Uploaded January 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The day will eventually come when mankind's tenure on Earth comes to an end, and with nuclear threats and environmental dangers looming, the super-rich have begun creating elaborate contingency plans to safeguard their well-being.
One common thread through billionaires' doomsday survival plans is that they consider New Zealand among the best candidates for building a haven.
The reasons for choosing New Zealand appear to relate to its politics as well as its geography; it is sparsely populated while being politically stable. Its high terrain also makes it a suitable place to shelter from the consequences of climate change.
One prime example of these plans is Peter Thiel, the former managing director of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook, who sought planning permission to construct a sprawling ten-bedroom bunker compound in New Zealand.
Thiel purchased a 477-acre piece of land for this purpose in 2015, allegedly costing 13.5 million dollars. According to architectural plans designed by the same company responsible for designing the Japanese Olympic stadium, Thiel aims to equip his compound with a meditation space, a theater, a spa, and various other extravagant amenities.
A fellow tech entrepreneur and friend of Thiel's, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and a key player in the quest to develop a super powerful Artificial General Intelligence, has also expressed his intention to hunker down, speaking openly about how he preps for apocalyptic scenarios...
The day will eventually come when mankind's tenure on Earth comes to an end, and with nuclear threats and environmental dangers looming, the super-rich have begun creating elaborate contingency plans to safeguard their well-being.
One common thread through billionaires' doomsday survival plans is that they consider New Zealand among the best candidates for building a haven.
The reasons for choosing New Zealand appear to relate to its politics as well as its geography; it is sparsely populated while being politically stable. Its high terrain also makes it a suitable place to shelter from the consequences of climate change.
One prime example of these plans is Peter Thiel, the former managing director of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook, who sought planning permission to construct a sprawling ten-bedroom bunker compound in New Zealand.
Thiel purchased a 477-acre piece of land for this purpose in 2015, allegedly costing 13.5 million dollars. According to architectural plans designed by the same company responsible for designing the Japanese Olympic stadium, Thiel aims to equip his compound with a meditation space, a theater, a spa, and various other extravagant amenities.
A fellow tech entrepreneur and friend of Thiel's, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and a key player in the quest to develop a super powerful Artificial General Intelligence, has also expressed his intention to hunker down, speaking openly about how he preps for apocalyptic scenarios...
