightforward to recreate in the game which got him there. People saying it's a "tasteless piece of real estate" seem misguided. It's a lovely building, architecturally. I don't think the furnishings do it justice (it's all too plush and nouveau) but it's a really lovely design.

To be honest it's probably not something I would do. I mean it's certainly a lovely house but it is 70 million worthy? A slightly more modest but spacious house on the outskirts of the city is more my style. I mean imagine how many other cool things you could do with that money instead of having sit in some house. Well regardless it's his money and he can do whatever he wants with it although i wish he would invest i…

> i wish he would invest it in something more interesting

Something I learned the hard way: it's super hard to even politely suggest that there are better ways for people to spend their money without coming across as churlish. Be happy for the triumph of the nerd!

Re: Notch Buys Beverly Hills Mansion

#56

Post by jonlucc »

johnyzee wrote: post #52
easytiger wrote: post #46

> When the home was purchased, the Minecraft creator also purchased all of the furniture for $6 million. I know good furniture is expensive, but seems like a lot!

I think, when you have the kind of money that Notch now does, your time becomes by far your most precious asset. Saving the hassle of interior decoration probably makes it well worth it for him. Tangentially, it is probably a lot of pressure to be that rich. Must be easy to feel that you are not making the most of it, when at any given moment you could be doing whatever ridiculously expensive thing you can imagine, r…

Right, but surely if he wanted to, he could hire someone to do it his way for $5 million. He probably just likes the way the furniture fits the house or something like that.

Re: Notch Buys Beverly Hills Mansion

#57

Post by Udo »

boracay wrote: post #40
Udo wrote: post #35

There are certain aspects about Notch's rise to fame and fortune that make his story more inspiring to me than practically any other celebrity. He got wealthy doing what he loved, he never bullied anyone or got into any kind of real drama, he didn't need to build an oppressive empire, his product was something that enabled and inspired people in itself, and when it wasn't fun anymore he just quit and is (from the loo…

I would imagine the biggest opportunity of "unexpected wealth" is that you have the benefit of knowing better. As in that you don't have to value the same things as society at large and can go on and do things that really matter. Seems like he's wasting that opportunity.

> As in that you don't have to value the same things as society at large

He's not from a rich background, is not well-connected, is not a business person, is not stunningly young or good looking, is not being sponsored by a media conglomerate - he is just a nerdy nice guy. I'm having trouble seeing the conformity you ascribe to him. In fact, he started out by being different.

> can go on and do things that really matter. Seems like he's wasting that opportunity.

It's depressing but interesting that big-time CEOs who are unpleasant in every way imaginable are somehow beyond reproach as long as they make a big show of donating a bit to charity here and there, but when someone who's not "a captain of industry" or a line-manufactured superstar buys something extravagant, people's propriety alarm bells start going off.

You also seem to imply that his wealth is somehow random and undeserved, and that he should retroactively work on deserving it - as if Minecraft didn't have an enormously positive impact on many people (including children) already.

Re: Notch Buys Beverly Hills Mansion

#58

Post by arfliw »

rertrree wrote: post #33
krig wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is difficult to imagine what it would actually be like to have that kind of money, the Minecraft success is such a ridiculous outlier. He pretty much went from being an average swede with little savings to having more money than everyone. At this point, he can give away millions of dollars every month and still end up having more money than he started with. In theory I agree with you in your sentiment, but…

I'd be careful if I were him. His income is gone as far as I know. Unless he does some smart investing with the current cash reserve he could be broke in ~10 years. Just an interesting observation; Minecraft was sold for 2.5B $, let's assume Notch got 1.5B $ out of it. Buying that house alone cost him 5% of his entire wealth.

>Unless he does some smart investing

This is an investment. He didn't throw a $70 million party, he bought an asset he can sell in the future and which he presumably thinks will increase in value over time.

And anybody who just became a billionaire is not going to stick that money into a savings account, they will get hooked up with a very good financial advisor who will help them to grow their wealth. Say he has $1 billion, a decent but not great return on that would be 8% a year. That's $80 million! He could buy one of these every year, spend $5 million and still have $5 million left over. And that's exactly how he should and presumably will manage his wealth. You don't spend your wealth, you grow it and spend some of the income it produces. Which is precisely what any rookie financial advisor would teach him on day 1.

Re: Notch Buys Beverly Hills Mansion

#59

Post by gmays »

What cracked me up is if you watch the video advertising the home on the website (http://1181hillcrest.com/video.html) the guy's contact email address is a Gmail address.

If you're offering a home at $85,000,000 (the original list price) and you even create a website for the property, at least spring the extra $12/year for your own domain name.

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