5 ms·

"Billionaire" doesn't need a prefix yet and it'll certainly be a while before we get any megabillionaires, aka quadrillionaires. Probably not long before we st

"Billionaire" doesn't need a prefix yet and it'll certainly be a while before we get any megabillionaires, aka quadrillionaires. Probably not long before we start having megamillionaires, aka kilobillionaires, aka trillionaires though. Elon Musk's around a quarter of the way there.

adamsmith143 5y ago
Not that there's a definite standard but someone worth over $100B feels Mega to me.
- omnicognate 5y ago
  I was joking about mega conventionally meaning a million of something [1]. I agree it's certainly "mega" in the informal/Aussie sense. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_prefix https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_prefix
  - OJFord 5y ago
    Nobody (in English at least) uses SI prefixes for currency though? £1M (happens to have the same shorthand, but) is never called 'a megapound'.
    - genewitch 5y ago
      I sometimes say gigadollars (or gigabucks) when i want my [captive] audience to understand i am talking about an unfathomably large amount of money. I use SI prefixes a lot because i grew up with both computers and simple circuit-building, and still use computers and now radio. I also prefer to see $1mm to $1M, and i'm not even French!
    - cardiffspaceman 5y ago
      Megapound sounds like something one of Eric Idle's Monty Python characters would have said. But back then it would have only been possessed by the guy who paid Lennon and McCartney.
    - npongratz 5y ago
      Someone does :) HN discussion (2009): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=921524 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=921524 https://tarsnap.com https://tarsnap.com > Tarsnap uses a prepaid model based on actual usage: > Storage: 250 picodollars / byte-month of encoded data ($0.25 / GB-month) > Bandwidth: 250 picodollars / byte of encoded data ($0.25 / GB)
      - OJFord 5y ago
        Y'know.. that direction actually makes a lot of sense! (Just since we don't already have common words for those I suppose.) Do find it annoying sometimes when something's specified as 0.0000025 $currencies per hour or whatever.
ncmncm 5y ago
Supposedly Putin is there already. Much good it does him.
- ben_w 5y ago
  I hear this claim, but I disbelieve. Wikipedia list of countries by total wealth[0] says Russia’s worth was $3.3 trillion in 2019, and I don’t believe he can really be said to control that fraction of Russia even if he was explicitly given more power than Stalin had over the USSR. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_wealth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_wea...
  - ncmncm 5y ago
    His assets are not mainly in Russia. He has been sluicing wealth out for decades. Imagine if his assets outside Russia could be identified. Trump's fascination with Putin is not idle; he has a nose for money.
    - ben_w 5y ago
      A trillion dollars is roughly two years of the entire Russian national exports, and I don’t think he has the capacity to pocket 10% of the total exports every year for the last twenty. The corruption needed to enable that level of loss would imply other people having the opportunity, and I expect competition between different corrupt officials would limit any one person. Perhaps I’m wrong — I’m not knowledgeable, this is just based on what feels like a plausible upper level to me.
      - ncmncm 5y ago
        Four oligarchs died under suspicious circumstances in the last, what, a week? Who gets their assets? FSB will gather them up. Nobody can be sure of the numbers. Most of us can't count that high in one lifetime.
        ben_w 5y ago

adamsmith143 5y ago

Not that there's a definite standard but someone worth over $100B feels Mega to me.

omnicognate 5y ago
I was joking about mega conventionally meaning a million of something [1]. I agree it's certainly "mega" in the informal/Aussie sense. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_prefix https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_prefix
- OJFord 5y ago
  Nobody (in English at least) uses SI prefixes for currency though? £1M (happens to have the same shorthand, but) is never called 'a megapound'.
  - genewitch 5y ago
    I sometimes say gigadollars (or gigabucks) when i want my [captive] audience to understand i am talking about an unfathomably large amount of money. I use SI prefixes a lot because i grew up with both computers and simple circuit-building, and still use computers and now radio. I also prefer to see $1mm to $1M, and i'm not even French!
  - cardiffspaceman 5y ago
    Megapound sounds like something one of Eric Idle's Monty Python characters would have said. But back then it would have only been possessed by the guy who paid Lennon and McCartney.
  - npongratz 5y ago
    Someone does :) HN discussion (2009): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=921524 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=921524 https://tarsnap.com https://tarsnap.com > Tarsnap uses a prepaid model based on actual usage: > Storage: 250 picodollars / byte-month of encoded data ($0.25 / GB-month) > Bandwidth: 250 picodollars / byte of encoded data ($0.25 / GB)
    - OJFord 5y ago
      Y'know.. that direction actually makes a lot of sense! (Just since we don't already have common words for those I suppose.) Do find it annoying sometimes when something's specified as 0.0000025 $currencies per hour or whatever.

ncmncm 5y ago

Supposedly Putin is there already. Much good it does him.

ben_w 5y ago
I hear this claim, but I disbelieve. Wikipedia list of countries by total wealth[0] says Russia’s worth was $3.3 trillion in 2019, and I don’t believe he can really be said to control that fraction of Russia even if he was explicitly given more power than Stalin had over the USSR. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_wealth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_wea...
- ncmncm 5y ago
  His assets are not mainly in Russia. He has been sluicing wealth out for decades. Imagine if his assets outside Russia could be identified. Trump's fascination with Putin is not idle; he has a nose for money.
  - ben_w 5y ago
    A trillion dollars is roughly two years of the entire Russian national exports, and I don’t think he has the capacity to pocket 10% of the total exports every year for the last twenty. The corruption needed to enable that level of loss would imply other people having the opportunity, and I expect competition between different corrupt officials would limit any one person. Perhaps I’m wrong — I’m not knowledgeable, this is just based on what feels like a plausible upper level to me.
    - ncmncm 5y ago
      Four oligarchs died under suspicious circumstances in the last, what, a week? Who gets their assets? FSB will gather them up. Nobody can be sure of the numbers. Most of us can't count that high in one lifetime.
      - ben_w 5y ago