Eduardo Luiz Saverin is one of five co-founders of Facebook, along with Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Andrew McCollum. As of 2012, he owns less than 5% of Facebook's shares and has a net worth of $2 billion, according to Forbes. Saverin has lived in Singapore since 2009. In September 2011, he renounced his U.S. citizenship which would reduce the capital gains taxes after the Facebook IPO
Being in Singapore also allows him to pursue a lifestyle beyond the scrutiny of the media.
Singapore is one of the most privacy-conscious cities in the world and has no paparazzi and no tabloid press. But for the occasional picture in society magazines, his nocturnal exploits go largely unreported.
Most nights find him on the town, normally at Singapore’s most exclusive club, Filter, where he keeps a £2,500-a-night VIP table and routinely spends thousands on champagne.
‘If you want to do business with Eduardo, there’s no office to contact him,’ explained one of his inner circle. ‘You have to go out and make friends with him.’
One of Saverin’s most intriguing new business partners is Rachel Kum, who represented Singapore in a Miss Universe contest and last year set up a cosmetics company called Rachel K Cosmetics. In a promotional video, she describes Saverin as her ‘friend and mentor’.
Kum, 27, outraged Singaporeans when photographs of her simulating oral sex on a birthday cake surfaced on the internet after she won her beauty title. She also admitted having breast implants.
Saverin appears on the promotional video for Rachel K Cosmetics, saying vaguely as he justifies his investment: ‘It really inspired me to see that she went from Miss Singapore to sort of pushing her own line. She is going with her passion.’
With no job to restrain him and unlimited resources, Saverin frequently leaves his friends exhausted and financially embarrassed if they maintain dignity by picking up part of the bill.
A 24-year-old Singaporean PR girl who joined his posse on several occasions at the Butter Factory nightclub, which he used to frequent earlier this year, said: ‘He always has a lot of girls around him.
It’s obvious he has money. He doesn’t do anything to hide it. His party just orders bottle after bottle of champagne. It’s very ostentatious.
‘The girls all try to get close to him and he sits there with his arms around them. Everyone knows he’s the Facebook guy and that he’s a billionaire.’
She added: ‘I was told he has a long-term girlfriend in Singapore but she’s cool with his lifestyle, apparently.’
In The Social Network, Saverin is seen struggling to control a possessive Asian girlfriend who sets fire to a wastepaper basket on his bed when he tells her their relationship is over. The incident, if true, clearly did little to dent the appeal of Far Eastern women for Saverin.
His core social network in Singapore is a group of American and young Singaporean male friends who join him at his table at Filter, drink mostly on his account and control access to him.
One of his close friends, a Singaporean, said: ‘Eduardo is totally into Asian girls. He told me while we were drinking together that he likes them because they are smaller built and that means he can just pick them up.’
When a female friend asked innocently how girls managed to secure an introduction, she was told by one of his inner circle: ‘Don’t even bother. He has so many girlfriends. He has way too many.’
On nights when he is not clubbing, Saverin has been seen at exclusive bars in Singapore, such as the swanky 71st-floor New Asia Bar in the Swissotel. There he buys £25 cocktails for his Asian girlfriends.
In his New York Times interview, Saverin said his playboy image was ‘a misperception’. ‘I do have a Bentley. I do go out. I’d rather not go into personal details,’ he said.
He lives in a 5,000 sq ft penthouse apartment in the plush ION apartment block in Orchard Road, Singapore’s equivalent to Oxford Street, one of the world’s most expensive places to live. When he first arrived in Singapore there was enormous excitement in the business community.
It was hoped, assumed even, that he would invest in the technology industry and raise its profile internationally.
Three years on, however, Saverin is rarely seen outside nightclubs and is said, wryly and with some exaggeration, to have accepted then turned down at the last minute more invitations to functions than he has attended.
Saverin’s low profile in the business world and his habit of agreeing to appear at functions and then cancelling his appearance at short notice has frustrated Singapore’s tight-knit expatriate business community.
He was billed to appear as a judge at Echelon 2011, a major conference for start-up businesses in June last year, but reportedly cancelled by text message hours before he was due on stage.
John Fearon, who runs Singapore internet company DropMySite, said: ‘He’s been invited to many gatherings but he’s attended only a few.
‘He doesn’t have an investment arm so if you want to get money from Eduardo you have to find some way to get hold of him, and there isn’t an official way to get hold of him – so you have to make friends with him.
‘People thought Eduardo would come and invest in a whole bunch of start-ups here, but he has always invested on a friendship level. He was friends with Zuckerberg before he invested in Facebook.
‘I don’t blame him. That’s his prerogative. It’s his money. There is a feeling in Singapore that he could do more with his money, but that’s his prerogative.’
Fearon, a 34-year-old South African who has lived in Singapore for two years, said: ‘You have to ask yourself as a start-up: what are you going to offer Eduardo?
‘Even if you could offer him a billion-dollar idea, would that mean anything to Eduardo?
