Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

The secret Facebook group where tech millionaires discuss what they want to buy next

The wishlist includes boats, planes, Banksy portraits and even tropical islands

Hazel Sheffield
Wednesday 02 September 2015 11:07 BST
Comments
'T.N.R. 250', short for 'The Nouveau Riche 250', comprises Facebook's first 250 employees
'T.N.R. 250', short for 'The Nouveau Riche 250', comprises Facebook's first 250 employees

Facebook's elite have formed their own secret group within the company where employees meet to discuss what kind of things they want to buy with their millions.

'T.N.R. 250', short for 'The Nouveau Riche 250', comprises Facebook's first 250 employees, many of whom have become multi-millionaires, according to Nick Bilton, who wrote about the Silicon Valley tech bubble for Vanity Fair.

He discovered that the members of T.N.R. 250 use the group to discuss what they want to do with the cash they have put away as Facebook has grown. The wishlist includes boats, planes, Banksy portraits and even tropical islands, Bilton said.

The catch? The group is not actually on Facebook. That would spoil the illusion many in Silicon Valley are working hard to maintain that they don’t really care about money at all.

Secrecy is partly a result of the dot com crash 200, according to the New York Times – when the celebratory balloons at billion parties deflated as the air went out of the tech market.

The Times has also pointed out that it’s not cool to care about your wealth when some of the most famous tech billionaires don’t. Steve Jobs wore the same roll-neck for nearly every Apple presentation, while Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, is similarly unflashy about his wealth.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in