Finance by $ Amount
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$.12
In 1834 Delmonico's, one of NY's finest restaurants,
provided a meal of soup, steak, coffee & half a pie for 12 cents.
(SFEC, 5/18/97, Z1 p.6)
$.89 In 1954 the TV Dinner was
1st put on sale by Swanson and Sons. The turkey, sweet potatoes and
peas package was priced at 89 cents.
(MC, 4/6/02)(WSJ, 1/7/04, p.B1)
$3.50 The 6-story Lake Merritt
Hotel opened in Oakland in 1927 and mayor John Davis proclaimed it to
be Oakland’s most exclusive apartment hotel. A room cost $3.50 a night.
(SFCM, 6/23/02, p.40)
$7 NYC land at Broadway & Wall
Street sold at a record $7 per sq. inch on Feb 1, 1926.
(MC, 2/1/02)
$240-$360 In 1996 seven people were executed for
selling women. An additional 54 were given suspended death sentences.
334 women were rescued from being sold into marriage or prostitution
under the going rate.
(SFC, 10/12/96, p.A11)
$399 The new 12-gigabyte disk
drive from Quantum Corp.
(WSJ, 11/10/97, p.B6)
$895 It was reported that IBM has
a new 16.8-gigabyte disk drive for $895.
(WSJ, 11/10/97, p.B6)
$1070 In 1941 the US annual median
income was $1,070, or about $20 per day.
(SFEC, 9/28/97, Z1 p.2)
$7,000 Per month 1995 cost for
wrapped advertising on a city bus, plus $11,000 for the production of
the graphics.
(BJSJ, 10/30/95, p.7)
$8,500 The Ukraine military in
2002 offered a half-hour flight on the MiG-29 for $8,500.
(SFC, 9/13/02, p.A12)
$11,000 A sex change operation cost this much in 1998.
(SFEC, 11/8/98, p.A7)
$18,400 The price of an 1847 bottle of Chateau
d'Yquem wine auctioned by Sotheby's.
(Hem, 8/95, p.91)
$21,000 A desert robe worn by Lawrence of Arabia was
sold for this amount at auction on Thursday. It had been given by
Lawrence to his army chum Arthur Russell more than 70 years ago.
(V. Sun, 11/3/95, p.A-20)
$36,950 The Lincoln Mark VIII advertised in the WSJ.
(WSJ, 10/11/96, p.B20)
$62,700 The 1996 cut off for the social security tax
of 12.4%
$85,000 1934 May 23, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow
were shot some 4 dozen times by police after the pair had spent the
previous 2 years killing and robbing banks in the Midwest. In 1997
Clyde’s bullet-ridden shirt was auctioned off to a Nevado casino for
this amount. His largest theft was estimated at $4,000.
(SFC, 4/3/97, p.A13)(SFC, 4/15/97, p.A13)
$100,000 In 1885 $100,000 was raised in US for a
pedestal for the Statue of Liberty.
(MC, 8/11/02)
$131,040 1997 Jun 9, A California state commission
decided to raise the salary of Gov. Wilson to $131,040. It would make
him the highest paid governor in the nation.
(SFC, 6/10/97, p.A19)
$136,600 In 1997 the US House of Representatives
voted themselves a $3,000 pay increase, the equivalent of a 2.3% raise
on $133,600.
(SFC, 9/18/97, p.A3)
$800,000 The annual salary of Franklyn Jenifer,
former president of Howard University. He was the highest paid private
univ. president.
(SFC, 10/18/96, B1)
$1.8 Mil A 1933 Alpha Romeo sold for this amount at
the Concours d’Elegance.
(AAM, 3/96, p.9)
$2 Mil A Guttenberg bible sold for
$2,000,000 in NYC in 1978.
(MC, 4/7/02)
$2.4 Mil A Gutenberg Bible (1 of 21) sold for $2.4
million in London on Jun 9, 1978.
(MC, 6/9/02)
$3.26 Mil A Jun 25, 1997 auction of Princess Diana’s
79 cocktail and evening dresses brought this amount.
(SFC, 6/26/97, p.A1)
$4.5 Mil The annual tire budget from a 1989 law that
sets a .25 per tire disposal fee. The program is designed to figure out
the bests means for tire disposal, but already cement kilns and
industrial boilers are burning more and more tires as fuel.
(WSJ, 10/11/95, p. A-1)
$5.7 Mil Triple Crown horse Secretariat was bought
for a record $5.7m in 1973.
(SC, 2/26/02)
$5.9 Mil The SFMOMA purchased a Mark Rothko painting,
“No. 14, 1960,” for $5.9 million.
(SFC,11/21/97, p.C1)
$7.4 Mil Michelangelo's "Christ & the Woman of
Samaria" sold for $7.4 million on Jan 28, 1998.
(MC, 1/28/02)
$9.5 Mil In 1978 Columbia Pictures paid $9.5 million
for movie rights to "Annie."
(MC, 1/20/02)
$11 Mil On Mar 18, 2005, Wal-Mart
agreed to pay a record $11 million to settle a civil immigration case
for using illegal immigrants to clean floors at stores in 21 states.
(SFC, 3/19/05, p.C1)
$14.7 Mil Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), Dutch
painter. His work “Harvest in Prevance,” was done both in oil and as a
watercolor. The watercolor sold in 1997 for this amount.
(AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.606)(SFC, 6/26/97, p.A21)
$15 Mil The Louisiana Purchase
(827,000 sq miles) under Thomas Jefferson was made around 1803.
(A&IP, ESM, p.27)
$15.6 Mil On Feb 1, 2005, Russell Christoff,
kindergarten teacher in Antioch, Ca., found out that he was awarded
$15.6 million for a Taster’s Choice modeling photo taken in 1986.
(SFC, 2/1/05, p.A2)
$20 Mil Kenneth Behring, a
California real estate developer, made a formal donation of $20 million
to the Smithsonian Institution in Nov. 1997.
