J. Paul Getty paid part of his kidnapped grandson's ransom and lent the rest to his son at 4% interest

Getty ran Getty Oil from Sutton Place in Surrey. On 10 July 1973 his grandson John Paul Getty III, 16, was seized in Piazza Farnese, Rome, and held in Calabria. The kidnappers asked $17 million. Getty refused, saying payment would put his other grandchildren at risk. After about three months an envelope holding the boy's right ear reached the Rome newspaper Il Messaggero. The demand fell to $3 million. Getty paid $2.2 million. The boy's father paid the other $800,000, borrowed from Getty at 4% interest. On 15 December 1973 the boy was found at a petrol station in Lauria. Nine people were arrested and two convicted; most of the money was never found. Getty died aged 83. He left more than $661 million, mostly Getty Oil stock, to the J. Paul Getty Museum; disputes over the will held up the bequest until 1982^†. The family trust, the Sarah C. Getty Trust, held 40% of Getty Oil. His son Gordon became its sole trustee in 1982. Another son, J. Paul Getty Jr., sued on behalf of his own son Tara to end Gordon's sole control. In January 1984 Texaco agreed to buy Getty Oil for $125 a share, about $9.9 billion. Pennzoil, whose earlier deal Texaco displaced, won a $10.53 billion verdict in 1985. A 1981 overdose left Getty III quadriplegic; he died in 2011. In 2026 Gordon Getty, 92, is worth an estimated $8.15 billion, and the Getty Trust reported a $9.4 billion endowment for 2025.