Wang Jianlin


Wang Jianlin, Asia's richest man, has had a busy year buying trophy assets. The 61-year-old founder and chairman of Dalian Wanda Group has built a fortune in property, owns cinema chains worldwide and is now expanding his sports empire.

In January, he agreed to pay 45 million euros ($49 million) for a 20 percent stake in Spanish soccer team Atletico Madrid.

Wang, an avid buyer of 20th century art, added to his collection with the $20.4 million purchase at Sotheby's in New York of a Claude Monet oil painting, depicting a rose-covered arch overlooking a sun-dappled lily pond at the artist's farm in France.


Joseph Lau


Lau, who controls Hong Kong property developer Chinese Estates Holdings Ltd., isn't one to shy away from public displays of wealth. In 2007, he paid $39.2 million for a Paul Gauguin, and last year blew $41 million on jewelry for his teenage daughter Zoe.

This year, the multibillionaire raised the conspicuous-consumption bar even higher. In May, he plunked down $67.4 million for Pablo Picasso's "Buste de Femme" at Christie's New York. The next day, across town at a Sotheby's auction, he picked up Roy Lichtenstein's painting, "The Ring (Engagement)" for $41.7 million.

In November, the 64-year-old went on another two-day shopping spree, in Geneva. First he paid 28.7 million Swiss francs ($29.2 million) for a 16.08-carat pink diamond at auction. The next day, he nearly doubled that, paying 48.6 million Swiss francs for a 12.03-carat blue diamond, the most ever spent on a jewel at auction. Both purchases were made on behalf of his seven-year-old daughter Josephine.


Jack Ma


The Chinese founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. was quoted in Chinese media as telling a bunch of MBA students in Beijing that "making money is easy, spending it is hard." Though he was speaking about philanthropy, Ma, who's worth about $30 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaire's Index, is starting to enjoy some of his wealth.