Jeff Bezos in Seattle in 2016. (GeekWire File Photo / Kevin Lisota)
It’s not exactly the type of ship that would frolic near the shores of Amazon’s South Lake Union campus in Seattle, but Jeff Bezos reportedly plans to set sail on his own boat.
But at Bezos’ level of prosperity, boats are actually referred to as “superyachts,” and Amazon’s founder and CEO is building a sucker.
Bloomberg reported last week that Bezos is the man behind a secret project called Y721, a 417-foot three-mast boat that could cost over $ 500 million. According to the report, the superyacht is slated to move to a shipyard next month for completion by Dutch contractor Oceanco.
The Evening Standard, which says details are kept under wraps, says Bezos’ yacht could be modeled after Oceanco’s Black Pearl – “one of the largest and most ecological sailing yachts in the world”, according to the company’s website. The website says the yacht’s 2,877 square feet of sails can be set in just seven minutes and can reach the top sailing speed of 30 knots.
“It can cross the Atlantic without burning a liter of fossil fuel,” says Oceanco.
An Instagram post from last summer shows the Black Pearl:
Because of the masts, Bezos and his helicopter pilot, Lauren Sanchez, will reportedly be unable to land on the superyacht. As such, the ship will reportedly have its own smaller support yacht with a helipad.
The Evening Standard reported that Bezos reportedly placed his yacht order before the COVID-19 hit. In 2019 he was pictured (bottom right) on board David Geffen’s yacht on the Balaeric Islands off Spain.
Bloomberg and journalist Brad Stone, who has a new book on Bezos called Amazon Unbound, said the move into luxury yacht ownership heralded Bezos’ “transformation from geeky technologist to global megabillionaire.”
Bloomberg reported that the superyacht market has flourished as a direct consequence of the pandemic – “a strong embodiment of the growing gap between the fate of the super-rich and almost everyone else over the past 14 months.”
Bezos announced in February that he will step down as CEO of Amazon in the third quarter of this year when he is replaced by AWS CEO Andy Jassy.
Bezos recently sold more than $ 2.4 billion in Amazon stock. He is the richest person in the world with a net worth of $ 192 billion, according to Bloomberg.
The late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen whetted a well-known appetite for large boats, with the largest of its fleet, the Octopus, stretching at 414 feet.