(SFC,11/6/97, p.A6)
$20 Mil Antique jewelry valued at
$20 million was stolen from the Lang Estate and Jewelry store on Union
Square in SF on Apr 7, 2003. 2 men were later arrested. In 2004 the FBI
offered a $50,000 reward for Devin L. Smith (42).
(SFC, 12/21/04, p.B3)
$20-50 Mil A 1976 bank robbery in Beirut netted a
world record $20-50 million.
(MC, 1/22/02)
$23 Mil In Texas a jury in 1999
awarded Debbie Lovett $23 million for heart-valve problems that she
blamed on the diet drug combination fen-phen.
(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A3)
$25 Mil US paid Denmark $25
million for Virgin Islands in 1917.
(MC, 1/17/02)
$30 Mil The Hsi Lai Temple in
Hacienda Heights, Ca., the largest Buddhist temple in North America,
was built for this amount.
(WSJ, 9/8/97, p.A16)
$30.8 Mil In Nov. 1994, Bill Gates purchased a
72-page document by Leonardo da Vinci that he renamed the “Codex
Leicester.”
(WSJ, 5/14/96, p.A-18)
$31 Mil A jury in Florida ruled on 1/22/97 that
Owens-Corning Fiberglass Co. must pay this amount to a Mississippi man
dying of cancer from exposure to asbestos.
(SFC, 1/23/96, p.A3)
$32 Mil On Nov 20, 2003, Conrad
Black, Canadian newspaper magnate, stepped down as CEO of Hollinger
Int'l. following reports that he other top officials received
unauthorized payments of some $32.2 million.
(WSJ, 11/28/03, p.A1)
$34 Mil On Feb 12, 1999, Eric
Stein (41) was arrested for bilking some 1,800 investors out of $34
million. He had operated the Sterling Group, a Las Vegas firm that used
TV commercials to sell products directly to viewers. The operations
were essentially a Ponzi scheme.
(WSJ, 8/9/04, p.R1)
$36 Mil In 1901 in Mexico a silver
refinery was established in Torreon in Coahuila state. The Met Mex
Penoles plant created a mountain of slag over the years and poisonous
lead seeped into the blood of thousands of children in the area. In
1999 a plan was announced to evacuate a 20-block area. 393 homes were
to be bulldozed for a 15-acre buffer zone in a $36 million cleanup
program, the largest ever by a Mexican company.
(SFC, 5/6/99, p.C2)
$37 Mil In Switzerland on Sep 1,
1997 robbers made off with $37 million in cash from a Zurich post
office.
(WSJ, 9/2/97, p.A1)
$39.85 Mil Vincent Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" was bought
Mar 30, 1987.
(Historynet, 3/30/98)
$40.3 Mil The Vincent van Gogh painting “Sunflowers”
was presented by art teacher Claude-Emile Schuffenecker at a 1901 Paris
exhibition. It sold in 1987 for $40.3 million to the Yasuda Fire and
Marine Insurance Co. and was reported in 1997 to be a possible fake.
Van Gogh’s letters refer to only 6 paintings of sunflowers, and the
Yasuda painting is a seventh.
(SFC,10/27/97, p.D4)
$40-50 Mil The US purchased 21 MiG-29 aircraft from
Moldova for this amount in Oct 1997 in order to keep the planes out of
the hands of Iran.
(SFC,11/5/97, p.A5)
$43 Mil Pfizer agreed to settle a
suit (12/21/01) over the diabetes drug Rezulin after a jury awarded $43
mil to a Texas woman who said it destroyed her liver.
(SFC, 12/22/01, p.A5)
$49 Mil On Oct 23, 2003, Santa
Clara, California, 7-Eleven owner Narinder Badwal learned that he had
sold the winning California Lottery and was entitled to a $250,000
commission. He then learned that he had sold the winning ticket worth
$49,747,500 to himself.
(SFC, 10/28/03, p.A15)
$50 Mil The Walton Family
Charitable Trust Foundation made a $50 million donation to the Univ. of
Arkansas business school.
(WSJ, 10/8/98, p.B10)
$50 Mil In England it was reported
that Nicholas van Hoogstraten was building the largest and most
expensive house of the century in Sussex, named Hamilton Place. The
palace was to include a gallery for his French furniture and a
mausoleum for his future.
(WSJ, 4/29/98, p.A20)
$53.9 Mil Vincent Van Gogh’s painting "Irises" was
bought from the estate of Joan Whitney Payson by an unidentified buyer
for $53.9 million at Sotheby’s in New York on Nov 11, 1987.
(HN, 11/11/98)
$71.5 Mil A Van Gogh self-portrait sold at 1998
auction for $71.5 million.
(WSJ, 11/20/98, p.A1)
$75 Mil George Soros invested this
amount in a petrochemical plant in West Bengal with 2 Indian partners.
(WSJ, 5/14/96, p.A-18)
$78 Mil The San Francisco-Oakland
Bay Bridge opened on Nov 12, 1936. It cost $78 million and was the
longest bridge ever attempted. 23 men died during its construction.
(SFC, 11/11/96, p.A13)(SFEC, 5/2/99, Z1 p.5)(MC,
11/12/01)
$80 Mil Greyhound Bus bought
Trailways Bus for $80 million in 1987.
(MC, 7/14/02)
$80 Mil On Aug 22, 1994, a catacarb leak at the
Unocal facility in Rodeo, Ca., lasted 16 days. A suit by 6,000
residents settled in 1997 charged Unocal this amount.
(SFC, 4/15/97, p.A10)
$85 Mil In 2003 the Catholic
archdiocese of Boston agreed to pay $85 million to settle claims by
more than 550 people who said they were sexually abused by priests.
(SFC, 9/10/03, p.A3)
$86 Mil Some 400 Americans made
over $86 million each in the year 2000.
