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Microsoft cofounder paul allen’s 414-foot-long explorer yacht ‘octopus’ is for sale.

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Paul Allen's 414-foot-long superyacht Octopus is one of the largest private yachts in the world

It’s well known that Microsoft cofounder, investor and philanthropist Paul Allen lived a big life before he died of cancer last year at the age of 65. He was also an ocean explorer who’d travelled the world’s ocean’s aboard his 414-foot-long Explorer Yacht Octopus since it was launched back in 2003. And now that the yacht is for sale , it might be pretty hard to top Allen’s list of adventures that include:

Look closely at this photo that shows one of Octopus' two hell-pads, large pool and ample sun decks.

exploring the coast of Antarctica, traversing the Northwest Passage and recovering the ship’s bell from the wreck of HMS Hood at a depth of 2.8km (1.7 miles) for the Royal Navy.

Paul Allen hosted a star-studded party aboard Octopus off Cannes last year. (Photo by Dave ... [+] Benett/Getty Images)

Then again, with accommodation for up to 26 guests in 13 cabins, and 63 crew in 30 cabins, Octopus ’ new owner may not need to “discover” anything except a peaceful anchorage in the South Pacific for the ultimate escape.

This shot shows just how large and well-equipped for ocean exploration Octopus is. Notice the crew ... [+] members on the back of the boat (and on Octopus' large personal submarine) to get a sence of scale.

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The yacht has an entire deck dedicated owner. It has a private bar and hot tub forward and private al fresco dining area aft to provide the owner with a sanctuary of privacy and security. While the yacht has two elevators servicing the guest areas onboard, one is dedicated to the owner’s exclusive use for travel throughout the yacht with discretion and ease.

Paul Allen's 414-foot long superyacht and it's helicopter on the bow.

On the bridge deck below, guests have plenty of room for outdoor entertainment including a large pool aft along with al fresco dining, a bar and pizza oven. Just beneath the bridge deck is a deck dedicated solely to entertainment where guests can enjoy a range of facilities including a spa, library and bar, cinema, gym, multiple lounges including a forward-facing observation area and a basketball court on the deck below. There is also a glass-bottomed observation lounge in the tank deck.

Paul Allen's Octopus and its armada of support boats.(Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

In addition to seven tenders, two life rafts, an ROV capable of diving to 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) and several jet skis, Octopus is also capable of housing an SUV and two helicopters in the garage (one each for the fore and aft helipads), and its stern-access dock is home to a 13meters (42.6 feet) Hinckley Talaria tender and Pagoo, a submarine accommodating eight guests and two crew that can dive for up to eight hours. A dive center and hyperbaric chamber are also on board, along with a beach club with bar on the starboard side.

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Microsoft co-founder Allen’s luxury yacht ‘Octopus’ at Aydin, Turkey in 2015.

Secret buyer nabs Microsoft grandee’s superyacht for £200m

For £1m a week you can rent 126-metre ship built for Paul Allen, with two helicopters, two subs and a recording studio

A vast “explorer class” superyacht built for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has been sold for almost £200m, and is now available to rent for anyone with about a £1m to drop for a week.

Octopus was the world’s largest yacht when she was built for Allen in 2003 and the 126-metre vessel marked a turning point in superyacht design, capable of being used for deep sea exploration as well as living a life of luxury on the high seas.

On the market since Allen’s death in 2018, the superyacht was originally listed for sale at €295m (£250m) before being reduced to €235m. It is believed to have sold for slightly under the asking price. The Allen family office declined to comment.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen died aged 65 in 2018.

The identity of the Scandinavian buyer is unknown, but it is to be made available for charter via Mayfair-based yacht broker Camper & Nicholsons . The broker, which declined to comment, has not yet set a weekly rental price. However, other very large superyachts can cost as much as £1m a week to rent.

Octopus, the yacht of Microsoft Corp. co-founder billionaire Paul Allen, moored off Venice’s Grand Canal in 2005.

In 2019, Kylie Jenner, the Keeping up with the Kardashians reality TV star and cosmetics empire billionaire, spent €1.1m chartering the 91.5m (300ft) yacht Tranquility .

The eight-deck Octopus has 13 guest suites, including a private owner’s deck. There is also a cinema, a gym, a spa, a basketball court, a pool (which converts into a dancefloor) and a pizza oven. It features not one but two helicopters, two submarines and space for seven tenders and a large SUV. The yacht has quarters for up to 63 crew.

