This article originally appeared on Business Insider.
A regular Jane celebrating a personal renaissance after a long-term relationship might commemorate the new era with an ankle tattoo of a spiritual saying. When you’re a billionaire, you could do it instead with a $500 million megayacht.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos made waves in May riding around the roughly 127-meter “Koru,” a Māori term that may signify a fresh start, with his reported fiancée Lauren Sanchez. (In 2019, Bezos finalized his divorce from MacKenzie Scott, whom he was married to for 25 years).
Beyond the private planes occupying the hangars of billionaires, yachts have come to symbolize the highly private sites of leisure and networking reserved for the ultra-wealthy.
Tech billionaires like Bezos, Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, and Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have all purchased their own mini vacation hubs at sea, decking their boats with amenities like gyms, spas, pools, nightclubs, and movie theaters.
For those wishing to experience life aboard these multi-million-dollar yachts, some are available to rent out for a few nights or weeks at a time. Late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen’s yacht can be booked for $2.2 million per week or more, according Bloomberg.
Chartering yachts owned by billionaires like Alphabet cofounder Sergey Brin has previously cost customers anywhere from $773,000 a week to $1.2 million.
It remains to be seen how these vessels will fare against the apparent Orca uprising.
Take a look at some of the yachts that have been owned by tech billionaires.
A mystery buyer bought a 414-foot superyacht that was once owned by late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen for $278 million. Allen had the boat, which was named “Octopus,” built in 2003 for $200 million. Since the tech billionaire’s death in 2018, the boat had been listed for as much as $325 million.
Octopus in Canary Wharf, London, in 2012. Ki Price/Reuters Source: SuperYacht Times
The wealthy can book the yacht for a weekly rate of $2.2 million or more, through the luxury company Camper & Nicholsons, Bloomberg reported last year.
414ft luxury yacht ‘Octopus’ owned by Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen, is moored to fuel up at Ege Ports in Kusadasi district of Aydin, Turkey on April 27, 2015. Ibrahim Uzun/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Sources: Bloomberg; Insider.
Amazon founder Bezos’ $500 million megayacht, the roughly 127-meter “Koru,” sparked attention in May for its artistic decor. A sculpture of a woman on the boat appeared to observers to be the likeness of Bezos’ reported fiancée Sanchez, who was also seen that month on the yacht sporting a large ring.
Jeff Bezos was spotted aboard his megayacht “Koru” in May. Lift Aircraft.
Even before its completion, “Koru” drew the ire of Dutch people vowing to hurl eggs at the boat if it would require a historic bridge in Rotterdam to be taken apart to let it through. An egg crisis was averted however, as the company making the ship found a less-irksome alternative.
View of the Koningshaven Bridge, known as De Hef in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Peter Dejong/AP
Bezos has long been interested in yachts. In 2019, he was spotted aboard entertainment mogul David Geffen’s superyacht.
David Geffen’s superyacht Flickr via BI
Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison owns a 288-foot yacht named Musashi that he acquired in 2013. The yacht has several amenities, including an elevator, swimming pool, movie theater, and both an indoor and outdoor gym.
rulenumberone2/Flickr, Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Source: Yacht Bible
Ellison has owned several superyachts over the years, including the Katana, the Ronin, and the Rising Sun.
Courtesy of Lurssen Source: Forbes.
The Oracle cofounder also has a knack for competitive yacht racing, and helped to found and back a racing team, called Oracle Team USA, in 2000. The team has found success and won several prestigious titles over the years.
Xaume Olleros/Getty Images Sport Source: Telegraph
Ellison previously owned a bigger, 454-foot yacht called Rising Sun, which was designed specifically for the CEO in 2005. That yacht reportedly has 82 rooms, a movie theater, a wine cellar, and a basketball court. However, Ellison sold off the Rising Sun to Geffen for a reported $300 million.
Kimberly White/Getty Images Source: Forbes, Boat International
Ellison’s boat, Musashi, is a sister ship to the yacht of another billionaire, former Sears CEO Eddie Lampert. However, the yacht, named Fountainhead, is often mistaken for belonging to billionaire investor Mark Cuban. “The guy who owns the boat tells everyone that it’s mine,” Cuban told Page Six in 2016. “It’s so crazy … I don’t even own a boat.”
Mark Cuban. Steve Marcus/Reuters
Source: Page Six
Ellison’s yacht reportedly influenced the decision of late Apple CEO Steve Jobs to get a boat himself. However, Jobs never set foot on the boat — the yacht was commissioned in 2008, but wasn’t completed until 2012, a year after his death.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Source: Business Insider
When Jobs died in 2011, his yacht — along with his $14.1 billion fortune — was inherited by his wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, founder and president of a social-impact nonprofit called the Emerson Collective. The 256-foot yacht is named Venus, and is worth $130 million.
