Meet NYC's New 'Most Eligible Bachelor'
There's a new billionaire in town. And he happens to be single, too! This week, Russia's richest man, Mikhail Prokhorov, cut a deal with real estate developer Bruce Ratner to buy the Nets as well as part of the new Nets arena under construction in Brooklyn. Today the Times compares Prokhorov to one other non-married billionaire in New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg. So how different are the two men? Let's take a look, shall we:
Both are kind of vague when it comes to their height:
Mr. Prokhorov's height has been reported as being anywhere from 6-feet-6 to 6-feet-9. Mr. Bloomberg's height has been reported as being anywhere from 5-feet-6 (in news articles) to 5-feet-10 (on his driver's license).
Both are really rich:
Mr. Prokhorov may be the richest person in Russia, but Mr. Bloomberg is ahead of him on the Forbes list of the world’s billionaires. In March, Forbes ranked the mayor at No. 17, with a net worth of $16 billion. Mr. Prokhorov was No. 40, with a net worth of $9.5 billion.
Both had humbling jobs early in their careers:
On his first job at Salomon Brothers, Mr. Bloomberg stripped to his underwear. He was working in a sweltering bank vault, counting stock and bond certificates, and it was hot.
By some accounts, Mr. Prokhorov's early career involved selling jeans in Moscow in the late 1980s.
There's one way in which they're very different, though. Unlike the hopelessly boring mayor, Prokhorov seems to have a bit of a dirty side:
Consider the four days he spent in custody in an Alpine ski resort in 2007 when investigators suspected call girls were being brought in. He was quoted as saying they were students and models, not prostitutes.
Okay, so he's into hookers. And that probably doesn't make him the greatest catch for single New York women. But at least NYC's escort population can look forward to having a fantastic new customer on its hands.