(SSFC, 8/31/03, Par p.1)
$89.3 Mil The 1997 Rolling Stones US tour “Bridges to
Babylon” grossed this amount.
(SFC,12/27/97, p.C6)
$90 Mil It was reported that the
Air Force agreed to sell McClellan Air Force Base of California
to Sacramento County for a maximum of $90 million.
(SFC,12/24/97, p.A14)
$100 Mil In The movie "Batman," set a record of
quickest $100 million over 10 days.
(MC, 7/3/02)
$100 Mil In 1913 John D. Rockefeller gave $100
million to Rockefeller Foundation. At this time Rockefeller’s net worth
approached $900 million (about $13 billion in 1998 dollars.) He endowed
the foundation with nearly $183 million.
(WSJ, 5/8/98, p.W10)(MC, 3/14/02)
$100 Mil In 1925 Doris Duke (d.1993), aged 12,
inherited a $100 million tobacco estate.
(SFC, 4/20/04, p.E1)
$100 Mil In 2002 Ruth Lilly (87), great-grandchild of
pharmaceutical magnate Eli Lilly, gave Poetry Magazine (b.1912), a $100
million endowment.
(SFC, 11/19/02, p.A3)
$100 Mil In the US the Archer Daniels Midland Co.
agreed to pay an anti-trust fine of $100 million and plead guilty to
price fixing on lysine and citric acid.
(SFC, 10/15/96, p.A3)
$100 Mil The US F-22 Raptor stealth fighter took its
first flight from Dobbins Air Reserve Base north of Atlanta, Ga., Sep
7,1997. The plane was estimated to cost $100 million.
(SFC, 9/8/97, p.A8)
$100 Mil Washington University announced that the
Danforth Foundation, headed by former Sen. John Danforth, had pledged a
gift of $100 million to be delivered over 5 years.
(SFEC,11/16/97, p.A11)
$100 Mil Ethiopia in 1997 received over $100 million
in aid from the US and over $700 million in loans from the IMF.
(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A14)
$125 Mil FMC Corp. was hit with a $125 million
verdict on Apr 14,1998 for misleading the US Army about the safety of
its Bradley Fighting Vehicle. A 1986 lawsuit by former employee Henry
Boisvert complained that the vehicles did not pass all the tests the
company claimed it did.
(SFC, 4/15/98, p.A18)
$127 Mil The list price of the Airbus Industrie
A340-300 airplane.
(WSJ, 5/16/96, p.A-11)
$140 Mil On Sep 9,2003, the WSJ disclosed that Dick
Grasso, Chairman of the NYSE, had a retirement package close to $140
million along with entitlements to an additional $48 million. His 2001
pay exceeded $30 million with a base pay of $1.4 million. Grasso soon
decided to forego the $48 million undisclosed compensation.
(WSJ, 9/11/03, p.C1)
$145 Mil Cleveland’s 45-story BP Building, completed
in 1985, sold in 1996 for this amount.
(WSJ, 10/11/96, p.B1)
$171 Mil Oprah Winfrey had combined earnings of $171
mil. for 1995-1996 and was at the top of the
Forbes magazine listing or 40 best paid entertainers.
(SFC, 9/9/96, p.A2)
$173 Mil The Baltimore Orioles were sold for this
amount in 1993.
(SFC, 1/7/97, p.E1)
$180 Mil The New Jersey Performing Arts Center
opened in Newark in Oct 1997.
(WSJ, 10/21/97, p.A20)
$195 Mil In Streamwood Ill., Frank Capaci, a retired
electrician, won the record $195 mil Powerball lottery of Wisconsin on
May 20, 1998. He chose to take a $104.23 mil lump sum payment.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.A3)
$200 Mil A new chip factory in Thailand will be
constructed as a joint venture by Texas Instruments, Acer of Taiwan and
Alphatec Electronics of Thailand.
(WSJ, 5/16/96, p.A-11)
$200 Mil The 1991 cost of Biosphere 2 in Arizona.
(SFC, 11/25/96, p.A3)
$200 Mil On Oct 12, 2003 Joan Kroc (75), widow of
McDonald's founder Ray Kroc, died near San Diego. On Nov 6 it was
announced that she had left over $200 million for National Public Radio.
(SFC, 11/7/03, p.A2)
$200 Mil On Oct 2, 2005, It was reported that the
Palm Beach, Fla., hedge fund KL Financial, with assets of $200 million,
had run out of funds.
(WSJ, 3/2/05, p.C1)
$225 Mil It was reported that Jordan receives this
amount in annual aid from the US.
(SFC,11/4/97, p.A8)
$250 Mil In 1990 some 70 tons of hashish was
transported across Pakistan by camel and loaded onto 2 freighters. 28
tons were loaded onto the freighter Saratoga Success, which collided
with another ship and after 2 typhoons ended up beached in the
Philippines. The freighter Lucky Star left Pakistan in 1991 with the
other 48 tons and stopped to pick up the 28 tons on the Saratoga. The
final destination was Vancouver, BC, but US federal agents intercepted
the $250 million shipment.
(SFC, 4/19/97, p.C1)
$262.5 Mil In 1997 a jury in south Carolina ordered
Chrysler Corp. to pay this amount the parents of a 6-year-old boy
killed in a 1994 accident due to a defective rear latch. $250 mil was
for punitive damages.
(SFC, 10/9/97, p.A6)
$266 Mil In 1997 Jerold Mackenzie was awarded $266M
for being fired from Miller Brewing for sexual harassment for relaying
a Seinfeld episode to a co-worker.
(MC, 7/16/02)
$280 Mil In Dec, 1992, Sol Kerzner, multimillionaire,
unveiled his Palace of the Lost City in Sun City in the state of
Bophuthatswana, South Africa.
(Hem, 6/96, p.134)
$292 Mil The Powerball jackpot of 20 East Coast
states reached $292 million and the winning numbers were 8-39-43-45-49.
