Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images; Ruben Griffeon/SuperYacht Times
- As the rich get richer, their yachts get longer … and when it comes to boats, the bigger the better.
- Sergey Brin, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg have spent nine figures on megayachts in recent years.
- These are the biggest yachts owned by tech billionaires.
If you are a billionaire, you're going to need a bigger boat — or at least want a bigger boat.
Superyachts are an increasingly requisite status symbol for billionaires, providing highly secluded leisure and networking sites. They are — more so than real estate — the single most expensive asset you can own.
"It's a bit of a celebration of your success in life, of wealth," Giovanna Vitelli, the chair of the Azimut Benetti Group, one of the biggest producers of superyachts, told Business Insider.
As a marker of wealth, unofficial yachting rules say the bigger the richer. A 50-meter vessel is likely to be owned by a billionaire. Over 100 meters long? The owner probably has at least a couple of billion.
The richest tech billionaires, like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, have gone bigger. Their palaces at sea are decked out with amenities like gyms, spas, pools, nightclubs, and movie theaters. Chartering a yacht of this size for a week typically costs upward of $1 million.
A look at these megayachts — broadly defined as over 70 meters long, mostly custom-built, and often costing nine figures — offers a glimpse into how the world's richest live.
Here are the largest yachts owned by tech billionaires — or at least those we know about.
In an industry ruled by discretion, deciphering who owns what is an exercise in stringing together many clues. There are likely yachts that have not been publicly recorded or registered. Evan Spiegel, for example, is rumored to own the 94-meter megayacht Bliss. Sometimes, it seems, money can buy privacy.