William Franke

Source of wealth: Low-cost airlines

89 years male Diversified 🇺🇸 US

Net Worth

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Earnings per second

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The scale of their wealth

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Health

The price of life

Let's compare William Franke's fortune with the healthcare spending of a massive country

William Franke could fund the entire healthcare system of DR Congo, with a population of over 105,800,000 people, for approximately 0.5 years.

But even if we compare their fortune with that of a rich country

On the other end, William Franke could cover the healthcare spending of Luxembourg, considered the most heavily funded healthcare system in the world, for 0.2 years.

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Education

Buying the future

Let's also compare their fortune with education spending, first with a poor country

William Franke could cover the total cost of Nigeria's education system, the most populous country in Africa with over 243,000,000 inhabitants, for 0.3 years.

And yes, we can also compare it with a rich country

But they couldn't just cover the cost of a poor country; Luxembourg is considered the country with the highest per capita investment in education in the world, and William Franke could pay for it entirely for 0.4 years.

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Research

The monopoly on progress

Coming full circle, we think it's also interesting to add another gigantic country

William Franke could fully fund the state research budget of Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world with over 260,000,000 inhabitants, for 1.8 years.

And of course, the country that invests the most per capita worldwide

But even if we compare the total wealth of William Franke with Israel, the country that invests the most per capita in research in the world, they could cover the total cost of the system for 0.0 years.

While billions of people struggle to access basic healthcare, education, and research, a single individual could fund entire national systems for centuries.

Gold

Everyday luxuries

William Franke's fortune is equivalent to 7 tons of gold. It's hard to process, since we don't usually keep a handful of gold bars in our piggy banks.

A standard gold ring usually weighs between 4 and 7 grams. Let's say this one weighs 5 grams. It's usually 18 karats.

Based on today's gold price (excluding the jeweler's commission, shipping, or anything else), that ring would be worth $546.86.

William Franke could buy 1,940,565 gold rings. That's a lot of fingers and way too many gifts!!

And if you're struggling to visualize that many rings, it would take 0 trucks to transport them. Although William Franke will almost certainly have enough money left over to pay for the gas.

Biography

William Franke is the chairman of low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines and the owner of air transport-focused private equity firm Indigo Partners.

Raised in Latin America, Franke attended law school at Stanford and then worked as an executive at firms including Valley National Bank and Circle K.

He first got into the airline business as the CEO of America West Airlines from 1993 to 2001, turning the company into a low-cost carrier.

He was an early investor in Ryanair; since starting Indigo Partners in 2002, he's invested in several airlines including Volaris, Wizz Air, and Spirit.

He took Frontier public in April 2021; eight months later in February 2022, the firm announced a $6.6 billion merger with its rival Spirit Airlines.

Spirit and Frontier terminated their merger agreement in July 2022, with Spirit shareholders instead agreeing to a merger with JetBlue three months later.