(SFC, 7/30/98, p.A2)
$313 Mil Forbes Mag. listed Steven Spielberg as the
best paid figure in the entertainment business in 1997.
(SFC, 9/9/97, p.E2)
$350 Mil The Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team was
sold to News Corp. for this amount in 1997.
(WSJ, 11/7/97, p.B9)
$351 Mil Laker Airways collapsed owing $351M on Feb
5, 1982.
(MC, 2/5/02)
$357 Mil The 1976 Detroit Renaissance Center
designed by John Portman was opened. In 1996 GM purchased it for 73 mil.
(WSJ, 10/11/96, p.B1)
$400 Mil Japan inaugurated its $400 million Subaru
telescope on Mount Mauna Kea, Hawaii on 9/17/99.
(SFEC, 9/19/99, p.A21)
$427 Mil From Saudi Arabia it was reported the Prince
Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud was building a 984-foot
structure called “The Kingdom Centre” in central Riyadh at this cost.
(WSJ, 12/18/97, p.A1)
$430 Mil The Treasure Island complex in Las Vegas
with 2,800 guest rooms, owned by Steve Wynn.
(Hem., 2/96, p.96)
$450 Mil Mitsubishi is developing a polyester plant
in West Bengal, India.
(WSJ, 5/14/96, p.A-18)
$450 Mil The 109,000 ton Grand Princess cruise ship
will make its debut in May 1998. It cost $450 million and was
billed as the largest and most expensive cruise ship.
(SFEC, 1/18/98, p.T5)
$460 Mil Dec 10, The Pritzker Family agreed to pay
regulators $460 mil to forestall possible civil litigation from the
failure of Superior Bank, of which they owned 50%.
(WSJ, 12/11/01, p.A1)
$500 Mil The 1998 California elections cost an
estimated $500 million.
(SFEC, 11/8/98, p.A1)
$540 Mil BankAmerica Corp. announced that it would
acquire the investment banking firm Robertson Stephens & Co. for
cash.
(SFC, 6/9/97, p.A1)
$551 Mil Financing was expected to enable the start
of the channel project, a 272-mile Tamaulipas Intracoastal Waterway on
the east coast to link Mexico to US cargo channels.
(WSJ, 9/23/96, p.A17)
$600 Mil The value of Adobe Corp., based on creating
software to send electronic data to laser printers. Its first product
was PostScript.
(BJSJ, 10/30/95, p.7)
The amount the US will contribute
over 3 years to help rebuild Bosnia.
(WSJ, 11/22/95, p.A-3)
$660 Mil The SF Bank of America Center was sold to
the Shorenstein Co. for $660 million in 1986.
(SFC, 1/29/98, p.A1)
$700 Mil In Jul, 1995, Nataly I, a Panamanian tuna
boat, was stopped 780 miles west of Peru by the US Coast Guard and
found to contain 12 tons of cocaine valued at this amount.
(WSJ, 7/10/97, p.A13)
$700 Mil Ethiopia in 1997 received over $700 million
in loans from the IMF.
(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A14)
$703 Mil Volkswagen won the bid for Rolls Royce on
Jun 5, 1998.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.D1)
$745 Mil Columbia/HCA Healthcare agreed in 2000 to
pay $745 million to the US federal government to resolve Medicare fraud
allegations.
(WSJ, 5/19/00, p.A3)
$750 Mil Coca-Cola bought Columbia Pictures for $750
million in 1982.
(SSFC, 1/18/04, p.A14)
$750 Mil Bill Gates in 1999 announced his charitable
foundation will give $750 million over the next 5 years to improve the
health of young children in underdeveloped nations.
(SFC, 11/24/99, p.A2)
$858.6 Mil It was reported that Berkshire Hathaway,
the investment vehicle of Warren Buffet, had accumulated 129.7 million
ounces of silver, some 20% of the world’s supply, valued at this amount.
(WSJ, 2/4/98, p.A1)
$900 Mil. Casino cost at Bridgeport, Conn. as
proposed by the Mashantucket Pequat Indians in opposition to the offer
by Mirage Resorts for the same amount.
(WSJ, 9/21/95, p.B-1)
$900 Mil The annual tobacco business in Kentucky.
(SFC, 6/18/96, p.A12) (SFC,
6/20/96, p.A8)
$917 Mil Rock star David Bowie was listed as
Britain’s richest pop star in 1997.
(SFC,10/29/97, p.E4)
$950 Mil In 1982 Adnan Khashoggi, an arms dealer from
Saudi Arabia, settled divorce proceedings with his wife Soraya this
amount plus property.
(SFC, 2/14/98, p.E6)
$1 Bil Walter Annenberg, media
baron, donated art valued at $1 billion to the Metropolitan Museum of
Art.
(WSJ, 1/20/04, p.A1)
$1 Bil GM is expected to pick
Thailand over the Philippines for a $1 billion vehicle assembly plant.
(WSJ, 5/16/96, p.A-1)
$1.1 Bil Toshihide Iguchi, ex-Daiwa bond trader, lost
some $1.1 billion between 1984-1995. The losses led to the bank’s
expulsion from the US in 1995.
(WSJ, 1/8/97, p.A14)
$1.1 Bil The Pentagon chose Lawrence Livermore
National Labs. for a super-laser project. Known as the National
Ignition Facility, its goal will be to ignite a self-sustaining fusion
reaction in a controlled lab setting.
(SFC, 12/20/96, p.E1)
$1.2 Bil Minnesota reports the highest pull-tab sales
(50 cent to one dollar game tickets like instant lottery tickets).
(WSJ, 10/17/95, A-1)
$1.22 Bil In SF the sale of the Embarcadero Center to
Boston Properties was announced on May 12,1998. Included were the 4
towers and 2 neighboring buildings, 275 Battery St. and the Old Federal
Reserve Bldg at Sacramento and Battery.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A1)
$1.25 Bil Representatives of Swiss banks and
holocaust survivors agreed to a settlement of $1.25 billion in
reparations for victims of the Nazi regime.