AP Photo/Peter Dejong Source: Business Insider
Google’s billionaire cofounders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, are known to splurge. An Insider feature in December documented some of the trappings of their luxury, including planes and yachts.
Sergey Brin (left) and Larry Page. Getty / Michael Nagle
Source: Insider.
Page owned a yacht named Senses, a $45 million, 194-foot boat that he bought in 2011 from a New Zealand businessman. He’s since sold the yacht, Insider reported in 2021, a vessel that had a private beach club with a Jacuzzi and sun beds, both indoor and outdoor dining areas, and a helicopter pad. It’s unclear what other sea vessels he owns, though Insider has previously reported he might have another yacht.
Ari Helminen/Flickr, Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Sources: Boat International; Insider.
Brin meanwhile owns a number of yachts and vessels including the 73-meter Dragonfly, and the 40-meter Butterfly, Insider reported in January.
Abell Point Marina/YouTube Source: Insider.
Dragonfly, the $80 million boat that has a movie-theater, shares a name with Google’s once-secret project to launch a censored search engine in China. Google said in 2019 it had officially terminated the project.
Eric Risberg/Associated Press Source: Insider, Forbes.
The former Google CEO picked up the Alfa Nero yacht for nearly $68 million in an auction in June, according to a Bloomberg report. The yacht had apparently been left amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to the report.
Eric Schmidt REUTERS/Brian Snyder Source: Bloomberg.
For Skype cofounder Niklas Zennstrom, his interest in yachts skews toward racing and competitive sailing. Zennstrom has gone through a succession of boats all named Ran.
Co-Founder and CEO of Skype Technologies, United Kingdom Niklas Zennstroem listens during a plenary entitled ‘Digital 2.0:Powering a Creative Economy’ at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, AP Photo/Michel Euler
Source: CNN
The Ran VII yacht is among the most advanced of Zennstrom’s boats. The racing yacht uses electrical power, which Zennstrom has said makes it “lighter, less drag, quieter, and most importantly it is environmentally friendly.”
Carkeek Design Partners/YouTube Source: CNN
The 40-foot yacht has been meant to compete in regattas through the racing team owned by Zennstrom and his wife, Catherine. The Ran racing team launched in 2008, and has won some prestigious regattas.
The Ran racing team. Carkeek Design Partners/YouTube Source: CNN
Barry Diller, chairman of digital media company IAC, co-owns a $70 million yacht with his wife, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg.
Diane von Furstenberg, left, and Barry Diller. Scott Olson/Getty Images Source: Business Insider
The sailing yacht, named Eos, is 350 feet long with six bedrooms. The power couple has hosted many celebrities over the years — a few that have been spotted aboard Eos include model Karlie Kloss, actor Bradley Cooper, journalist Anderson Cooper, and singer Harry Styles.
snowwahine/YouTube Source: W Magazine
For Jim Clark, the cofounder of Netscape, one yacht hasn’t been enough. Clark has owned boats for more than 30 years, and in 2012, he put up two of his sailing yachts for sale.
Jim Clark, right. Cameron Spencer/Getty Images Source: Business Insider
Clark listed the boats for a combined $113 million: the 136-foot Hanuman for $18 million, and the 295-foot Athena for $95 million. However, Clark has yet to offload Athena. Clark also previously owned a 155-foot yacht named Hyperion, and currently also owns a sloop called Hanuman.
The yacht Athena. Fosnez / Wikimedia Commons Source: Boat International, Forbes
Charles Simonyi worked at Microsoft until 2002, and oversaw the creation of Microsoft Office software. A few years before he left, Simonyi decided to purchase a yacht. He told the designer that wanted his yacht to be “home away from [his] home in Seattle.”
Reuters/Sergei Remezov Source: Boat International
The product of that conversation in 1999 is Simonyi’s yacht named Skat, meaning “treasure” in Danish. The yacht measures 233 feet long, and is unique with its nontraditional design and gray color. Skat features a matching gray helicopter, a gym, and motorcycles.
Christopher Hunt/Getty Images Source: Yacht Charter Fleet
Opulent British billionaire Richard Branson owned a yacht until he sold it in September 2018. The 105-foot catamaran sold for $3 million, significantly lower than the $9.6 million price Branson listed the boat for in 2014.
Anthony Harvey/Getty Images, Virgin Source: Business Insider
Branson, the founder of Virgin Group, bought the boat in 2009. He named it Necker Belle, a nod to his private Caribbean island, Necker Island.
Necker Island Source: Business Insider
Additional reporting by Paige Leskin.
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