July 20, 2018 ▸ Corporation, People

Episode 316: Jean Paul Getty–Oil Billionaire and Crazy Miser

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On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we look at Jean Paul Getty, once the richest man in the world, an American oil magnate, a crazy miser with his money, and a guy who let his own grandson be kidnapped and mutilated just to save a few bucks. Many people in Southern California know Getty as the guy who opened the art museums and drilled oil, and he was that. But he was also so cheap with his billions that he makes Mister Burns and Scrooge McDuck look like big spenders.

Jean Paul Getty built his fortune after he got a start at his father’s small oil business. Getty was obsessed with proving his father wrong (who claimed he would fail as a business man), and he became overcome with a goal to succeed and be rich. He worked tirelessly to acquire as many oil leases as possible, and his business exploded. After his father’s death, Getty took control of the company and made a lot of shrewd deals that increased his wealth.

Eventually, he made deals with the king of Saudi Arabia for a piece of land nobody had ever drilled on before, and it paid off. He was soon the first oil billionaire. But with that wealth came a ton of family trouble. Some of his kids and grandkids became addicted to drugs, some died, and he let a lot of bad things happen to people he could have otherwise saved if he’d been willing to part with some of his massive fortune.

The most famous case of this was when Jean Paul Getty refused to pay the ransom that the Italian mob asked for to return his kidnapped grandson. The kid was abducted for almost two months, and Jean Paul Getty negotiated for a cheaper payment.

So, how many times did Jean Paul Getty marry? Who won in his will? What body part was cut off before he agreed to pay his grandson’s ransom? What’s with the payphone in his mansion? Why did he do his own laundry and recycle letters by sending the other people? Why did he collect so much art? What drug did he take for his erection problems when he was older? Listen, laugh, learn.