Lau's $28.7M Bling
Joseph Lau · Paid $28.7 Million for a Pink Diamond One Day Before Buying a $48.4 Million Blue One
$28.7 millionCould have saved
5,218
lives from malaria
GiveWell estimates its top charities save a life for $3,000 to $5,500. We use the higher figure: $5,500, the cost through Against Malaria Foundation bed nets. GiveWell, How much does it cost to save a life?
Bloomberg reported Lau paid 28.7 million Swiss francs for a 16.08-carat pink diamond at Christie's in Geneva, one day before his record-setting blue-diamond purchase.
Or it could have
- 5,218
lives from malariaGiveWell estimates its top charities save a life for $3,000 to $5,500. We use the higher figure: $5,500, the cost through Against Malaria Foundation bed nets. GiveWell, How much does it cost to save a life?
- 262,100
hungry kids for a whole yearNo Kid Hungry: $1 can help provide 10 meals for kids. Three meals a day for 365 days is 1,095 meals, about $110 per child per year. No Kid Hungry, What your dollars can do
- 717,500
people clean drinking watercharity: water: about $40 funds clean water for one person, on average, in rural communities. charity: water, How much clean water will my donation provide
- 1,608
homeless veteransAt the U.S. median rent of $1,487 a month (Census, 2024), about $17,844 a year. U.S. Census Bureau median gross rent, via USAFacts
- 804
families escaping abuse a safe home for two yearsThe federal transitional housing program for survivors pays market rent for up to 24 months. At the U.S. median rent of $1,487 a month (Census, 2024), that is about $35,688 per family. U.S. DOJ Office on Violence Against Women, Transitional housing
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The purchase: Bloomberg, November 2015. The full story on Rich vs Reality →