…A "well-known billionaire living in Silicon Valley," according to an article published here on LifeHealthPro, CNBC and Forbes last year. This "mystery billionaire" bought a $201 million life insurance policy that even broke the previous Guinness World Record. SG, a Santa Barbara, California-based advisor firm, sold the insurance policy.
We know that said billionaire isn't Steve Jobs, because he passed away in 2011. So who is it? While the buyer's name wasn't divulged to the media, or anyone for that matter, we can only narrow the list down to around 53 billionaires living in the Silicon Valley (Santa Clara County) area, including San Mateo and San Francisco Counties in California. That list is according to Quora and BizJournals.
Maybe Oracle founder and chairman Larry Ellison is the policy's owner? He is the richest person in that area (and the fifth richest in the world, according to Forbes). Then again, it could be Sergey Brin (Google) or Larry Page (Google).
Forbes said that the policy involves 19 different insurance companies and that the mystery billionaire is paying annual premiums in the "low digit millions."
But why would anyone need such a valuable life insurance policy? Last year, LifeHealthPro interviewed Steven Felsenthal, a tax and estate planning attorney at Sugar Felsenthal Grais & Hammer, who said that, "The insured probably has assets of sufficient value to draw a sizable tax and justify the need for insurance; most likely that asset is a closely held business which is not ready to be sold or restricted shares of a public company. The insured presumably doesn't want his family to be forced to sell the business or the shares at an inopportune time or for a bargain price as a means to raise money and cover the taxes."
So it's likely that the mystery billionaire wants to make sure that his heirs bypass a lot of the taxes that they would have to pay on the estate. Add to that the fact that California has a higher tax rate than other states, and the planning picture starts to make sense.
Still, we will always wonder who is this guy, how old he is and what will happen once that policy is claimed.
