Summary
- Billions provides a glimpse into the cutthroat competition among hedge fund managers, lawyers, and the ultra-wealthy one-percenters who run America.
- The show showcases how the richest of the rich deal with their lives, with Millionaires and billionaires always just one wrong move away from losing it all.
- Characters like Bobby Axelrod, Lara Axelrod, Mike Prince, and Grigor Andolov have amassed enormous fortunes, with net worths ranging from $2 billion to $20 billion.
Showtime's hit financial drama Billions ended up finishing its storylines with seven total seasons. Loosely based on real-life people who successfully navigate Wall Street and the sector of high finance, the show provides glimpses into the cutthroat competition among hedge fund managers, U.S. lawyers, and the lavish lifestyles of the ultra-wealthy one-percenters who run America. The series also plays out as a tense drama as Paul Giamatti plays the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Chuck Roades who goes after the hedge fund manager Bobby Axelrod.
Things changed over the years, with Axelrod selling his company to a new billionaire named Michael Prince, someone who immediately gets on the wrong side of Roades. Through it all, Billionaire introduces several players who work for and alongside Axe Capital, many of whom become millionaires and others who are worth billions of dollars. That is what has made the show so interesting, seeing how the richest of the rich deal with their lives, and how they are all just one wrong move away from losing it all. With season 7 ending Billions, it will be interesting to see who keeps their wealth and who loses it all by the end.
14 Ben Kim - $5 Million
Ben King started off his career at Axe Capital as an analyst and ended up being promoted to the position of Portfolio Manager for the company in season 3. The starting salary for his position is around $150,000 plus bonuses, and then he has his commission based on his sales compensation. By the time he reached his position on the show, he would be making over $1 million a year. Billions has also revealed that he made his company at least $500 million and that means he has at least a net worth of $5 million based on his value to the firm.
13 Dudley Mafee - $5-$7 Million
Dudley Mafee is a former employee of Axe Capital, and that is where he became a millionaire. He was also a fan favorite on the show, mostly because he wasn't ruthless like his fellow employees and treated people with kindness. However, he also earned his millions. He made trades on the show that were worth more than $20 million and there was even a moment when Bobby Axelrod gave him $1.2 million in an episode as "cold storage," which is a method of keeping assets offline to improve the security. In his five years before leaving Axe, he was averaging around $750,000 a year in base pay added to his commission and bonuses.
12 Orrin Bach - $10-$15 Million
Orrin Bach is the Legal Representative for Axe Capital and its employees. A former law professor on Billions, Bach has not only helped Bobby Axelrod maintain his fortune and keep him out of trouble, but he also made a fortune for himself in the process. It was working for Axelrod that made Bach a millionaire because he once showed a check on an episode of Billions where it displayed a seven-figure annual salary just to be on his retainer fees. He also bragged that he made $1,000 an hour. His net worth on Billions is easily over $10 million.
11 Wendy Rhoades - $20 Million
While her loyalties are torn between her boss Axe and her husband Chuck, two bitter rivals, the relationship dynamic has not prevented Wendy Rhoades from doing well for herself. As a performance coach who trains Axe Capital employees how to handle huge monetary swings, Wendy is said to be worth roughly $20 million.
Part of this figure comes from her annual salary working for the prestigious Axe Capital hedge fund, and another huge portion comes from the bonus she received from Axe following the Ice Juice endeavor. Initially awarded a $5 million bonus, Bobby doubled the amount to $10 million. When she asked for a 2% stake in the company, Axe declined and countered with 1% if and when they sell.
10 Dollar Bill - $30 Million
Dollar Bill Stearns is one of Axe Capital's best earners, yet lives such a frugal lifestyle that it's hard to pin down his exact net worth. Thankfully, it's mentioned in passing during one episode that Dollar Bill is worth roughly $30 million.
With two separate families to support, Bill doesn't have the same financial luxury as some of the other characters. His low-key demeanor betrays a much more modest financial status, but in one episode it is revealed that he owns a dry cleaning business that launders money. He even stashes large sums of cash for emergencies, something he encourages Taylor to do.
9 Jock Jeffcoat - $200 Million
As the long-running United States Attorney General and a constant thorn in the side of Chuck Jr. during seasons 3 and 4, Waylon "Jock" Jeffcoat has amassed quite a bit of wealth in his day. Jock wields tremendous power and influence over Wall Street and uses his vast intellect to make obscene amounts of money. Making nearly a quarter-million dollars a year for his salary as US AG alone, Jock's wily investments have led to a net worth somewhere around $200 million, which is the figure stated by the reporter Chuck secretly meets with. Jock came back in the final seventh season and was just as wealthy as ever.
