ABC: Auckland Billionaire’s Club

Warren St. John backgrounds the moguls and money questing for the America’s Cup, pondering at the ‘pet projects’ of sporting tycoons like Larry Ellison: “they have hired the best sailors money can buy, sometimes moving them at the last minute to comply with the Cup’s requirement that crew members reside in the country they represent. The result is an America’s Cup that is more personality than nationality. […] New Zealanders have reacted to the onslaught of billionaires with a kind of befuddled glee. “We have suffered for years for our isolation,” said Paul Holmes, a popular television host here, “so when people like this come here, we’re pleased. Katana [Ellison’s luxury yacht, above] is the stuff of fairy tales to us. It’s madness, but we love it.”