How much is Bruce worth?

[stiflerparty]

I thought about writing a little fan fiction about how Wayne Industries has a corporate takeover and how this would affect Batman. So, how much do you think Bruce Wayne is worth?

[Grappler]

If your looking for ideas, look at recent takeovers through Newsweek or whatever periodical as to a comparable company and use figures in their ballpark.

[Scipio]

Interesting question.

According to Byrne, Luthor was the second or third richest man in the world, and, according to Loeb, Wayne bought most of what Luthor owner out from under him (uh, thanks, Talia).

Even with bargain prices that would put Bruce somewhere in the top ten richest people in his world.

In our world, the richest person in the world is worth $90 billion and the tenth is worth $16 billion. That's a big jump, I know. But unless the DCU is wealthier than our world (which it easily could be with all the extra goodies they've got), Bruce should be worth somewhere between $16B and $90B.

I should think he's in the top five at least, which puts him over $30 billion.

[gorillaboss]

Ahhh, blessed Google! I remember this list from Forbes from 2002.

Here ya go!

--*--

http://www.forbes.com/2002/09/13/400fictional_print.html

The Forbes Fictional Fifteen

Rank Name Net Worth
1. Santa Claus $ Infinite
2. Richie Rich 24.7 billion
3. Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks 10 billion
4. Scrooge McDuck 8.2 billion
5. Thurston Howell III 8 billion
6. Willie Wonka 8 billion
7. Bruce Wayne 6.3 billion
8. Lex Luthor 4.7 billion
9. J.R. Ewing 2.8 billion
10. Auric Goldfinger 1.2 billion
11. C. Montgomery Burns 1 billion
12. Charles Foster Kane 1 billion
13. Cruella De Vil 875 million
14. Gordon Gekko 650 million
15. Jay Gatsby 600 million

--*--

(The list needs to be juggled a bit now, though, because in recent comics, Bruce Wayne's WayneTech took over Luthor's LexCorp.)

[Scipio]

Absurd! Bill Gates richer than Richie Rich?

NO ONE is richer than Richie Rich.

[zaurial]

Actually, there's one person richer than Richie Rich. If you really think about it. His girlfriend, Gloria.
Think about it: she has access to the richest boy in the world for FREE. He could build her a private theme park, and I'm pretty sure he has. Several times. He has to feel the repurcussions of overspending from his father, yet she has none. In a few years, the power will corrupt her, and she will go on a rampage, buying every little trinket and dawble she can. Then... she makes Richie mad, he dumps her, and BAM! she's in the poorhouse. Sad, sad, sad.
Where does Mayda Munny fit into all this?

(The above statement regarding Gloria also works for Freckles and the kid with the haircut that looks like a folded piece of paper on his head. You know, whats-his-name. It's Gregory, or something. But since Gloria's closer to him, she's above it all. How do you think Richie's dad got his wife? Regina, or something.)

[Scipio]

Pee-Wee.

His name was Pee-Wee.

[006]

http://www.io.com/~docx/php/hc.php

[Wyldstaar]

I remember reading in a fairly recent story that Bruce Wayne was more wealthy than Lex Luthor ( I think it was Superman/Batman, but I'm not sure). With the already enormous fortune Bruce already had coupled to a bargain basement buyout of Lexcorp, that couldn't help but put Bruce Wayne as the second richest man in the world. Comics universes like to stay in step with the real world, so the DCU version of Bill Gates (can't remember what they call Windows in the DCU either, but I know there is one) would likely have at least five bucks more than Bruce.

[stiflerparty]

Thanks for all your help. I know it's fiction but I really can't see Batman maintaining his privacy. If Bruce Wayne is that rich, he would be in the spotlight too often and too busy. He is always hanging out at the Watchtower and going off fighting crime. I guess no one cares when a multi billionaire goes missing for days on end.

[Wyldstaar]

Bruce has been known to employ actors as decoys in the past. He'll send some guy who can pass as him to some exclusive resort with a ton of cash. A reporter or photographer will pick up the story, and everyone thinks Bruce in on some island with a bimbo while Batman is in Nepal beating the carp out of Ra's Al Ghul. This sort of thing would probably be required to be going on all the time, but these sorts of details aren't necessary to any particular story most of the time, and thus aren't addressed in the comics.