(SFC, 8/13/98, p.A1)
$1.3 Bil The cost of the Galileo mission to Jupiter.
(WSJ, 1/23/96, p.A-15)
$1.45 Bil The value of the Grupo Televisa SA media
organization in Mexico.
(SFC, 4/18/97, p.E2)
$1.5 Bil The estimated cost for deploying 20,000 US
troops in Bosnia for one year.
(WSJ, 11/22/95, p.A-3)
$1.5 Bil In 2003 US borrowing from foreign investors
stood at $1.5 billion a day.
(WSJ, 12/16/03, p.A1)
$1.65 Bil In 2004 Target Corp. of Minneapolis
announced it would sell Mervyn’s to Sun Capital Partners in Boca Raton,
Fla., for $1.65 billion.
(SSFC, 8/8/04, p.J1)
$1.7 Bil A consortium led by Houston Industries, AES
Corp., and Electricite de France purchased control of the state owned
electrical utility Light Servicos de Eletricidade SA for 1.7 bil.
(WSJ, 5/22/96, p.A-16)
$1.7 Bil Harry Helmsley (87), self-made billionaire,
died on 1/4/97. His vast real estate holdings included the Empire State
Building. His entire estate was left to his wife except for $25k left
to a longtime secretary.
(SFC, 1/6/97, p.A17)(WSJ, 1/3/97, p.A1)(SFC,
1/10/96, p.A3)
$1.8 Bil Hurricane Opal caused this much in estimated
insured damages.
(WSJ, 10/6/95, p.B-1)
$1.8 Bil The 1997 Lucent Technologies acquisition of
Octel Communications Corp. was valued at this amount.
(WSJ, 7/187, p.A22)
$2 Bil In1990 the Hubble space telescope was
launched at this cost.
(NG, 1/’94, p.23)(WSJ, 2/14/97, p.A1)
$2 Bil It was reported that video poker takes in
this much a year in South Carolina.
(WSJ, 12/2/97, p.A1)
$2.1 Bil The Seawolf nuclear submarines by General
Dynamics cost this to build.
(WSJ, 12/13/99, p.A6)
$2.2 Bil On Dec 30, 2003, FedEx agreed to acquire
Kinko's for $2.2 billion.
(WSJ, 12/31/03, p.A3)
$2.34 Bil Contraband accounted for as much as a sixth
of Columbia’s imports or about $2.34 billion in 1995.
(WSJ, 12/17/96, p.A18)
$2.6 Bil Prosecutors arrested Yasuo Hamanaka, the
former Sumitomo copper trader accused of racking up $2.6 billion in
losses.
(SFC, 10/22/96, p.A18)
$2.6 Bil The May 4, 2000 e-mail virus “I Love You”
bug hit millions of computers around the world. It was considered the
most virulent, most damaging ($2.6 bil), most costly and most rapidly
spread virus to date.
(SFC, 5/5/00, p.A1)(SFC, 5/6/00, p.A1)
$2.68 Bil On March 11, 2005, Maurice Greenberg,
president and CEO of AIG Int’l. Group, transferred 1.4 million shares
of AIG stock, valued at $2.68 billion, to his wife. He resigned March
14 amid probes of the company’s accounting.
(SFC, 4/14/05, p.A1)
$2.7 Bil A 40 year agreement was signed between Royal
Dutch/Shell and Perupetro, Peru’s state oil company. Royal Dutch will
spend $2.7 bil to develop a natural gas field.
(SFC, 5/18/96, p.D-6)
$2.83 Bil Texas annual gross lottery sales.
(SFE, 10/1/95, p.A-12)
$3 Bil The new Denver Airport
opened in 1995.
(Hem., 5/97, p.70)
$3 Bil On Nov 4, 2003, Richard M.
Scrushy, former chairman of HealthSouth Corp., was indicted for
participating in a nearly $3 billion accounting fraud.
(WSJ, 11/4/03, p.A3)
$3.1 Bil The Group of Seven industrialized nations
raised their aid offer for closing the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in
the Ukraine.
(WSJ, 4/5/96, p.B-3A)
$3.2 Bil Dow Corning on Jul 8, 1998, agreed to settle
a suit with women claiming injury from silicone breast implants for
$3.2 billion.
(SFC, 7/9/98, p.A1)
$3.3 Bil On Dec 30, the Russian
Tax Ministry slapped a $3.3 billion bill for back taxes, fines and
other penalties on the oil giant Yukos.
(SFC, 12/31/03, p.B6)
$3.4 Bil A parked tank car containing butadiene
ignited in the New Orleans area on Sep 9, 1987. A jury in 1997 awarded
$3.4 billion in punitive damages to some 8,000 people who claimed to
have suffered mental and physical injuries. Five companies were charged
with CSX Transportation owing 2.5 bil.
(SFC, 9/9/97, p.A10)
$3.4 Bil In 1989 Columbia Pictures Entertainment Inc.
agreed to a $3.4 billion buyout by Sony Corporation.
(AP, 9/27/99)
$3.45 Bil The 1994 domestic revenues of Anderson
Consulting.
(WSJ, 9/21/95, p.B-2)
$3.7 Bil The GDP of Burundi.
(SFC, 5/23/96, p.A17)
$3.74 Bil The national budget of Belgium for 1996.
(WSJ, 10/4/95, p.A-12)
$4 Bil UN and Iraqi officials have
reached a tentative agreement to resume oil sales of $4 billion a year
to buy food and medicine.
(SFC, 5/16/96, p.A-9)
$4.17 Bil China began blocking the Yellow River for
the $4.17 billion Xiaolangdi Dam project on Oct 26, 1997.
