9 surprising facts about Jeff Bezos’ new mega yacht Koru: it cost US$500 million, is the size of 2 Airbus A380s and the tallest sailing yacht in the world – and Dutch locals wanted to throw eggs at it
- With interiors reportedly inspired by the yacht of Bezos’ good friend and Fox founder Barry Diller, and modelled on Russian oligarch Oleg Burlakov’s Black Pearl, Koru is worth US$500 million
- The Amazon billionaire is likely to have to fork out US$137,000 a day just to run it, and its accompanying support vessel Abeona houses 45 staff and has its own submarine
Amazon entrepreneur Jeff Bezos – aka the third richest person in the world – created plenty of buzz when he sent his Blue Horizon rocket ship into space in 2021. But now it’s a different kind of vessel that’s getting all the attention: his yacht.
1. It’s called Koru
Koru took five years to construct and is nearly twice the length of an Airbus A380 at 417 feet. Earlier this year the behemoth with an internal volume of 3,300 GT was spotted on her sea trials in the North Sea.
2. Koru is the tallest sailing yacht in the world
Koru has triple masts reaching 70 metres (230 feet) – making the sailing yacht nearly half the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza; certainly befitting of the third richest person on the planet, who currently has an estimated net worth of US$117 billion.
3. Big boat, bigger bills
Koru was built by Holland-based Oceanco and the vessel’s upkeep is likely to be no less than US$50 million a year. Generally, the annual cost of running and maintaining a superyacht is close to 10 per cent of its price, and Koru is a mighty expensive boat, coming in at a whopping US$500 million.