For London's New Super-Rich, No Whim Need Go Unfulfilled - washingtonpost.com

For London's New Super-Rich, No Whim Need Go Unfulfilled - washingtonpost.com: "For London's New Super-Rich, No Whim Need Go Unfulfilled

By Mary Jordan and Karla Adam
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, March 8, 2007; Page A01

LONDON -- They call themselves 'the haves and the have yachts': rich London bankers and traders who drop tens of thousands of dollars for an evening of cocktails and hire 'personal concierges' to get their girlfriends dresses like those worn by movie stars.

Long a hub for the world's ultra-rich, London has just welcomed an unprecedented number of newcomers into those ranks. Analysts here estimate that London's financial stars were paid a total of $17 billion in annual bonuses in recent weeks -- including more than 4,200 people who received bonuses of at least $2 million each, on top of salaries already sagging under the weight of zeros."