(SFC,10/27/97, p.A9)
$4.3 Bil In 2002 Italy committed
to a $4.3 billion project for a suspension bridge linking Sicily over
the 2-mile-wide straits of Messina.
(WSJ, 6/7/02, p.A1)
$4.5 Bil The new, 97,000 ton, nuclear-powered
aircraft carrier, USS Harry S. Truman, was commissioned by Pres.
Clinton.
(SFEC, 7/26/98, p.A2)
$4.6 Bil Weekly money supply (M2) increase in the US.
(WSJ, 10/2/95, P.A-2)
4.83 Bil American Home Products agreed to pay up to
$4.83 billion to settle claims that its fen-phen drug combination
caused heart valve problems.
(SFC, 10/8/99, p.A3)
$5.3 Bil In 1978 the California death penalty was
struck down and hard and fast prison sentences were imposed. By 2003
the prison population was 159,390 with and annual budget of $5.3
billion.
(SFC, 12/1/98, p.A20)
$5.6 Bil In 2002 South African Breweries bought
America’s Miller Brewing for $5.6 billion.
(Econ, 5/15/04, p.64)
$5.7 Bil The Market Cap of LIN Broadcasting Corp.
(WSJ, 11/1/95, p. C-1)
$6 Bil The Kellogg Foundation
(established1930) assets.
(WSJ, 1/27/97, p.A1)
$6.75 Bil The 2005 Verizon Communications buyout of
MCI Inc. was valued at $6.75 billion.
(WSJ, 2/15/05, p.C1)
$7 Bil ATT lost a record $7
billion for fiscal year ending Feb 28, 1982.
(MC, 2/28/02)
$7 Bil The UAR announced May 12,
1998, that it would buy 80 F-16s from the US for this amount.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A13)
$7.2 Bil The Market Cap of LM Ericsson Telephone Co.
(WSJ, 11/1/95, p. C-1)
$7.48 Bil ATT buys NCR in 1991 for this amount.
(WSJ, 9/21/95, p.B-2)
$8 Bil The cost of the
trans-Alaska Pipeline, the most expensive effort ever undertaken by
private industry.
(AAM, 3/96, p.84)
$8 Bil The Henry Ford Foundation
(established in 1936) assets.
(WSJ,11/24/95, p.A-8)(WSJ, 1/27/97, p.A1)
$8 Bil Panama 2004 plans for a
canal upgrade in order to accommodate new and larger container ships
was estimated at $8 billion.
(WSJ, 1/7/04, p.A1)
$8.07 Bil In 1994 US consumers spent this much on
personal computers.
(Wired, 8/95, p.178)
$8.3 Bil It was reported that Norway is the world’s
2nd largest oil exporter and that the government sets aside nearly $8.3
billion into a fund for the future.
(SFEC, 9/14/97, p.A24)
$8.8 Bil Increase in consumer credit in the US for
the month of August.
(WSJ, 10/2/95, P.A-2)
$9.2 Bil The Market Cap of Applied Materials Inc.
(WSJ, 11/1/95, p. C-1)
$9.5 Bil GM announced the sale of the defense
business of its Hughes Electronics Division to Raytheon.
(WSJ, 1/17/97, p.A3)
$9.6 Bil Jan 26, 1998, Compaq Computer Corp.
announced that it would buy Digital Equipment Corp. for this amount.
(SFC, 1/27/98, p.A1)
$9.68 Bil Premier Li Peng asked the National People’s
Congress for a 12.7% increase in the defense budget to this amount in
1997.
(WSJ, 3/3/97, p.A1)
$10.0 Bil The Market Cap of Tele-Communications Inc.
(WSJ, 11/1/95, p. C-1)
$11.3 Bil On Mar 28, 205, it was reported that a
consortium of 7 private equity firms purchased SunGard Data systems for
$11.3 billion in the biggest buyout since 1989.
(Econ, 4/2/05, p.66)
$11.5 Bil ATT bought McCaw Communications in 1993 for
this amount.
(WSJ, 9/21/95, p.B-2)
It was predicted that the
spending for advertising in the US would reach this amount in 1996.
(WSJ, 10/17/95, p.B-10)
$11.6 Bil Wells Fargo won the battle (1/25/96) to
acquire First Interstate Bank.
(WSJ, 1/2/97, p.R2)
$12.7 Bil The annual revenue of
Archer-Daniels-Midland Corp., a grain processing company.
(WSJ, 10/27/95, p.A-1)
$13 Bil The Fidelity Magellan Fund
grew from $22 million to $13 billion under Peter Lynch between 1977 and
1990.
(SFEC,11/9/97, p.B1)
$13.2 Bil The Market Cap of Amgen Inc.
(WSJ, 11/1/95, p. C-1)
$13.3 Bil Boeing agreed to acquire McDonell Douglas
for this price.
(WSJ, 12/16/96, p.A1)
$13.9 Bil On Apr 28, 1999, McKesson Corp. announced
irregularities in the books of its newly acquired HBO & Co. The
stock plunged 48%. The merger had cost McKesson $13.9 billion.
(SFC, 10/17/03, p.B4)
$14.1 Bil The Market Cap of MCI Corp.
(WSJ, 11/1/95, p. C-1)
$15.7 Bil In Jun, 2003, China began a new $15.7
billion investment fund as an alternative to its dilapidated pension
system.
(WSJ, 8/26/03, p.C1)
$16.9 Bil The Market Cap of Oracle Corp.
(WSJ, 11/1/95, p. C-1)
$17.63-21.15 Bil The estimated value of the annual
prostitution business in Thailand which employs 150,000-200,000 women.
(WSJ, 12/3/96, p.A17)
$18.4 Bil On Apr 4, 2005 Chevron announced plans to
purchase Unocal Corp. for $18.4 billion.
(SFC, 4/5/05, p.A1)
$18.6 Bil The Market Cap of Cisco Systems.
(WSJ, 11/1/95, p. C-1)
$19.8 Bil The sales figure for International Paper in
1995.
