The IRS has proposed up to $400mn in extra tax on Viacom’s returns for 2017 to 2019. Paramount Skydance says it disagrees and will book any change in its third-quarter results.
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OB / 02Spain’s wealth tax raised a record €2.15bn in 2024, and the number of people declaring more than €30mn has doubled since 2013. The region famous for not charging it has become one of its biggest collectors.
OB / 03Cities have raised tourist taxes to fight overcrowding. But most charge a flat fee per guest, which the richest visitors barely notice. Amsterdam, New York and now Edinburgh tax the room price instead.
OB / 04The Met Gala broke $100,000 a ticket, Wimbledon’s best seats cost £116,000 for five years, and FIFA let the price of the World Cup final float. The people who run exclusive events have stopped leaving money on the table.
OB / 05New flats now average more than ¥100mn in 19 of Tokyo’s 23 wards. The buyers are mostly Japanese, and the cause is a building industry that can no longer build very much.
OB / 06Eight months after settling with Mexico’s tax authority, Ricardo Salinas Pliego has not missed an instalment. About 18bn pesos is still to come, and the president now cites him approvingly.
OB / 07The number of foreigners taxed on their living costs rather than their income has fallen by more than a third since 2012. The cantons that still offer the deal are collecting more than ever.
OB / 08Brazilian companies raced to pay out profits before a new 10 per cent dividend tax took effect in January. Six months later, interest on equity has overtaken dividends for the first time.
OB / 09Italy charges €300,000 a year, Greece wants €800,000 for Athens or Mykonos, Uruguay now asks for real investment. What residency costs the very rich this year, and what changed.
OB / 10When Unitree Robotics listed in August, one of its strategic investors was the company behind DeepSeek. Hangzhou’s new fortunes are starting to feed each other.
OB / 11German inheritance and gift tax hit a record €21.4bn last year as owners rushed to hand over businesses. The constitutional court is about to rule on the relief that lets family firms pass on almost tax-free.
OB / 12The Agnelli, Delon, Hermès and Wahaha fortunes are all tied up in court. In each case the argument turns on a Swiss address, a Swiss will or a Hong Kong trust.
OB / 13The year’s trophy purchases have little in common except scarcity. Set side by side, they show how the very rich now price things that exist in a quantity of one.
OB / 14Rinat Akhmetov’s €471mn flat in Mareterra works out at about €188,400 a square metre. Here is how that compares with St Moritz, Gstaad, Lake Como and Tokyo.
OB / 15A 2 per cent minimum tax on fortunes above €100mn has lost in parliament twice and wins in every poll. On 16 September the Socialists put it back on the table for the 2027 budget.
OB / 16Section chiefs at a Japanese memory maker, welders at a rocket company, engineers at a Chinese robot start-up: in 2026 the equity windfall reached the factory floor.
OB / 05From the Grandmaster Chime to Paul Newman’s Daytona: 100 remarkable watch auction results, ranked by historical US-dollar value, with photographs, stories and sources.
OB / 06Ten remarkable car auction results, with photographs, the stories behind the individual cars, original sale prices and auction-house sources.
OB / 07A dated snapshot of the world’s 100 largest personal fortunes, with estimated net worth, sources of wealth and a source for every name.
OB / 08Meet 100 women with extraordinary estimated fortunes, ranked in a dated snapshot with sources of wealth and links to the underlying profiles.
OB / 09The 100 largest fortunes held by US citizens, ranked by Forbes’ estimated net worth, with sources of wealth and profile links.
OB / 10A hundred films with enormous worldwide ticket sales, ranked by reported lifetime box office, with release years and individual film records.
