An annuity where the last survivor collects everyone else's shares

Neapolitan banker Lorenzo de Tonti pitched the idea to the French crown in 1653: pool investors' money into one fund whose payout per survivor grows each time a member dies, until the last person alive gets it all. His own proposal was rejected, but governments across Europe borrowed cheaply using tontines for the next two centuries.

— Lorenzo de Tonti (originator), Tontine — Financial instrument proposed to the French crown, 1653