Too Much Money

Are billionaires so dead inside that they need to risk their lives just to feel alive again? 

Not all of them. Probably. 

This week we’re diving and climbing and rocketing inside the world of extreme luxury and adventure travel where the insanely wealthy pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to travel to the depths of the ocean, outer space, Antarctica and the highest, most remote peaks on Earth. 

Plus: we've got an update on the show.

Email us at [email protected]. Too Much Money is hosted and produced by Jo Piazza and Doree Shafrir. Music is by Lisa Brenner. Our network partner is Acast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Karlie Kloss is just the latest billionaire (by marriage) who thought it might be fun to start buying magazines. But billionaires' track record with the media is ... not great. In this ep we discuss the various billionaires (Jeff Bezos, Patrick Soon-Shiong, Mort Zuckerman, Sam Zell, etc.) who have bought media properties, what happened next, and who suffered (hint: not them!).

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Too Much Money is hosted and produced by Jo Piazza and Doree Shafrir. Music is by Lisa Brenner. Our network partner is Acast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are we being invaded by aliens? Jo thought so when she saw a massive string of bright lights jet across the night sky. But alas, it wasn't aliens — it was Elon Musk. The Musker has been releasing satellites by the dozen and if you don't know what you are looking at they are downright terrifying. Here to explain this latest venture from the infamous billionaire is guest host Nick Aster, aka Jo's husband, who knows much more about space things than we do. 

Email us! [email protected].

Too Much Money is hosted and produced by Jo Piazza and Doree Shafrir. Music is by Lisa Brenner. Our network partner is Acast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robert Bigelow made his fortune in budget hotels (with some really intense bad reviews). But that business was all a means to an end for Bigelow. All he ever wanted (since he was a little kid staring up at the stars) was to go to outer space. And he tried to make that dream a reality by offering to make NASA some budget motels on the moon. When that didn't work out her switched his focus to funding UFO research and eventually an even stranger and more unbelievable project.

Email us at [email protected]. Too Much Money is hosted and produced by Jo Piazza and Doree Shafrir. Music is by Lisa Brenner. Our network partner is Acast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There was so much billionaire news over the last few weeks that we needed to do a news-y episode to go over it all. First we have yet another billionaire buying up land in Hawaii for somewhat mysterious reasons, and then we cover a three-day, $120 million PRE-wedding party in India. Finally, we have a story about a billionaire who is actually doing something to help the world.

Email us at [email protected]!

Too Much Money is hosted and produced by Jo Piazza and Doree Shafrir. Music is by Lisa Brenner. Our network partner is Acast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s episode tells the tale of the worst party ever thrown. This is what happens when a Gilded Age millionaire has too much money to spend to celebrate the grand opening of his fancy new stables. Dinner guests were made to endure a multi-course dinner while strapped in the saddle atop horses lifted into a fourth floor Manhattan ballroom. But we promise, it gets even weirder. 

Email us your thoughts, comments, questions, concerns, etc.! We're at [email protected].

Too Much Money is hosted and produced by Jo Piazza and Doree Shafrir. Music is by Lisa Brenner. Our network partner is Acast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2010, a man named Forrest Fenn published a memoir that contained a 24-verse poem that, he said, contained nine clues about the whereabouts of what he said was a buried treasure worth $2 million. For more than a decade, thousands of people tried to find his treasure with no luck. When treasure hunters started dying, people began wondering why he didn't call the whole thing off. And then someone found it.

Email us at [email protected]! Too Much Money is hosted and produced by Jo Piazza and Doree Shafrir. Music is by Lisa Brenner.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Eighties were a wacky time in aviation history. Deregulation ushered in a variety of kooky airlines that catered to all kinds of crowds, from a smokers' airline to fancy-pants first-class-only carriers. Even Donald Trump had his own airline, complete with gold-plated bathrooms. But Trump wasn't the only one decking out planes to look like one of Hugh Hefner's mansions. Casino and movie studio magnate Kirk Kerkorian of MGM had the wild idea to create an airline meant to satisfy celebs' every whim on flights from New York to Los Angeles. Frequented by the likes of Madonna and Guns N' Roses, for a brief stint MGM Air was THE WAY celebs flew the friendly skies. But alas, every rose has its thorn and every celebration must come to an end. We're going deep into the demise of the airline whose motto was "everything else should be called second class."

Email us at [email protected]! Too Much Money is hosted and produced by Jo Piazza and Doree Shafrir. Music is by Lisa Brenner.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2012, Oracle founder and billionaire Larry Ellison bought 98 percent of the Hawaiian island of Lanai for $300 million. The 3,000 or so people who live there were initially hopeful that life there would improve, but now, 12 years later, they're worried about the changes he's made and how life on the island they call home may never be the same.

Email us at [email protected]! Too Much Money is hosted and produced by Jo Piazza and Doree Shafrir. Music is by Lisa Brenner.

Further reading:

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/28/magazine/larry-ellison-island-hawaii.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-oracle-larry-ellison-lanai-hawaii-plans-tourism/

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The celebrated aviator Amelia Earhart is better known for how she disappeared than the incredible feats she accomplished alive. Her disappearance has long captivated explorers, governments and naturally billionaires. And as we know, billionaires love to find things other people can’t afford to find. Millions have been spent searching for any clue of what happened to Earhart and just last month a new clue emerged after a millionaire from South Carolina spent more than $11 million to scour thousands of miles of ocean looking for the unfindable. 

Email us at [email protected]! Too Much Money is hosted and produced by Jo Piazza and Doree Shafrir. Music is by Lisa Brenner.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.