Allen, a keen adventurer, asked superyacht designer Espen Øino to create a yacht capable of carrying out expeditions. “It was a very ambitious brief, because none of the tenders, tools, RVs, subs, helicopters could be outside – they should all be concealed,” Øino has said.

The ship was used by the Titanic director, James Cameron, for a dive to the bottom of the 10,925 metres to the Mariana trench, the deepest point in the world.

Allen also used the ship to help to recover the bell from the British battleship HMS Hood, which was sunk by the Bismarck in the North Atlantic.

“When I first stood on the bridge, I felt as though I was on a spaceship,” Allen wrote in his autobiography Idea Man. He said having a pool, basketball court, cinema, and recording studio on the boat meant “all my passions come together in one movable feast”.

Paul Allen’s yacht Octopus moored at Canary Wharf during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

“It turns out if you go 1,000 ft down in the ocean, it’s really dark, and the animals are really strange,” Allen said in 2011. “But if you put on some Pink Floyd, it’s fantastic.”

The onboard recording studio has been used by Mick Jagger, Bono, Usher and Joss Stone. Øino has said equipping the recording studio to Allen’s demands had been a particular challenge.

“Mr Allen’s interest in music was enormous and the acoustic quality was nothing less than a shore-based one,” Øino said. “There were 54 tonnes of AV/IT equipment aboard. A very complex boat in many ways. I think he loved it.”

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Paul Allen: Microsoft co-founder, philanthropist and superyacht visionary passes away

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By Rebecca Bradbury 16 October 2018

Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with his high school friend Bill Gates, has died aged 65 from complications of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He will be remembered in the yachting industry for owning one of the world’s first go-anywhere expedition yachts: the 126m/300ft superyacht OCTOPUS .

Allen’s company Vulcan said in a statement that he died on Monday. Earlier this month Allen revealed the cancer he was treated for in 2009, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, had returned.

Allen and Gates founded Microsoft in 1975. He served as the company’s executive vice-president of research and new product development until 1983, when he left for health reasons. He stayed as a major shareholder and member of the board.

His Microsoft co-founder said: “I am heartbroken by the passing of one of my oldest and dearest friends… Personal computing would not have existed without him.”

Bill Gates and Paul Allen, superyacht owner and visionary

As well as playing a vital role in developing the PC, the technology pioneer also gave more than $2bn to a wide range of interests, including ocean health, homelessness and advancing scientific research.

He owned the Lurssen superyacht OCTOPUS which, at 126 metres, was the largest yacht in the world at the time of her launch in 2003. Alongside being equipped with every luxury imaginable, she also features state-of-the-art technology for music recording and research expeditions.

Indeed, he was the first superyacht owner to view his vessel as more than just a pleasure palace. He tapped into the opportunities the yacht could bring for ocean research and conservation and, for this, he can be considered as an early pioneer of the expedition yacht, which today is in vogue among new owners.

motor yacht OCTOPUS owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen

Highlights of the yacht, which is now the 14th largest in the world, include a swimming pool, a basketball court, and interior styling from award-winning Jonathan Quinn Barnett. While, for research and exploration, two helicopters are stored in the hangar on the main deck, and the tender garage houses a 10-person submarine.

As a research vessel, the motor yacht and her expert crew were involved in the 2015 discovery of the wreck of Japanese ship MUSASHI, one of the biggest warships of the Second World War.

OCTOPUS was also a member of the Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue (AMVER) and played an important part in a number of rescue missions.

Equipped with every luxury imaginable, OCTOPUS also features state-of-the-art technology for music recording and research expeditions

In July 2012, Allen loaned the yacht to the Royal Navy free of charge, so they could attempt to retrieve the bell from the wreck of battlecruiser HMS Hood which sunk during World War II in the Denmark Strait.

Four months later, she rescued a sailor who got into difficulties 645 miles south-west of San Diego. Read OCTOPUS recovers bell from HMS Hood and Paul Allen unearths WW2 Japanese battleship Musashi for more information on these two missions.

