Bangkok Post, Thailand, Insider Column.

Oct. 2--PRICEY TOYS ON TYCOON'S FOR-SALE LIST: In the market for a private island? How about a luxury yacht, a private plane or a wine collection?

These baubles and more can be yours if you'd care to get in touch with one of America's richest men. It has been suggested, though, that Craig McCaw is not as rich as he used to be, since a lot of his wealth derived from high-tech investments that have fallen out of favour.

Mr McCaw began building the United States' first cross-country cellular phone network in the 1970s. In 1994 he sold it to AT&T and pocketed $840 million in profit. He ploughed that money into new telecom ventures and was sitting on a paper fortune of $9 billion last year.

That was then. When technology stocks peaked in March last year, Mr McCaw's biggest investments in two public companies -- Nextel Communications Inc and XO Communications Inc -- were worth $8.8 billion. Today, he holds only about $1 billion.

Mr McCaw declined to discuss his latest sales when the New York Times called up to chat. But his spokesman insists that the tycoon is simply looking to raise some cash to buy even more telecom stocks now that they're really, really cheap.

"A year or so ago, he saw where the economy was going and thought cash would be king," said Robert Ratliffe said. "So he took assets that were easy to sell because he thought there was greater opportunity in telecoms than he had seen in 20 years."

Right, whatever.