When he was growing up in a small town in the west coast of Norway, Kjell Inge Roekke was unhappy and dyslexic. He dropped out of high school and moved to Seattle, where he caught crab and sold fish off the back of boat. But Roekke was a fast learner. He started buying old fishing boats and converted them into commercial trawlers. By the time he returned to Norway in his late 30s, his countrymen there said he had developed “American traits.” For his part Roekke, now 58, thought he was just being a good businessman, so good, in fact, that he is now the tenth richest man in Norway, worth more than $2.1 billion.
Along the way, Roekke did ruffle some feathers. Forbes says he “earned a reputation as a ruthless corporate raider.” And he once spent 23 days in jail after being convicted of bribing his way to a boating license; when he was released he spent $3,000 on takeout pizzas for his former cellmates.
But now Roekke, who made his fortune in fisheries and offshore oil and gas development, says “I want to give back to society the lion’s share of what I’ve earned.” He’s commissioned the largest yacht in the world, 594-feet-long and weighing 16,000 tons, as a state-of-the-art marine research vessel. It will have labs, air and sea drones and an underwater remote vessel, plus accommodations for 90 people, including 30 passengers. At the very least, the yacht will remove up to five tons of plastic from the sea each day and melt it down. Built at the VARD yard in Norway, the yacht will be launched in 2020.
Read more about it here: http://time.com/money/4762978/billionaires-philanthropy-kjell-inge-roekke-ocean-research-plastic/