The billionaire also hosted a number of parties aboard OCTOPUS at the Cannes Film Festival . The lavish celebrations will be remembered for their themes, such as ‘Bollywood’ and ‘Shakespeare’, as well as their star-studded guest lists.

superyacht TATOOSH owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen

In May, at the 2018 festival, Gates hosted one of his legendary parties aboard his other yacht, the 92m/303ft superyacht TATOOSH . The theme was ‘An Evening in Casablanca’ and he even took to the stage with his band to entertain the A-list guests in attendance (see Instagram gallery below).

Built by Nobiskrug in 2000, TATOOSH features elegant interior styling from Terence Disdale alongside a host of cutting-edge entertainment and leisure facilities designed to offer the ultimate in at-sea living.

Back in 2016, the superyacht made headlines when her anchor damaged a coral reef the size of an Olympic swimming pool in the Cayman Islands. But Allen led an emergency restoration plan to help speed the recovery of the injured coral, restoring over 1,592 hard and soft corals and sponges.

M/Y OCTOPUS and M/Y TATOOSH are not available for charter. But for more information on chartering a large yacht, speak to your preferred charter broker .

Large superyachts available for charter:

90m Corsair Yachts 2007 / 2021

92m Neorion 2004 / 2023

134m Fincantieri 2011

99m Canadian Vickers 1943 / 2020

90m Lurssen 2010 / 2024

95m Lurssen 2014

89m Oceanco 2017

92m Feadship 2016

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A huge ship once owned by Microsoft’s co-founder has tipped over with 21 people rushed to the hospital

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A massive ship once owned by the estate of the late billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has toppled over at a dockyard in Scotland, leaving at least 35 injured.

High winds caused the 250-foot U.S. Navy research vessel, RV Petrel, to become dislodged from its holding on a dry dock.

A major incident was declared and emergency crews were swiftly called to the Imperial Dock in Leith, Edinburgh.

Scotland’s local TV station, STV, reported there were around 50 refurbishment workers on board, as well as a number of U.S. citizens. The U.S. Consulate in Edinburgh said it was monitoring the situation and offering support.

At least, 12 ambulances, an air ambulance, three trauma teams, and a fire service attended the scene with 21 patients rushed to hospital, according to the Telegraph .

Harrowing photos from the scene show the 3,000-ton ship leaning at a 45-degree angle.

Deep sea research vessel RV Petrel, has blown over at Imperial Dock (dry docks) in Leith, Edinburgh. Leaving a number of people injured. @SWNS pic.twitter.com/RpStkc8s3i — ARROWSMITH🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (@KtLeeArrowsmith) March 22, 2023

A local politician Adam McVey described the incident as “terrifying” on Twitter . “My thoughts are with those who’ve been injured & hope everyone recovers quickly,” he added.

Emergency services are responding to a major incident at Leith docks- a ship has been dislodged from its holding in strong winds. Terrifying for those on board, my thoughts are with those who’ve been injured & hope everyone recovers quickly. Please avoid area. pic.twitter.com/aREtG80Gq1 — Cllr Adam McVey (@adamrmcvey) March 22, 2023

The ship’s previous owner, Paul Allen, converted it into a deep submergence research vessel in 2017—just a year before he passed away at the age of 65.

The billionaire died of septic shock, a known complication of his non-Hodgkins lymphoma cancer diagnosis.

With a net worth of $20.3 billion, he ranked as the 44th-wealthiest person in the world at the time of his death, and the RV Petrel wasn’t the only ship he acquired in his lifetime.

His yacht “Tatoosh” was sold from his estate last November. The lavish 303-footer with five decks was listed for $90 million and sold in-house for an undisclosed sum.

His second superyacht, called “Octopus”, is one of the largest ships in the world at 414 feet. It was sold at around the same time as Tatoosh to the Swedish pharmaceuticals billionaire Roger Samuelsson after originally being listed for $325 million.

Allen's sister Jody Allen, who was executor of his estate, sold the yachts as per her late brother's instruction, according to The Street.

The RV Petrel was also sold in 2022 for a reported sum of $12.4 million to the U.S. Navy.

The ship, which has previously been used for deep-water searches and made global headlines for discovering the long-lost USS Indianapolis in 2017, was put into long-term moorage in 2020 due to “operation challenges” during the pandemic.

It was one of the few ships worldwide equipped to explore 19,685 ft (6,000 m) below the ocean’s surface, and featured a remotely-operated vehicle for use once targets were identified and a multibeam echo-sounder.