(WSJ, 5/28/96, p. R46)
$20 Bil The annual weapons market
in South America.
(SFC, 11/23/96, p.A8)
$20 Bil Morgan Stanley and Dean
Witter announced a plan to merge for a combined capitalization of over
this amount.
(WSJ, 2/5/97, p.A1)
$21 Bil In 2003 Argentina
refinanced $21 billion in debt including $12.3 billion with the IMF.
(Econ, 9/13/03, p.32)
$22.6 Bil It was reported that a British firm has
proposed a rail tunnel to link Britain and Ireland. The 56-mile tunnel
was estimated to cost $22.6 billion.
(SFC,10/20/97, p.A12)
$23 Bil The 1998 California
electricity market.
(SFC, 3/31/98, p.A1)
$24 Bil The 1998 flooding in
China, the worst in 4 decades, was estimated to surpass $24 billion in
costs.
(SFC, 8/13/98, p.C5)
$24 Bil In Japan the Yamaichi
Securities firm, the nation’s 4th largest, announced a shutdown due to
debts totaling $24 billion.
(SFC,11/24/97, p.A1)
$24.5 Bil RJR Nabisco was bought by Kohlberg Kravis
Roberts in 1988.
(SFC, 3/1/97, p.B1)
$26.6 Bil The US CIA disclosed that its annual budget
for spy services totaled this amount for fiscal ‘97.
(WSJ, 10/16/97, p.A1)
$26.7 Bil George Tenet, director of the CIA,
disclosed on Mar 20, 1998, that the 1998 budget for secret
intelligence activities, one-tenth the overall US military budget.
(SFC, 3/21/98, p.A4)
$28 Bil On Oct 4, 2002 a
jury in Los Angeles awarded former smoker Betty Bullock (64) $28
billion in punitive damages against Philip Morris. On Dec 18 a judge
reduced the award to $28 million.
(SFC, 10/5/02, p.A2)(SFC, 12/19/02, p.A8)
$30 Bil In Zurich Ciba-Geigy and
Sandoz planned (3/8/96) a merger.
(WSJ, 1/2/97, p.R2)
$30 Bil The cost of Hurricane
Andrew.
(WSJ, 5/6/97, p.A23)
$30 Bil The IMF agreed to lend
Brazil $30 billion to stem a financial panic on Aug 7, 2002. This was
its biggest loan to date.
(SFC, 8/8/02, p.A10)
$31 Bil In Turkey a military modernization program
for was announced to reduce dependence on Western suppliers. Turkey’s
standing army numbered 639,000 men, 4,000 tanks, and 400 combat
aircraft.
(WSJ, 4/14/97, p.A12)
$32 Bil The value of Florida's
tourism industry. (assume on annual basis)
(WSJ, 10/6/95, p.B-1)
$35 Bil The US deficit with China
was expected to approach this amount this year.
(WSJ, 12/20/95, p.A-10)
$35.08 Bil American Home Products agreed to acquire
Monsanto Co. Jun 1, 1998 in a deal valued at this amount.
(WSJ, 6/2/98, p.A3)
$36 Bil Viacom Inc. announced the
acquisition of CBS Corp. for some $36 billion in stock on Sep 7, 1999.
(WSJ, 9/8/99, p.A1)
$36 Bil Chase Manhattan agreed to
acquire J.P. Morgan for about $36 billion in stock on Sep 12, 2000.
(WSJ, 9/13/00, p.A1)
$37 Bil Chevron announced plans to
acquire Texaco in a deal valued at $37 billion.
(SFC, 10/14/00, p.A1)
$38 Bil The annual US drug market.
(SFC, 6/9/96, p.A-6)
$38 Bil Jurgen Schrempp of Daimler
Benz and Robert Eaton of Chrysler announced in London May 6, 1998, that
the German auto company will purchase Chrysler in a $38 billion merger.
(WSJ, 5/8/98, p.W1)
$40 Bil The total cost for damages
due to the Los Angeles [Northridge] earthquake.
(WSJ, 5/6/97, p.A23)
$45 Bil The size of the tobacco
industry in the US.
(WSJ, 10/18/95, A-1)
$50.1 Bil The Market Cap of Intel Corp.
(WSJ, 11/1/95, p. C-1)
$53.2 Bil The Market Cap of Microsoft Corp.
(WSJ, 11/1/95, p. C-1)
$57.3 Bil Americans spent this estimated amount in
1995 on illegal drugs.
(SFEC,11/10/97, p.A12)
$57.47 Bil In 2003 South Korea ran up a collective
credit-card balance of $57.47 billion. This more than a 5-fold increase
from 10.95 billion at the end of 1999. The delinquency rate in 2003
jumped to 13.5% vs. 2.6% in 1999.
(WSJ, 1/20/04, p.A1)
$60 Bil Pfizer Corp. agreed to buy
Pharmacia Corp. for stock valued at $60 billion on July 15, 2002.
(WSJ, 7/15/02, p.A1)
$65 Bil The estimated fortune of
the Suharto family in Indonesia.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.A15)
$66.3 Bil In 1997 the California state Assembly
approved a $66.3 billion budget.
(SFC, 5/31/97, p.A15)
$70 Bil Obesity costs this much
per year in the US according to some estimates.
(WSJ, 1/29/96, p. C-1)
$76 Bil The federal government
predicted a $76 billion surplus for 1999.
(SFC, 1/7/99, p.A3)
$79 Bil The US Congress approved
almost $79 billion to pay for the war in Iraq.
(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.A3)
$81.4 Bil Exxon and Mobil shareholders approved their
$81.2 billion merger to create the world's largest oil company on
5/27/99.
(WSJ, 5/28/99, p.A4)
$87.5 Bil On Nov 6, 2003, Pres. Bush signed the $87.5
billion Iraq spending bill.