Anyway... As far as your story goes, I'd recommend setting it in the past. A hostile takeover of Waynecorp today would be neigh impossible. Plus, I'm pretty sure that Lex has already tried it at some point.

[I_Blame_You]

In Kingdom Come, didn't Bruce make reference to Ra's Al Ghul's son (can't come up with the name) having "real" wealth compared to his own?

[Wyldstaar]

The wealth of criminal/mystery organizations in the DCU is kinda hinky. At some point or another, groups such as The Demon's Head, Kobra, the Brother Blood cult, or the cult of St Dumas have all laid claim to having more money than God.

[grey_zealot]

O.K., I don't read Batman except in the TPBs (mostly JLA, and I have Long Halloween, plus a bunch of the comics from the late 1970's)

What all have his businesses been called?

Wayne Enterprises
Wayne Industries
Martha Wayne Foundation (charity work)
WayneTech (Bruce Timm cartoon)

Could we assume that all those exist?
Could we assume that he has majority share and/or sits on the board of directors of each?
Could we assume that -- as per the Paul Dini/Alex Ross War on Crime -- he fights crime from both ends? (Providing jobs and charity work from one end and mucking-up organized crime from the other?)

[The Red Raider]

There are various divisions of Wayne Enterprises (the over all corporate name), such as
The Wayne Foundation (this was the high rise with the penthouse headquarters where Bruce briefly lived)
Waynetech
Wayne laboratories (I believe the two are the same, really)

It has been said that Luthor is more wealthy than Wayne, but not by much. Of course, now, he blows him away.

Once upon a time, Ted Kord and Olver Queen were also very wealthy, but not quite on this level.

[Wyldstaar]

Ted Kord owns Kord Industries, but isn't uber rich. He's likely got 3 to 5 billion. Oliver Queen gave away his fortune before he died. When he came back he was left another fortune by the nut who wanted to steal his body, but I don't think it's in the billions range. Certainly a multi-millionaire though. Red's right though. Neither of them have ever come close to Bruce or Lex.

I suspect that there is no official name for Bruce Wayne's company or companies. It likely befalls the writer to deal with that.

[NickFury15]

Bruce Wayne has a little less money than Tony Stark. Especially Ultimate Tony Stark, who claims "I thought being worth $350 billion on paper qualified me as an eccentric."

[TERRA_Rising]

There are three possible answers to this question:

1) The answer is irrelevant. Bruce has whatever amount of money he needs when he needs it. With Lucius Fox and other later executives running the company, Bruce has the time to pretend he's a playboy and still fight his war on crime.

2) Bruce is worth MUCH more then $100 Billion. You figure this because with the assets of Wayne Enterprises and Lex Corp, you kinda figure he's worth much more now. It's like if Warren Buffett bought out Microsoft and combined all the assets into his personal portfolio.

3) Bruce is worth about $1 Billion: This does just his personal worth. You figure this because most of what he owns is through his company. Wayne Enterprises is worth a bundle, but Bruce is only a fraction of it.

I really don't know the answer, and I don't want to think about it.

[DarkSoldier]

Originally posted by I_Blame_You
In Kingdom Come, didn't Bruce make reference to Ra's Al Ghul's son (can't come up with the name) having "real" wealth compared to his own? The man in question is Ibn Al'Xuffasch, "Son of the Bat." His parents are Talia Head (daughter of the late Ra's al Ghul) and Bruce Wayne.

[SeeD Commander]

Originally posted by grey_zealot
What all have his businesses been called?

Wayne Enterprises
Wayne Industries
Martha Wayne Foundation (charity work)
WayneTech (Bruce Timm cartoon)

Could we assume that all those exist?
Could we assume that he has majority share and/or sits on the board of directors of each?
Could we assume that -- as per the Paul Dini/Alex Ross War on Crime -- he fights crime from both ends? (Providing jobs and charity work from one end and mucking-up organized crime from the other?)

Yeah, pretty much. I think the terms Wayne Enterprises and Industries can be used interchangably. WayneTech exists in the comics too. In fact, Tech supplies the, uh, tech to most (if not all) of the super hero teams in the DCU.

[fireal33]

The Batman issue of Our Worlds At War has some construction workers talking about Lex's wealth vs Bruce's wealth...someone might want to check that out if they are really interested.

[mattsolo]

About the same as Jimmy Buffet.