It found the World War II-era USS Indianapolis in the Philippine Sea. It is thought that more than 850 crew members died when it sank in 1945, marking the largest loss of life at sea in the history of the U.S. Navy.

"To be able to honor the brave men of the USS Indianapolis and their families through the discovery of a ship that played such a significant role during World War II is truly humbling," Allen said in a statement at the time.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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The Luxury Boats Owned By Some of the Wealthiest People in Tech, from a Yacht So Big It Has Its Own Support Boat to Superyachts with Swimming Pools and Basketball Courts Tech billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, and Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have all purchased mini vacation hubs at sea.

By Grace Kay and Sindhu Sundar • Jul 3, 2023

Key Takeaways

Many billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson enjoy spending their time on luxurious yachts.
The boats are decked out with amenities that many Americans can only dream of.
Here are some of the billionaires in tech who own private yachts.

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.

Nighttime view of De Hef bridge in Rotterdam, Netherlands

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.

Larry Page superimposed with Senses 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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The superyachts owned by tech moguls

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is set to join the exclusive club of yacht-owning tech tycoons as the rumoured owner of Oceanco's mighty 127m sailing yacht . Though it should come as no surprise - other big names in tech such as the late Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison and Paul Allen have been responsible for some of the biggest and most ground-breaking superyachts in the world...

The 127-metre Oceanco sailing yacht Koru, formerly Y721, was launched and reportedly delivered to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in April 2023. This three-masted schooner, meaning “new beginnings” in Maori, with an expected 33000 GT and a steel hull and aluminium superstructure, is the largest in the world and the longest built in the Netherlands at Oceanco. Knocking Lürssen's Eos , owned by Biller and Diane von Furstenburg, off the top spot, Koru harnesses design similarities with her black hull, white superstructure and classic lines. However, the intricate gold paintwork, scarlet bootstrap and elaborate figurehead on the bow particularly set her apart.

Larry Ellison

American business magnate Larry Ellison is the co-founder of the billion-dollar computer tech corporation Oracle. In 2004, he commissioned the 138-metre Lürssen superyacht Rising Sun (pictured), which stands today as the 15th largest yacht in the world. It was also the last yacht that ever came from the drawing boards of legendary designed Jon Bannenberg, sporting a military-esque profile with a lean destroyer-type hull and extensive use of structural glass . Rising Sun boasts 8,000m² of living space including a wine cellar and basketball court, with a crew of 45. One of her tenders, a catamaran, even carries the yacht’s 4x4 vehicle ashore.

Ellison later sold the yacht to media mogul David Geffen and has since hosted a parade of Hollywood's glitterati on board including Leonardo DiCaprio, Steven Spielberg, Bruce Springsteen and Oprah Winfrey – to name a few.

In 2011, Ellison appeared to downsize and took delivery of the 88-metre Feadship Musashi . Not unlike Rising Sun in its appearance, structural glass features heavily throughout with a central glass lift, surrounded by a stainless steel and glass staircase that passes through every deck.

More about this yacht

The late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is responsible for two of the most iconic superyachts in the world. At 126-metres in length, Octopus is perhaps his most famous. Built by Lürssen in 2003, this ice-classed superyacht was designed for extended cruising to the most remote locations on earth with a range of 12,500 nautical miles. Home to a helicopter garage, drive-in tender garage, six tenders, and a submarine, she packs a serious punch within her 9,932GT – not to mention the cinema, swimming pool, recording studio, basketball court and spa. At the end of 2019, she joined the market for the very first time , having completed an eight-month refit at Blohm+Voss, and remains the benchmark for exploration yachting.

Tatoosh is another honourable mention and was built by German shipyard Nobiskrug in 2000, three years prior to the delivery of Octopus . At 92-metres, she's smaller than her successor, but to describe Tatoosh as "small" would be a severe understatement. Highlights include a six-foot-deep swimming pool, a pair of helipads, a crew of 30, and a custom 12-metre Hinckley powerboat that she carries on her top deck. Tatoosh is also listed for sale following a refit earlier this year.

