I have to get a new job. Somehow Simon Cowell has managed to buy himself an $80M house. I don't care how much you are worth that is a lot of money to spend on a place you will never be more than half the year. The house, in West London is a Grade II listed house whatever the hell that means. Perhaps someone in London could answer that question for me. The neighborhood in West London is called Holland Park and the house contains an underground extension which is perfect for torturing Ryan or Paula, and a swimming pool, spa, a large kitchen and a car park.
I don't mean to sound snotty, but don't you think you would expect a little more for $80M? I mean, the underground torture room is nice and all, but what about the extras? Solid gold ceilings? Complimentary happy endings for a year? I mean, I expect a little something for my monthly payment of $500,000.
An even bigger question is just how much is Simon making, and how much is he worth? Wiki says he is worth about $200M. So that means he is spending about half his worth on a house. Well you know he would never give it away or donate it to charity so I guess if you are looking at ways to spend lots of money on yourself a big $80M house would do it.
Holland Park is pretty swish..its not a bad investment really..he'll never lose money in the area.
ReplyDeleteThis has already been pulled from the Daily Mail and it's sites as the pictures were actually of a hotel. Probably not true.
ReplyDelete"Buildings can be listed because of age, rarity, architectural merit, and method of construction. Occasionally English Heritage selects a building because the building has played a part in the life of a famous person, or as the scene for an important event...
ReplyDeleteThe older a building is, the more likely it is to be listed...Grade II* are particularly important buildings of more than special interest..."
http://www.heritage.co.uk/apavilions/glstb.html
I know he owns millions of dollars worth of cars. What else do you do with $200 million? Unless you're interested in a trip to space.
ReplyDeletep.s. (I wish Blogger had an "edit" button...) Don't he and Nigel Lythgoe get a huge percentage of any money the show or the winners make? They probably made half their money off of Kelly Clarkson's first album.
ReplyDeleteCowell is worth zillions. Holy Moly says this story is untrue, but Cowell could easily afford a place like this.
ReplyDeleteGrade 2 listing isn't that spectacular. Most old places (I mean over 200 years old) or in a conservation area (interesting architecture) are Grade 2. It prevents changes to the appearance which damage the character of the building. Grade 1 listing is for really important buildings, and prevents almost all structural changes, including things like what colour you paint the front door.
Everything sound more impressive in dollars, now that they're a worthless currency. With the overseas exchange rate it's probably a quaint bungalow.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that the U.S. dollar isn't worth much over in the UK -- probably translated into the Euro, it's still a lot of money but less than if we paid for it.
ReplyDeletei would SO love an underground torture chamber!
ReplyDeletethink of the possibilities!!
twisted, jax, adrian, you in?
Bionic, I'm in if we can really torture people. Like Madonna, Ryan Seacrest, P.H., L.L. and B.S....all who shall not be named.
ReplyDelete@ mooshki: Simon Fuller is the one who gets 50% of the winners' earnings as their personal/business manager (and agency if they choose 19E to represent them; a few don't). He maintains this is more than fair b/c any other artist would get separate people to fill these roles and end up paying half their income to them anyway, but still, to give half your net over...just the idea of it makes my skin crawl, frankly.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, isn't the pound to dollar ratio is over 2:1 now? So really this would have been a $40 million house, but that's still quite a bit.
WOW! Fuller gets 50% of whatever they make off the crappy music he makes them put out? That's horrible. I never want my favorites to win. Ever.
ReplyDeleteIn the real world {and by that I mean us little folks} my rule of thumb is that your mortgage is equal to roughly two years gross pay. I seem to recall reading Cowell makes about $36 million a year from AI, which puts an $80 million mortgage right in his ballpark.
ReplyDeleteI, on the other hand, am grateful for the unused area under bridges, corrugation and the $5 I get weekly from Nia Vardalos.