(WSJ, 11/7/03, p.A1)
$91.4 Bil Americans spent this estimated amount in
1988 on illegal drugs.
(SFEC,11/10/97, p.A12)
$98.7 Bil On Jan 29, 2003, AOL Time Warner posted a
record $98.7 billion loss, the biggest in corporate history. It
included a $45.5 billion write down on the value of AOL.
(SFC, 1/30/03, p.A1)(WSJ, 1/2/04, p.R8)
$100 Bil The total cost for damages due to Japan’s
Kobe earthquake.
(WSJ, 5/6/97, p.A23)
$107 Bil WorldCom filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on
Jul 21, 2002. With $107 billion in assets, it was the largest US
bankruptcy ever.
(SFC, 7/22/02, p.A1)
$120 Bil Gross Domestic Product of Quebec was
comparable to that of Austria..
(SFE, 10/1/95, p.D-14)
$120.9 Bil Japan posted this record trade surplus in
1994.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)
$133 Bil The Market value of NTT of Japan, ranked as
the largest public company in the world based on financial data as of
12/31/94 from Morgan Stanley.
(WSJ, 10/2/95, p.R-32)
$144.8 Bil On 7/14/00 a jury in Dade County, Florida,
awarded $144.8 billion in punitive damages to 500,000 Florida smokers.
Tobacco executives planned to appeal.
(SFC, 7/15/00, p.A1)
$150 Bil The US trade deficit.
(WSJ, 11/20/95, p.A-13)
$180 Bil Exxon Corp. and Mobil Corp. confirmed that
they were holding merger talks. The value of the combined company was
estimated at $180 billion.
(SFC, 11/28/98, p.A1)
$197.66 Bil China's total trade through Sept of this
year (9 months).
(WSJ, 10/16/95, p. A-11)
$200 Bil J.P. Morgan’s estimated worldwide cost to
repair the “computer year 2000 problem.”
(WSJ, 5/6/97, p.A23)
$203 Bil Pres. Clinton signed a $203 billion
transportation bill Jun 9, 1998.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A2)
$296 Bil A 1998 $206 billion tobacco settlement was
endorsed by 46 eligible states. It was the largest settlement of a
civil lawsuit in history.
(SFC, 11/21/98, p.A1)
$245 Bil The projected US bill for earthquake damage
in 2020.
(Hem., Nov. '95, p.52)
$250 Bil The US pentagon budget for 1997.
(SFEC,11/10/97, p.A3)
$258 Bil The state owned Japanese National Railways
Settlement Corp. owed $258 billion to banks, bondholders and the
government.
(WSJ, 4/5/96, p.A-1)
$280 Bil This was the amount spent each year on US
public education. [from a review of a book by Vance H. Trimble: An
Empire Undone: The Wild Rise and Hard Fall of Chris Whittle.
(WSJ, 10/27/95, p.A-12)
$281 Bil The projected US bill for hurricane expenses
in 2020.
(Hem., Nov. '95, p.52)
$325 Bil Jun, Luxembourg managers ran some $325
billion in assets.
(WSJ, 6/14/96, p.A10)
$325 Bil China's 2002 exports totaled $325 billion.
(Econ, 12/20/03, p.98)
$330 Bil A prediction by Dataquest that semiconductor
sales would reach this amount by the year 2000. Triple the present
amount.
(WSJ, 10/17/95, A-8)
$367Bil The Japanese bad-loan crises of 1995 total
this amount.
(WSJ, 12/20/95, p.A-1)
$348 Bil The assets of Nippon Life of Japan, ranked
as the world's largest insurer by Worldscope based on the company's
1994 fiscal year results in US dollars of 12/31/94.
(WSJ, 10/2/95, p.R-32)
$401 Bil The CBO forecast a US deficit of $401
billion 2003 and $480 billion in 2004.
(WSJ, 8/27/03, p.A1)
$405 Bil The assets under management by Fidelity
Investments.
(WSJ, 3/20/96, p.A-1)
$472 Bil The amount of US currency in 1999.
Two-thirds of this was outside US borders.
(WSJ, 1/18/98, p.A1)
$455 Bil The Bush administration reported that the
2003 deficit will reach $445 billion.
(SFC, 7/16/03, p.A1)
$520 Bil The assets of Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank of Japan,
ranked as the world's largest bank by Worldscope based on the company's
1994 fiscal year results in US dollars of 12/31/94.
(WSJ, 10/2/95, p.R-32)
$545 Bil The estimate for the worldwide telecom
service market in 1995.
(Hem, 4/96, p.35)
$550 Bil The Federal debt of Canada.
(SFE, 10/1/95, p.D-14)
$580 Bil Japan announced that the nation’s banks
carried only this amount in bad or questionable loans.
(SFC, 1/13/98, p.A10)
$600 Bil A worst case estimate by the Gartner Group
for the worldwide cost to repair the “computer year 2000 problem.”
(WSJ, 5/6/97, p.A23)
$606 Bil Japanese leaders agreed to a plan to take
over some of the biggest and weakest banks and to use taxpayer money to
dispose of some $606 billion in bad loans.
(SFC, 9/19/98, p.A12)
$728 Bil The US government foreign debt in the
first quarter of 1995.
(WSJ, 11/20/95, p.A-13)
$730 Bil China’s foreign exchange reserves in 2004.
(Econ, 2/28/04, p.72)
$739.5 Bil Money market mutual fund assets in the US
ending 10/4/95.
(WSJ, 10/6/95, p.C-24)
$800 Bil The worldwide telecom market by the year
2000 could top this amount.
(Hem, 4/96, p.35)
$871 Bil The US net debtor position rose 27% in 1996.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A5)
$7 Trillion The US federal debt passed the $7
trillion mark on Feb 18, 2004.
(WSJ, 2/19/04, p.A1)
$28 Trillion The global economy in 1997.
(SFC,12/16/97, p.B4)
End of file