Austrian millionaire is giving away all his money -- Rs 20 cr -- and possessions, because...
Austrian millionaire is giving away all his money -- Rs 20 cr -- and possessions, because... An Austrian millionaire is giving away his fortune and all his personal possessions because "they never made
me happy."
Karl Rabeder (47) from Linz, claims he will use the money from his household accessory business -- worth u00a32.7 million (Rs 20 crore) -- to fund orphanages and other help-the-poor projects in South America.
On saleHe is in the process of selling his luxury 3,455 sq ft villa with a lake, sauna and spectacular views over the Alps, valued at u00a31.4 million (Rs 10 crore).
Also for sale is his beautiful old stone farmhouse in Provence with its 17 hectares overlooking the arriu00e8re-pays, on the market for u00a3613,000 (Rs 4.5 crore). Already gone is his collection of six gliders valued at u00a3350,000 (Rs 2.5 crore), and a luxury Audi A8, worth u00a344,000 (Rs 32 lakh).
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Pursuit of happiness: Karl Rabeder will give up the luxury of his Alpine villa and move into a small flat |
Rabeder has also sold the interior furnishings and accessories business -- from vases to artificial flowers -- that made his fortune.
"I had the idea on a holiday in Hawaii some years ago," he said. "My cars and plane have already gone and the rest follows very soon. I can't wait to be free of them."
He told Austrian TV viewers of his plan to raffle his luxury villa by lots -- with all money going to the Mymicrocr-edit.com foundation he started late last year -- and shedding his fortune on a chat show due to be broadcast in May.
"Since the sale of my company in 2004, I have been supporting several orphanage projects in central and South America. From this developed, less than a year ago, a greenhouse project, which gives orphans the possibility to have agricultural training, to take up a small loan in order to make themselves independent vegetable growers.
"I set up a new non-profit micro-credit organisation to distribute these small loans to help these poor, but industrious people."
Rabeder claims he is happy living in a small flat and surviving on the equivalent of u00a3800 (Rs 58,000) a month.
"In 2004, I realised that I was dying through consumerism," he recalled. "It has taken me until now to realise that I don't need money and possessions. I learned as a child the value of money and how to get by without it."
He began with...
Rabeder's father was a painter, his mother an office worker.
He founded his first company in 1986 and soon became rich, adding, "I thought the more money I had the happier I would become, but it was not the case."
He now lives in a two-room flat in Innsbruck, is divorced and added, "The worst that can happen to me is that I have to take a small job to get by."
It is unclear how his immediate family feels about his philanthropy.