[azbats]

If you do the math Scrooge McDuck is far and away richer than Richie Rich. His money bin holds 3 cubic acres of cash. The following figures are on the low end of the calculations.
If it was completely fulled with penny it would be worth over $8.5 billion, $33 billion for nickels, $94.3 billion for dime and $176.8 billion for quarters. This does not even consider the numbers of bills that he has. This also does not include the gold moon he owns, even Richie Rich can't compete with that. I disagree about Santa Claus have an infinite net worth because if that was true in a fictional setting, every good little boy and girl would be extremely rich. Instead Santa Claus gives them a couple little trinkets that he doesn't even make himself for a whole year's worth of being good. Santa Claus just a delivery boy without a penny to his name.:devious:

[2Face]

The current Batman story with the Red Hood begins with one of Wayne Enterprises companies being taken over. It was also attempted in Batman: Family (pretty lame story, actually).

Also, which Batman/Superman does it talk about Bruce buying up Lex corp? I don't remember this at all.

[Wyldstaar]

Originally posted by 2Face
The current Batman story with the Red Hood begins with one of Wayne Enterprises companies being taken over. It was also attempted in Batman: Family (pretty lame story, actually).

Also, which Batman/Superman does it talk about Bruce buying up Lex corp? I don't remember this at all.

It was the end of the first storyline, where Superman and Batman were fighting Lex Luthor. When Lex ran for President of the USA, he had to resign his position as CEO of Lexcorp. He gave the title to Talia Head. Talia sold all of Lexcorp's assets to Bruce Wayne for pennies on the dollar.

[Mr_JTR]

Originally posted by Wyldstaar
Ted Kord owns Kord Industries, but isn't uber rich. He's likely got 3 to 5 billion. Oliver Queen gave away his fortune before he died. When he came back he was left another fortune by the nut who wanted to steal his body, but I don't think it's in the billions range. Certainly a multi-millionaire though. Red's right though. Neither of them have ever come close to Bruce or Lex.

I suspect that there is no official name for Bruce Wayne's company or companies. It likely befalls the writer to deal with that.

Wait a sec, I thought Wayne bought out Kord, anf that was recently in and of itself involved with a european hostile takeover, so Wayne no longer owns it either?

[Mr_JTR]

Also, there is someone richer then Richie Rich, his Father.

[Mr_JTR]

But, back to the original Question...

Bruce Wayne is worth alot... to DC comics.

He's had several popular movies, a live-action TV series that lasted several seasons, and has been in reruns forever. He's had several animated series of his own, some animates series with various other superhero's and made animates appearances in other shows, like Scooby Doo. He's had several comicbook running at teh same time, some with him solo, some with other heros (JLA), makes many guest appearances to boost sales of other comicbooks. He's got his own line of toys, featuring him in various bat-costumes. Several hit video games. A lot of graphic novels.
Face it, Bruce makes DC lots of money.

[Mr_JTR]

Supes doesn't even make as much for DC as Bats does.

[doctorfate77]

Originally posted by Mr_JTR
Wait a sec, I thought Wayne bought out Kord, anf that was recently in and of itself involved with a european hostile takeover, so Wayne no longer owns it either?

which in reality he shouldnt need since he has the new 13yo Toyman making stuff for him now. wonder why he didn't mention that...

[Mr_JTR]

Originally posted by doctorfate77
which in reality he shouldnt need since he has the new 13yo Toyman making stuff for him now. wonder why he didn't mention that...

Cause at age 13, Bruce would be arrested for hiring minors......
I can see teh headlines now "Bruce Wayne, the Kathie Lee Gifford of the DC universe". Bruce running a sweatshop with child labour.
Plus, well, you know, Bats does seem to like to run around with underaged-types, boys and girls. People would talk, things would be said.

[The-Atom]

Well if you think about wealth these days,its not as much as it was years ago,where bill gates was like the richest guy with 400 billion or 3 trillion i forget but he was worth a lot and now rich people are a dime a dozen these days,they have tv shows and people don't take it as much as they used to. An example Donald trump is getting married(a funny story the ring he got for her,he did'ent pay for it,he gave the jewelry company air time on the apprentice and they gave the ring,these you think he could afford a ring.).

[Mr_JTR]

When the Donald got engaged to Marla Maples (later wife #2, not to be confused with this new one, #3) he hadn't bought the engaement ring, he borrowed it from "Tiffany's" and had to return it.