‘You would have to be jumping over a pretty high bar to make a difference to Eduardo’s life. Money probably doesn’t mean anything to him any more.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ng-party-Facebook-billions.html#ixzz2Aq8cfa2M
Being in Singapore also allows him to pursue a lifestyle beyond the scrutiny of the media.
Singapore is one of the most privacy-conscious cities in the world and has no paparazzi and no tabloid press. But for the occasional picture in society magazines, his nocturnal exploits go largely unreported.
Most nights find him on the town, normally at Singapore’s most exclusive club, Filter, where he keeps a £2,500-a-night VIP table and routinely spends thousands on champagne.
‘If you want to do business with Eduardo, there’s no office to contact him,’ explained one of his inner circle. ‘You have to go out and make friends with him.’
One of Saverin’s most intriguing new business partners is Rachel Kum, who represented Singapore in a Miss Universe contest and last year set up a cosmetics company called Rachel K Cosmetics. In a promotional video, she describes Saverin as her ‘friend and mentor’.
Kum, 27, outraged Singaporeans when photographs of her simulating oral sex on a birthday cake surfaced on the internet after she won her beauty title. She also admitted having breast implants.
Saverin appears on the promotional video for Rachel K Cosmetics, saying vaguely as he justifies his investment: ‘It really inspired me to see that she went from Miss Singapore to sort of pushing her own line. She is going with her passion.’
With no job to restrain him and unlimited resources, Saverin frequently leaves his friends exhausted and financially embarrassed if they maintain dignity by picking up part of the bill.
A 24-year-old Singaporean PR girl who joined his posse on several occasions at the Butter Factory nightclub, which he used to frequent earlier this year, said: ‘He always has a lot of girls around him.
It’s obvious he has money. He doesn’t do anything to hide it. His party just orders bottle after bottle of champagne. It’s very ostentatious.
‘The girls all try to get close to him and he sits there with his arms around them. Everyone knows he’s the Facebook guy and that he’s a billionaire.’
She added: ‘I was told he has a long-term girlfriend in Singapore but she’s cool with his lifestyle, apparently.’
In The Social Network, Saverin is seen struggling to control a possessive Asian girlfriend who sets fire to a wastepaper basket on his bed when he tells her their relationship is over. The incident, if true, clearly did little to dent the appeal of Far Eastern women for Saverin.
His core social network in Singapore is a group of American and young Singaporean male friends who join him at his table at Filter, drink mostly on his account and control access to him.
One of his close friends, a Singaporean, said: ‘Eduardo is totally into Asian girls. He told me while we were drinking together that he likes them because they are smaller built and that means he can just pick them up.’
When a female friend asked innocently how girls managed to secure an introduction, she was told by one of his inner circle: ‘Don’t even bother. He has so many girlfriends. He has way too many.’
On nights when he is not clubbing, Saverin has been seen at exclusive bars in Singapore, such as the swanky 71st-floor New Asia Bar in the Swissotel. There he buys £25 cocktails for his Asian girlfriends.
In his New York Times interview, Saverin said his playboy image was ‘a misperception’. ‘I do have a Bentley. I do go out. I’d rather not go into personal details,’ he said.
He lives in a 5,000 sq ft penthouse apartment in the plush ION apartment block in Orchard Road, Singapore’s equivalent to Oxford Street, one of the world’s most expensive places to live. When he first arrived in Singapore there was enormous excitement in the business community.
It was hoped, assumed even, that he would invest in the technology industry and raise its profile internationally.
Three years on, however, Saverin is rarely seen outside nightclubs and is said, wryly and with some exaggeration, to have accepted then turned down at the last minute more invitations to functions than he has attended.
Saverin’s low profile in the business world and his habit of agreeing to appear at functions and then cancelling his appearance at short notice has frustrated Singapore’s tight-knit expatriate business community.
He was billed to appear as a judge at Echelon 2011, a major conference for start-up businesses in June last year, but reportedly cancelled by text message hours before he was due on stage.
John Fearon, who runs Singapore internet company DropMySite, said: ‘He’s been invited to many gatherings but he’s attended only a few.
‘He doesn’t have an investment arm so if you want to get money from Eduardo you have to find some way to get hold of him, and there isn’t an official way to get hold of him – so you have to make friends with him.
‘People thought Eduardo would come and invest in a whole bunch of start-ups here, but he has always invested on a friendship level. He was friends with Zuckerberg before he invested in Facebook.
‘I don’t blame him. That’s his prerogative. It’s his money. There is a feeling in Singapore that he could do more with his money, but that’s his prerogative.’
Fearon, a 34-year-old South African who has lived in Singapore for two years, said: ‘You have to ask yourself as a start-up: what are you going to offer Eduardo?
‘Even if you could offer him a billion-dollar idea, would that mean anything to Eduardo?
‘You would have to be jumping over a pretty high bar to make a difference to Eduardo’s life. Money probably doesn’t mean anything to him any more.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ng-party-Facebook-billions.html#ixzz2Aq8cfa2M
