Just a week after Hurricane Harvey ripped through Texas, Hurricane Irma is making its way through the Caribbean — the second-strongest storm to ever cross the Atlantic Ocean.
And billionaire Virgin Group founder Richard Branson is currently holed up on his private island, right in the eye of this hurricane, cheerfully reporting on the carnage.
Must be nice to own an island
Branson bought the 74-acre Necker Island back in 1979 for $180k at the age of 28 and spent the next 3 years turning it into an $80k-per-night luxury resort.
Situated in the British Virgin Islands, it maintains a year-round staff of 100 people and offers a one-of-a-kind, ultra-lux experience.
Except when there’s a hurricane a’brewing
With the news of Irma approaching Necker Island, Branson’s guests all canceled — but Branson is staying put on the island, holed up with his staff in a concrete wine cellar under the property. “I haven’t had a sleepover quite like this since I was a kid,” he tweets…
Yeah, all those private island slumber parties… Same.
It won’t be the first time he’s done this: in the past 30 years, Necker has been racked by 3 massive storms, including Irene, which leveled his entire resort in 2011 (and scared the sh*t out of Kate Winslet).
Ballsy move — but there’s something more than a little weird about Branson cheerfully live-Tweeting his experience as Irma threatens thousands of defenseless people elsewhere in the Caribbean.
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(via The Hustle)
