If you’re living in 2015 and have an internet connection, you’ve no doubt heard about oil tycoon Harold Hamm’s pricy and heated divorce settlement.
His trust wrote his soon-to-be-ex wife a check for $974,790,317.77.
You read that right, a handwritten check for nearly one billion dollars!
She turned it down, but we’re not here to talk about family law or billionaires. This news story had us wondering – what can we do with that kind of money?
19.5 million Californians can order a WHALE TAIL license plate.
The WHALE TAIL customizable license plate costs $50 in the first year, and $35 of that directly benefits benefit the California Coastal Commission’s Adopt-A-Beach® Program, Coastal Cleanup Day and other coastal protection and restoration projects throughout the state.
A small $15 is taken out of your payment the first year to cover production costs, but the full amount of your renewal fee each year ($40) goes to support those great organizations.
There are 38.33 million people living in California and 13 million registered automobiles. That divorce settlement could cover one license plate for each driver, and then some!
You could buy 27,077,508 tickets for Pacific Ocean whale watching tours.
Photo credit: wikipedia
At least according to this website. That’s based on the adult weekend price, so you could buy even more for kids, or during the week.
You could help the Smithsonian National Zoo conserve animal species.
Photo credit: Smithsonian National Zoo
The federal government contributes 70 percent of the Smithsonian’s yearly budget, which covers less than 50 percent of the costs of research and conservation projects.
The zoo aims to raise $80 million each year to keep the dream alive and their doors open. With all that oil money, you could fund research at this fine institution for more than 12 years!
Of course, we could only dream to see that kind of money, but we would certainly love to spend it on cute ocean animals if we could!