Jeff Bezos buys a $500 million yacht with an Amazon fortune.
Jeff Bezos has commissioned a mega yacht of 500 million dollars with the money of his immense fortune fruit of the success of Amazon, his business par excellence. According to the magazine Bloomberg, the yacht is longer than a soccer field, has multiple decks and will have a support yacht with a helipad.
Bezos placed the order two years ago for the luxury boat, which is being built by the Dutch company Oceanco. The ship will be one of the largest sailing yachts ever built in the Netherlands, the unofficial shipbuilding capital of the super-rich, according to Bloomberg. The project is known as Y721 and has been a closely guarded secret.
In addition to the $500 million price tag, the yacht’s operating costs will average around $60 million a year. To give you an idea of the magnitude of Bezos’ fortune, it is good to compare it with an average salary in the United States. For example, for someone who makes $68,700 a year, it would be like paying $23 in annual operating costs.
The Amazon founder is not the only rich person who continues to do rich things in the midst of a struggling global economy. The yacht industry is among the few markets that prospered despite the spread of the coronavirus, as the pandemic made the rich even richer, especially those who made their fortune in the technology sector.
Bezos, for example, saw his wealth increase by 57 percent, according to CBS News. Between March 18, 2020 and March 18, 2021, the value of his fortune increased from $ 113 billion to $ 178 billion. In contrast, during 2020, the average income among Amazon employees was $ 29,000.
Sam Tucker, head of research at London-based VesselsValue, says the shipping industry has exploded particularly amid the luxury industry boom.
“It is impossible to get a space in a newly built patio. They are totally full,” Tucker confessed to Bloomberg.
Jeff Bezos shares the story of his Cuban immigrant father
Last March, Bezos thanked congressional leaders who brought Dreamers legislation to the House floor. “My father was a dreamer before there was such a thing,” Bezos wrote on his Instagram account.
“He was 16 when he came to the United States, alone, from Cuba. He did not speak English and he did not have an easy path. What he did have was the guts, determination, support, and kindness of people here in America who helped him. He received a scholarship to college in Albuquerque, where he met my mother,” added Bezos, the richest man in the world who has Cuban blood in his veins.