Billions, trillions, quadrillions … the biggest figures in business boggle the mind

Prince Al Waleed bin Talal, with a fortune of US$28.3 billion, is the highest-ranked Arab in a list of “self-made” billionaires, according to a recent survey.

Forget for a moment the definition of “self-made” here, and imagine that sentence presented by a TV broadcaster: “… a fortune of twenty … eight … point … three … BILLion … dollars.” That’s the closest I can get to it in print.

TV presenters always slow down when they announce big financial figures over the air, and they always emphasise the first syllable of million, or billion, or occasionally trillion. Listen well the next time there is a news broadcast of, for example, the amount of financial aid Greece is seeking, and you will hear something like: “The European Central Bank is planning an … eighty … five … point … nine … BILLion … euro bailout for Greece.”

The impression given by the TV folks’ peculiar intonation pattern is to stress the sheer hugeness of the figure, to give the viewer time to digest the vast number, as if to say: “Right now, a really big number is coming up, so I am going to say it … very … slowly … with emphasis on the really big bit – BILLION – so you understand it.”

Also implicit in the broadcaster’s delivery is this: “Yes, I couldn’t believe it myself when I saw it on the autocue, so I had to say it slowly to let it sink in. That’s much more than I will get paid, and most of you too, in 100 lifetimes. I don’t understand how anybody or any country can be worth that, and you, the humble viewer, will certainly agree. Isn’t it unfair?”

But I suspect the truth is that very few viewers have any real understanding of the huge sums that are bandied about in big business and high finance. Up to a million, most people comprehend it, which is why “thousand” is always spoken in “lower case”by the presenters. But after that, it’s all pretty meaningless.

Is $28.3bn such a huge sum of money? To most of us, certainly. But probably less so to Bill Gates, who topped the recent list with eighty … six … BILLion … dollars.

And certainly not in comparison to all the money sloshing around the world.

The World Bank produces something called the Global World Product (GWP) which is, more or less, the aggregation of all the GDPs in the world. In 2014 this came to $76 trillion, sorry, seventy … six … TRILLion … dollars, or 76 followed by 12 zeros.

To add to our confusion, there’s some disagreement about what exactly constitutes a billion.

In France or Germany, for example, Prince Al Waleed would only be a paltry “milliardaire”, and would have to self-make his fortune by a factor of another 1,000 to be a billionaire. I’m sticking to convention in the English and Arabic-speaking world.

But the GWP figure is still not the biggest financial number in common usage. The total volume of world foreign exchange trading is estimated by the Bank for International Settlements at one thousand … four hundred … and sixty … TRILLION dollars per year, or $1,460tn.

You could write that as $1.46 quadrillion – a number with 15 zeros – but nobody really has any understanding of what a quadrillion is. Which is why we use fantasy numbers – such as “zillions” and “squillions” – to express “a very big amount entirely beyond my comprehension, but for sure a lot more than my monthly salary cheque”.

Us ordinary mortals will continue to set a million as the goal. Let’s face it, who wants to be a milliardaire?

fkane@thenational.ae

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SERIES INFO

Afghanistan v Zimbabwe, Abu Dhabi Sunshine Series

All matches at the Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Test series

1st Test: Zimbabwe beat Afghanistan by 10 wickets
2nd Test: Wednesday, 10 March – Sunday, 14 March

Play starts at 9.30am

T20 series

1st T20I: Wednesday, 17 March
2nd T20I: Friday, 19 March
3rd T20I: Saturday, 20 March

TV
Supporters in the UAE can watch the matches on the Rabbithole channel on YouTube

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Kumulus Water

Started: 2021

Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid

Based: Tunisia

Sector: Water technology

Number of staff: 22

Investment raised: $4 million

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The specs

Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo

Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm

Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm

Transmission: Eight-speed auto

Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km

On sale: December

Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)

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SQUADS

South Africa:
JP Duminy (capt), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wkt), AB de Villiers, Robbie Frylinck, Beuran Hendricks, David Miller, Mangaliso Mosehle (wkt), Dane Paterson, Aaron Phangiso, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Tabraiz Shamsi

Bangladesh
Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Imrul Kayes, Liton Das (wkt), Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (wkt), Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Soumya Sarkar, Taskin Ahmed

Fixtures
Oct 26: Bloemfontein
Oct 29: Potchefstroom

THE SPECS

Engine: 6.0-litre, twin-turbocharged W12

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 626bhp

Torque: 900Nm

Price: Dh1,050,000

On sale: now

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

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