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If everyone's not doing it for the money, why are there so many rich people?

“We’re not doing this to make money."
--David Hering, board member of Alwyn Court, a landmark apartment building in Manhattan wrapped in a six-story advertisement for FamilyWonder.com. (New York Times, 4/16/00)

"I’m not in this for money."
--Barrie Dolnick, author of The Executive Mystic, a former ad man, now a psychic and paid consultant who helps CEOs channel their "intuitive power." (CNNfn, 3/3/98)

"I’m not doing it for the money."
--Maurice Thompson, cohead of Warburg’s equity capital markets, who is said to have received over $6 million upon retiring at age 36. (Financial Times, 2/15/95)

"I’m not in this for the money."
-- Benno Schmidt, on his decision to quit as president of Yale University to head Edison Schools. Edison is the latest for-profit "educational" venture from Chris Whittle, the founder of Channel One. Edison raised over $100 million in capital upon going public. (60 Minutes, 11/14/99)

"I didn’t go into DrKoop.com to make money. I did it to change the way that medicine is practiced."
-- Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Koop, who, as the chairman and major shareholder in DrKoop.com, holds more than $47 million in stock as of this writing. Of DrKoop.com’s several marketing alliances, its deal with Quintiles Transnational Corp. is typical: DrKoop.com declared Quintiles "the world’s leading clinical organization" in exchange for payment for each person enrolled in a clinical trial from the site. (New York Times, 9/4/99)

"These are people who are not doing it for the money but because they enjoy communicating with foreigners."
--Suzanne Hall, vice president of marketing for Jet Vacations, on the customers of its "Cafe Couette" bed-and-breakfast program. (Tour & Travel News, 4/29/91)

"I don’t want to sound like the movie guy who says he’s in it for the art, but I’m not in this for the money."
-- Clint Eastwood on building a private golf course. Due open in late spring, Tehama Golf Club is taking members at $135,000 each. Eastwood is predicted to rake in about $45 million this year from Tehama’s 300 memberships. The golf course, which will be among two dozen already in the area, threatens to destroy one of the last remaining coastal paradises and its fragile water supply. (Wall Street Journal, 2/10/00)

"We’re not doing it for the money."
-- Shelley Archambeau, Blockbuster’s senior VP of E-commerce, on Blockbuster’s alliance with America Online. Over the next three years, AOL will invest $80 million in the retailer’s Web site and the two companies will promote each other in stores. (Billboard, 11/13/99)

"If you looked at these people at the end of the show, you could tell it was less about the money than it was about the relationship."
-- Mike Darnell, a Fox executive regarding his show Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire? (New York Times, 2/17/00)

"I’m not in this for the money. This is all about building jobs... "
-- Nick Grouf, Chair & CEO of PeoplePC, who launched his company with 50 employees and $65 million in venture capital. Grouf sold his previous business, Firefly, to Microsoft for at least $30 million . . . all in an attempt to "democratize technology." (San Francisco Chronicle, 2/5/00)

"I never cared about money . . . it’s just a byproduct."
-- Billionaire and "leveraged buyout king" Ted Forstmann. Forstman’s Gulfstream Aerospace, sells top-of-the-line jets to executives for $40 million a piece. (CNN Business Unusual, 4/25/98)

"We’re not doing it for the money."
-- Broadcom Corp co-founder Henry Samueli on his company’s initial public offering. After the IPO, the shares owned by Samueli and cofounder Henry Nicholas were worth a total of $1.2 billion. (Orange County Register, 5/19/98)

HONORABLE MENTION

"Our photographs aim at giving back a human face to the prisoners. Although there is a Benetton logo, it is not about selling products." Unnamed Benetton spokesperson (Reuters, 2/14/00)

If any billionaires not doing it for the money are reading this, please feel free to send a check to: Stay Free!, 23 Hawthorne Street, Brooklyn, NY 11225. It will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.