Yachts for charter

The 78-metre Feadship Venus was built for the late Apple boss and founder Steve Jobs. Built under the codename Project Aqua, Venus was launched to international fanfare in 2012, heralded for its extensive use of glass and pared-back design courtesy of Philippe Starck . Innovative features include a false top deck that conceals the communication and television receivers from view and a passarelle that, when opened, looks like the charging port of an iPhone. Venus ’s interior details have been closely guarded since its launch. Sadly, Jobs died a year before the yacht was delivered.

Charles Simonyi

Charles Simonyi led the team that built the first edition of the Microsoft Office software suite and was rumoured to have previously owned Lürssen’s iconic 71-metre SKAT . Nearly two decades after her launch in 2002, she joined the market for the first time and now Simonyi is thought to have upgraded to the 89-metre Lürssen Norn . Both yachts, penned by Espen Onion, share similar design features. Standout features include an alfresco cinema and adapted depth pool floor with dance floor. Norn was delivered in May 2023.

Sergey Brin

Google co-founder Sergey Brin reportedly owns the high-speed SilverYachts superyacht named Dragonfly , after Google’s once-secret project to launch a censored search engine in China. Delivered in 2009, the 73.3-metre Dragonfly was hailed as the fastest, most fuel-efficient long-range cruising superyacht on the water with a transatlantic range at 22 knots and a fuel consumption of only 360 litres per hour at 18 knots, extending her range to 4,500 nautical miles. Dragonfly is said to have a dance floor and open-air movie theatre on board. The vessel was applauded for its contribution to the disaster relief effort in Vanuatu after Hurricane Pam devastated the island in 2015. The crew reportedly moved 62 metric tons of freshwater ashore, treated over 250 patients, facilitated three medical evacuations, and built shelters in multiple villages and cleared numerous helicopter landing zones for ongoing support.

Google’s billionaire co-founder Larry Page purchased the 60-metre explorer yacht conversion Senses from a New Zealand businessman Sir Douglas Myers back in 2011. The globe-trotting superyacht features interiors by Philippe Starck and can accommodate a total of 12 guests on board, with primary guests reaping the benefits of the master suite's gyro-stabilised bed. Senses also houses an exceptional toy box with three high-speed tenders, six wave runners, a jet board and a JetLev. According to the New Zealand Herald, Senses is currently undergoing a refit in Whangārei, New Zealand, after being sold to an unknown buyer in 2020.

Barry Diller

The world’s largest three-masted schooner – also the third largest sailing yacht in the world – is owned by fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg and her husband Barry Diller, chairman and senior executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp and Expedia Group. The 92.92-metre sailing yacht, named Eos , was built in Germany by Lürssen and delivered in 2006 with a trio of masts that stand 61-metres tall. The sailing yacht has hosted the couple's star-studded group of friends including Andy Cohen, Gayle King, Bradley Cooper, Harry Styles and Karlie Kloss. The interiors were designed by Francois Catroux, who Vanity Fair named as “the super-rich's favourite interior designer" in 2016.

Mark Zuckerburg

The 107-metre Kleven superyacht Andromeda was built for serial superyacht owner Graeme Hart and delivered under the name Ulysses . In 2017, a year after its launch, rumours began circulating that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg had purchased the rugged, six-deck explorer (although a Facebook spokesperson was quick to stamp out the rumours and released a statement denying the claims). Andromeda can carry 36 guests and is equipped with an impressive inventory of toys and tenders, including six motorbikes, two ATVs, a helicopter and an amphibious rib. Five years after her launch, Andromeda still ranks among the largest explorer yachts in the world .

Eric Schmidt

The former Google ceo Eric Schmidt backed out of the purchase of the abandoned 81.3-metre Oceanco Alfa Nero but has been said to have moved onto become the new owner of a 95-metre Lürssen. Kismet was sold in September 2023 to the billionaire as part of one of the biggest brokerage deal of the year. With the details shrouded in secrecy the yacht is now aptly known as Whisper . Espen Onio was responsible for her iconic exterior while inside was thanks to Reymond Langton , achieving the original brief from the previous commissioning owner Shahid Khan of “caviar and champagne.” Standout details include the hi-tech, art deco saloon, a private observation platform and the Persian-inspired spa area.

The co-founder and former ceo of WhatsApp, Jan Koum, has been rumoured to own the 99.9-metre Feadship , Moonrise. The yacht’s clean and strong lines, penned by Chris Bottoms from Studio de Voogt , won the highly competitive class of best displacement motor yachts above 3,000 GT in the World Superyacht Awards 2021. Features include the helicopter landing deck and modern interiors by Remi Tessier . Accommodation is for up to 16 guests, and there are 32 crew members onboard Moonrise to attend to the guests' every need. The Ukrainian-American mogul is also said to own the accompanying support vessel Nebula.

