This is the other Nadal, who has just paid almost half a million for some shoes

Who is this guy? ” Forbes magazine wondered when a stranger Miles Spencer Nadal - then the owner of MDC Partners - broke into Madison Avenue, the street in New York that is associated with large American advertising companies. Stage of the Mad Men series, this Canadian came there to buy stakes in small but innovative digital marketing companies. It was 2004, Nadal was 46 years old and 75 million dollars to invest. It was his landing on top of the world. Seven years later, his funds had reached 500 million.

Now remember this figure: $ 437,500. It's what he just paid, setting a Guinness record, the philanthropist and billionaire Nadal for some old shoes of size 46.5. The Moon Shoe, one of the first Nike. The change is 39,125 euros, or what is the same, a figure for which you can buy a floor of 70 m2 in Chamberí (Madrid) or Gracia (Barcelona). A Ferrari 812 Superfast of 800 horses, the jewel in the crown of Manarello is 49,000 euros cheaper. And Nadal, a vehicle collector, real estate investor and already the owner of the most expensive sneakers on the planet, knows a lot about this.

Why did you pay that price? "They are works of art," he replies , justifying such a crazy figure for shoes made of nylon, leather and rubber. An amount 5.5 times more than that estimated by Sotheby's, the one in charge of auctioning them.

The Canadian Nadal has always been sold as a self made man. A self-made man, "the champion of the helpless," in his words. The truth is that he was born in Toronto, in 1958, grew up in Forest Hill, one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the American city. Son of Renee and Irwin, of Jewish origin, at age 12, bought a camera and sold his photos for five dollars. Until, just after adolescence, local idol Wayne Gretzky, one of the greats of ice hockey, liked a picture of him so much that he sent customers. His company grew to have a long staff of photographers. He called her Action Photographics. This evolved into a communications and services company. To later become MDC Partners, a company he founded in 1986, with 28 years. By 2015, when he resigned as CEO, its market value was 1.3 billion. Despite his financial success, he has said that his parents had a predilection for his brother Sheldon, a good podiatrist.

At the same time that his fortune grew, his hobby collector too. First it was done with historic cars. One of his jewels is the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first car to be manufactured with an internal combustion engine. Made in 1886, it has it in a garage that has been dubbed The dare to dream (the challenge of dreaming). There are 150 cars and its 42 historical motorcycles, his other passion. His favorites are the «Mercedes 300SL Gullwing (1955, valued at 1.5 million dollars), the Porsche 356A Speedster (1957, 1.2 million), the Bugatti Veyron (2008, 1.3 million), McLaren P1 (2015 , 1.25 million) and the LaFerrari (2015, 1.5 million) ». All surrounding the offices of the new Nadal emporium, Peerage Capital Group, an investment center with 7,000 million capital.

But, despite all his fortune, of the millions he has donated - to hospitals, youth centers, support for the elderly, educational institutions and in memory of the Holocaust - nothing has had more repercussion worldwide than the purchase of shoes. Before, he had acquired 99 of the 100 most exclusive sports cars in the world, including several Michael Jordan, one from the Chanel house and the Commemorative Edition of Back to the Future. A collection auctioned by Sotheby's for $ 850,000.

Supervised by who was the greatest Nike collector in history, Jordan Michael Geller, this record was surpassed by the 1,000 par of his collection. A size 46.5 shoe that belonged to retired athlete Dave Russell. Designed by the founder of Nike and athletic trainer at the University of Oregon, Bill Bowerman, and handmade by Geoff Hollister, they were for athletes who were going to fight to go to the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Only 12 were made.

The other Nadal's blow of effect is tremendous. According to experts, it is the consolidation of another phenomenon: speculation with special edition shoes, whose resale has a market of millions. Russell (71 years old), his previous owner, had them stored in his closet. As "in a time capsule," he declared to the Sacramento Bee. He didn't know what his old Nike was worth, a tribute to the first footprint of the man on the moon; at most a couple of tens of thousands. They will be exhibited in the museum of star shoes prepared by Nadal.

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