Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has taken his outlandish spending habits to a new level during these hard times — with a mind-boggling, celebrity-studded, $5 million New Year’s Eve celebration.
Party-hearty Lindsay Lohan, along with Orlando Bloom and his girlfriend, Miranda Kerr, were among 250 guests who joined a private celebration at the oil and steel magnate’s new $90 million Caribbean estate on St. Barts.
The entertainment cost $1.7 million and included performances by Beyoncé, Gwen Stefani and Prince, who were each paid about $567,000, according to Britain’s Daily Mail.
A fleet of private jets were on hand to transport the guests to the secluded estate, where the 43-year-old oligarch and his socialite girlfriend, Daria Zhukova, kept the merriment rolling with $2.6 million worth of food and drink.
Beyoncé was spotted earlier with hubby Jay-Z and R&B singer Usher at the Nikki Beach restaurant, where she also performed before shuttling off to the 70-acre estate to watch the midnight fireworks off one of Abramovich’s yachts.
It was just a drop in the bucket for the billionaire, who held down the 51st spot on Forbes’ 2009 rich list with an estimated net worth of $8.5 billion.
Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen also have held lavish island parties in the past, but nothing as over the top as this.
“Roman is new to the island and wants to come in with a bang,” a source told the Daily Mail.
Abramovich purchased the Gouverneur Bay beachfront estate with a swim-up bar and an outdoor stage and cinema in September.
He splurged in New York in October, when he hosted nine guests at Nello on the Upper East Side, ordering seven bottles of wine at $5,000 apiece to go along with $600 plates of truffles during their meal.
Those menu items helped him run up a $47,221 tab.
Abramovich also owns the Chelsea soccer team in London, as well as the world’s biggest yacht, which is outfitted with bulletproof glass and is equipped with a submarine.