The late grandfather of Paris Hilton, Conrad Hilton was a philanthropist, business mogul and successor of Conrad Hilton to become the chairman, president and CEO of Hilton Hotels Corporation whilst also founding the L.A.
Chargers NFL team and credit card company Carte Blanche. With a net worth of close to $3 to $4.5 billion, the Hilton wealth was set to be inherited by his family upon his passing.
The late grandfather of Paris Hilton, Conrad Hilton was a philanthropist and business mogul
BUILDING THE HILTON EMPIRE
After the death of Conrad Hilton in 1979, Barron challenged his father’s will which he alleged was not in the best interest of the company and after a 10-year long legal battle, was successful in reaching a settlement.
He was able to build the hotel empire chain to 2,800 hotels worldwide and in 2007 sold the business for a whopping $26 billion to the Blackstone Group.
AN EMBARRASSMENT FOR THE HILTON NAME
The family wealth was originally intended to be passed down to the next generation after Conrad passed away, but many believe Paris Hilton cost her family (and herself), billions of dollars’ worth of inheritance.
Paris played a big role in the rise of the celebutante era– where people were famous for being famous, rather than being talented or productive members of society.
Paris played a big role in the rise of the celebutante era
And while Paris was always in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, it reportedly did not settle well with Conrad to see his successors flaunting the family wealth on the media with their lavish lifestyle and Barbie pink supercars.
Barron watched in silence for a decade as his granddaughter tarnished the Hilton family name with multiple DUIs, sex-tapes, reality shows and numerous antics on the media.
Barron was reportedly so distraught by the embarrassing antics of Paris, that on the Christmas eve of 2007 he announced that he would be making a major change to his will- instead of giving the $4.5 billion family wealth to the family members, Barron announced that he would be giving 97% of his net worth to his charity foundation.
BILLIONS OF DOLLARS FOR SOCIAL WELFARE
If Barron was to stay true to his promise, out of the $4.5 billion fortune, the 24 members of the Hilton family would only get their hands on $135 million and instead of receiving approximately $181 million per family member, they would only receive roughly $5.6 million each.
Paris is a millionaire in her own rights
So how much of the $135 million do you think Paris received? Rumour has it that Paris did not receive a single penny from her grandfather as she was cut from his will altogether.
Upon his death, when Barron’s will was read, the mogul did indeed stick to his promise and gave away 97% of his wealth to charity focusing on social welfare causes like disaster relief, poverty alleviation, homeless shelters, HIV and AIDS.