8 Wags - $200+ Million
As Bobby's second in command at Axe Capital, the eminently quotable Mike "Wags" Wagner has a personal stake in the company that has earned him roughly $200 million during his lifetime. Despite losing $15 million in the Lehman investment and living a lavish lifestyle full of cocaine and hard partying, Wags earned a $9 million bonus from Axe during year-end.
Other indicators supporting Wags' wealth include the time he casually donated $500,000 in season 1, which did not make a difference in his bank account. Moreover, if Axe has been managing Wags' money since September 11, 2001, then he's still doing extremely well.
7 Chuck Rhoades Sr. - $200 Million
Chuck Rhoades Sr. is an old-money realtor and New York investor who is seen to own multiple upscale residences on the show. At one point, he bestows his son Chuck Jr. with a $27 million trust fund, indicating that he has money to throw around in spades. Unfortunately, Chuck Jr. squandered the fund on the Ice Juice investment and nearly went bankrupt.
As for Chuck Sr.'s pricey real estate holdings, and long-held status on Wall Street where he made savvy investments his entire life, a $200 million valuation is more than reasonable.
6 Jack Foley - $500 Million-$1 Billion
While it's impossible to know his exact net worth, details in the show infer that Black Jack Foley, aka the Kingmaker, is the sixth generation of his extremely wealthy family and owns a privately held company.
Between his old-money background and immense influence in New York's political scene where kickbacks and bribes are a dime a dozen, Black Jack Foley is worth somewhere between half a million and a billion dollars. Foley uses his monetary resources to back political leaders like Sweeney and prevent players like Chuck Jr. from attaining such positions of power.
5 Oscar Langstraat - $1 Billion
Thought to be a composite of real-life investors Peter Thiel and Stewart Butterfield, Oscar Langstraat is a billionaire venture capitalist from Silicon Valley who yanks his funds from Axe Capital in season 5. He does so in retaliation for Taylor, his new love interest, who returned to Axe against his wishes.
Considering Oscar's real-life counterparts, a billion-dollar valuation for Langstraat is actually on the conservative side. As an angel investor who turns small companies into behemoth corporations, Oscar's immense wealth played a key factor in season 6.
4 Bobby Axelrod - $2 Billion
If it weren't for Bobby's unfathomably expensive divorce, he would be twice as rich as he already is. Still, with an estimated $8 billion in holdings across all assets, Bobby is wealthy beyond belief. Great measures have been taken by the writers to equate Bobby's life with that of Steven Cohen, a prominent New York hedge fund manager and owner of the New York Mets. Cohen also got divorced in 1990.
As the smartest character on the show and CEO of the mega-successful Axe Capital hedge fund, Bobby lives, breathes, and sleeps money. He lived a luxurious lifestyle of expensive taste, including the purchase of several Picasso paintings in season 4. However, he ended up fleeing to Switzerland to avoid arrest in season 6, and he sold his entire company to Michael Prince for only $2 billion. Bobby returned in the final season of Billions.
3 Lara Axelrod - $5 Billion
Thanks to the absence of a prenuptial agreement with her husband Bobby Axelrod, Lara was awarded half of his money as part of their divorce settlement. Since Bobby is known to be based on American businessman Steven Cohen, who is said to be worth roughly $11 billion, that puts Lara's settlement score at $5.5 billion give or take. That kind of money would change anybody's life, but in Lara's case, she leaves behind a lower-class upbringing and career as a nurse to live an ultra-decadent lifestyle of extreme wealth. Lara's major character arc is part of what makes her one of the best characters on Billions.
2 Mike Prince - $10-$18 Billion
When Damian Lewis left Billions, there was a new billionaire to replace him in the cast. This was Corey Stoll's Mike Prince, and he not only replaced Axelrod as the new rich man on the show, but he was actually worth more than Axelrod - closing in on the wealth of Grigor Andolov. Prince was a self-made billionaire who made his first riches when he sold his company to Microsoft but still kept control. By the end of season 5, Prince took over Axe cap and bought him Axelrod out.
There was one moment in Billions where Mike was talking about how much money he had and mentioned he was worth eleven figures, which puts him over $10 billion. He also took Bobby's money, but since the government tied up that fortune, Prince is worth north of $10 billion and has a chance to make even more if he gets full control of the money. Prince planned a Presidential run in season 7, but it is not clear if that will affect his Billions net worth.
1 Grigor Andolov - $10-20 Billion
As a Russian oligarch with dark ties to a massive oil empire, Grigor Andolov is the wealthiest character to appear on Billions. Said to be worth somewhere between $10-20 billion dollars, Andolov wields his tremendous wealth to influence geopolitical players.
Due to his immense wealth, Axe tries to recruit Andalov to raise capital for his hedge fund. Andolov agrees at first, putting Axe in an advantageous position. However, Andolov reneged on the deal and invested his money in Taylor Mason capital instead, prompting Chuck to threaten him with legal action. Despite all this, Grigor remains the richest person in the history of Billions.