Bernie Ecclestone Is Fucked



Why is this woman laughing? (image via telegraph)

Billionaires are like medieval kings. Borborygmous are their eccentricities. And sometimes, in keeping with their erratic social oscillations, they simply don't cover their ass. Witness: H. Ross Perot. Nutty as a fucking Almond Joy! The little Texas-freak ran an odd Presidential campaign, then pulled out -- because, allegedly, his daughter wedding might get mussed up -- and finally reentered. Typical billionaire behavior. Silly little Texas-freak.

Then there is Michael Bloomberg. After eccentrically maneuvering government into an instrument to cut the amount of cigarette smokers in NYC ("Nanny state," anyone?), he is, at present, attempting to override 2 referendums on term limits for Mayor. Freak! Then there is Tom Golisano, the erratic billionaire who is a perennial gadfly in Empire state politics. Billionaire Si Newhouse *allegedly* denied Michael Kinsley the editorship of The New Yorker, for which he was imminently qualified, because he showed up for dinner at his house in 1998 in hiking boots.

Why are billionaires such goddam freaks? It goes back to the monarchy. Kierkegaard once sagely observed that he enjoyed the company of King Christian VII because as a monarch whose word was law, he was an interesting individual personality to observe. Similarly billionaires -- the modern equivalent to monarchs -- are interesting, if sometimes monsterous, personalities in observation. They are so used to having their every whim attended to by yes-men and whatever-women that their personalities oftentimes go .. sideways. Nah mean? The effect, as in the case of Ross Perot, can sometimes be comic. But few stories are more eccentric and, we suppose, tragi-comic than this one about the head of Formula One racing and his wife, a former Croatian --! -- model 28 years younger and ten inches taller than him. You know how this story ends, and whose wallet becomes significantly lighter. From Thisislondon:

"Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has split from his wife Slavica, it was claimed today.

"The 78-year-old tycoon's marriage is said to be heading for the divorce courts after she moved out of the £10m family home in Kensington. The 6ft 2in former model, who towers over the 5ft 4in billionaire, is alleged to have packed her bags while Mr Eccelstone was in Brazil watching Lewis Hamilton's Grand Prix victory.

"According to friends in Switzerland, where the couple have a second home, Mrs Ecclestone, 50, has already consulted divorce lawyers.

"Mr Ecclestone has put the bulk of his fortune in her name. The couple are said to be worth £2.4bn.

"A huge proportion of this, £1.9 bn, from a bond issue in 1999, was put in offshore trusts controlled by Mrs Ecclestone.

"... Mr Ecclestone admitted his wife had moved out but blamed it on the noise from builders in the house next door."

Mr. Ecclestone was formerly 10th richest man in Britain. Emphasis on formerly.



(image via dailymail)