Rich and Famous
How wealthy is Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, who with $6.3 billion tops Forbes’ latest list of the 400 richest Americans? Consider:
* Gates, who turns 37 on Oct. 28, has earned an average of $454,413 daily since he was born.
* Gates boosted his net worth by $4.1 million a day during the past year.
* Gates’ net worth is 73 times the $86.6-million annual budget of the Federal Trade Commission, the agency investigating alleged anti-competitive behavior by Microsoft.
(The Seattle-area software maker denies any wrongdoing.)
Used to Be Rich and Famous
On the other end of the spectrum is Los Angeles financier Charles W. Knapp, who ran the nation’s largest thrift in the 1980s before regulators ousted him from American Savings & Loan.
Knapp and his wife, actress Lois Hamilton, have filed for bankruptcy protection. Among the details contained in their court papers:
* Knapp’s assets included $50,000 in books and art and $1,200 in guns.
* One valuable Knapp asset, a $20,000 watch, has been stolen.
* Knapp’s unpaid bills include $2,240 for theater tickets, $5,234 in dry cleaning and $12,578 in public relations work done by famed publicists Rogers & Cowan.
* Knapp’s debts include more than $137,000 owed to 14 credit card issuers, department stores and an oil company.
Expensive Beef
Andrew Exler, who made a name suing the likes of Disneyland over a ban on same-sex dancing and the Chippendales nightclub for holding women-only shows, has been stuck with the check in his dispute with Sizzler Family Steakhouses.
Two year ago, Exler, 31, sued the Los Angeles restaurant chain, alleging discrimination, after he was denied a $1.25 senior citizen discount at a Sizzler in Palm Springs. Exler lost in court, so he appealed.
In an opinion earlier this month, a three-justice appeals court not only turned Exler down, but ordered him to pay $8,601 in costs--$2,693 for Sizzler’s legal bills and $5,908 to reimburse taxpayers for processing the appeal.
Presiding Justice Manual A. Ramirez called Exler’s lawsuit “the most frivolous theory” he had ever encountered amid “a proliferation of picturesque litigation.”
Exler, who says he earns $1,800 a month as a paralegal, is drafting an appeal to the state Supreme Court. “This could have a chilling effect,” he says.
Briefly
Growth industry: The Learning Annex offers a course titled “Make $1,000 Per Day as an Expert Witness,” regardless of background or education . . . An Atlanta church puts “job opportunity cards” in pews for members to fill out if they know of job openings . . . Will they pick up a “Nashville West” accent? Japan’s All Nippon Airways says it will train 15 student pilots in Bakersfield, in part because it “will help the students from Japan to perfect their English during 14 months in Bakersfield.”
