When people win the lottery, they usually opt to keep it under wraps.

People who have built or inherited their fortunes, on the other hand, have a tough time staying out of the spotlight.

When Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos divorced, for example, everyone waited to find out exactly how much of his immense fortune would be transferred to his wife.

Every time Bill Gates reads a book, the world wants to know about it.

Our fascination with the rich knows no bounds, which is why it’s kind of weird when super-wealthy people manage to lead extremely private lives.

One family, in particular, has grabbed the attention of the media in the past few months.

The Van der Vorms, one of the wealthiest and most discreet families in the world, sold Ray-Ban owner GrandVision in July, and nobody knows what they plan on doing with the cash.

And, it’s a lot of cash. They made roughly $4 billion (R59 billion) off the sale.

Business Insider has some insight into the secretive family of billionaires:

The profits from the sale will be put into HAL, the publicly traded trust controlled by the Van der Vorms, according to Bloomberg. As for where the money will go, there’s currently little clarity: The family could use it to pay dividends to shareholders, reinvest in something else, or use it to retire and become full-time philanthropists, ABN Amro Bank NV analyst Thijs Berkelder told Bloomberg.

HAL stands for ‘Holland America Line’, originally the name of the cruise line that Willem Van der Vorm sold to Carnival for $625 million in 1988.

In the image right up the top of the page, you can see Nico van der Vorm on the right, who became the director of that company in 1966. It’s one of the few photos of a Van der Vorm family member that you can find online.

The family put the money from the sale to work within the investment firm, which bears the initials of the cruise line.

HAL plays a big part in how the family and the company stays incognito. Here’s Bloomberg:

The firm’s stock includes bearer shares, enabling owners to conceal their identities. Family members and other Hal Trust executives are referred to in filings by their initials only and eschew publicity. When a senior employee, Jaap van Wiechen, was invited to receive an award in Amsterdam four years ago he turned down the honor and didn’t attend the event.

There are a number of reasons for their secrecy. For one thing, the Netherlands has a nasty history of kidnapping.

The country was stunned in 1983 when a gang kidnapped brewery magnate Freddy Heineken for ransom. Two decades later, armed men snatched Claudia Melchers, the daughter of billionaire industrialist Hans Melchers, who happened to be a major Hal shareholder.

The Netherlands is also a country that prides itself on egalitarianism, which means that nobody wants to be known for being rich.

Even as the family avoids the limelight, its fortune has continued to grow. Last year, Hal expanded further outside the Netherlands with an $840 million deal for U.S. flooring-maker Formica and a German orthopedic technology firm.

The trust has stakes in more than 20 companies, including dredging firm Boskalis Westminster NV, Safilo Group SpA and oil and gas services firm SBM Offshore NV. The sale of its 77% stake in eyewear company GrandVision NV to EssilorLuxottica is expected to be completed by July 2021.

You can read more about the elusive family here.

I’m with them on the idea that being super-rich shouldn’t mean sacrificing privacy.

Not everyone wants to be a Kardashian.

If they keep growing at this rate, though, they’re going to have a tough time staying under the radar.

[sources:businessinsider&bloomberg]