Evan Speigel

The Silicone Valley ceo, Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel has been reportedly said to own the 94.8-metre Feadship Bliss. Delivered in 2021 the motor yacht penned by Feadship's Studio De Voogt Naval Architects has most recently been spotted cruising Auckland in September 2023. Spiegel is rumoured to be Feadship's younger client. Bliss can accommodate up to 18 guests across nine staterooms; however little else is known about the 2983 GT yacht.

The luxury boats owned by some of the wealthiest people in tech, from a yacht so big it has its own support boat to superyachts with swimming pools and basketball courts

Many billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson enjoy spending their time on luxurious yachts.
The boats are decked out with amenities that many Americans can only dream of.
Here are some of the billionaires in tech who own private yachts.

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 .

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.

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.

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.

Sources: Insider ; People .

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.

Source: Insider .

Bezos has long been interested in yachts. In 2019, he was spotted aboard entertainment mogul David Geffen's superyacht.

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.

Source: Yacht Bible

Ellison has owned several superyachts over the years, including the Katana, the Ronin, and the Rising Sun.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

Barry Diller, chairman of digital media company IAC, co-owns a $70 million yacht with his wife, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

Additional reporting by Paige Leskin.

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Microsoft boss Satya Nadella has reportedly raked in more than $1 billion in compensation at the company – a personal fortune bolstered by the tech giant’s prescient investment in OpenAI’s ChatGPT tool.

Bloomberg calculated Nadella’s windfall by tallying his salary, bonuses, stock dividends and equity grants that were disclosed in Microsoft’s public regulatory filings.

He earned nearly $55 million in 2022 alone.

The 55-year-old’s earnings bonanza has coincided with a period of massive success for Microsoft’s stock since Nadella took over as CEO in 2014.

Shares have risen more than 1,000% over that period, including a surge of nearly 50% since the start of this year.

Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw pushed back on the report, telling Bloomberg that Nadella “does not have net worth of a billion dollars or more.”

Shaw reportedly declined further comment on the matter.

Microsoft did not immediately return The Post’s request for comment.

The majority of Nadella’s purported $1 billion windfalls is derived from equity grants tied to performance and service time.

The report said Nadella has “periodically sold some of his shares” in the company and gifted $20 million in stock to undisclosed beneficiaries.

In January, Microsoft notably invested $10 billion in OpenAI , whose ChatGPT tool has exploded in popularity due to its ability to generate human-like response to a wide variety of user prompts.

The investment is widely seen as having given Microsoft a leg up on rivals such as Google parent Alphabet in the race to develop advanced AI tools.

Microsoft has integrated OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology with its Bing search engine.

Nadella has worked at Microsoft since 1992, raising to the level of executive vice president of its cloud division before replacing company legend and billionaire Steve Ballmer as CEO in 2014.

Bloomberg noted that Nadella has reached rarified status among tech executives who have personally benefitted from the sector’s boom over the last decade.

The report stated that Apple CEO Tim Cook had become a billionaire roughly nine years after he became the iPhone maker’s top executive.

Elsewhere, Google CEO Sundar Pichai is among the industry’s big winners , having earned payouts that topped $200 million on three separate occasions thanks to a lucrative stock-based compensation plan.

The massive CEO paydays have rankled some tech industry workers as major companies enacted sweeping layoffs and other cost-cutting measures over the last year.

In June, Microsoft workers reportedly criticized Nadella for touting the company’s “landmark year” months after slashing 10,000 jobs.

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Satya Nadella’s net worth and the expensive things he owns

As Silicon Valley tech behemoth Microsoft Corp sees a booming surge in share prices, all eyes are turned towards chief executive officer Satya Nadella’s net worth and earnings. The Indian American executive has time and again propelled the company to greater heights with his industry expertise, strategic acquisitions, tough decisions and smart investments. Hence, with the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) driven innovations going big, Nadella’s income has also seen a colossal rise.

According to a report by Fortune , the flurry of AI investments and Nadella’s announcement to offer a “USD 30-per-month subscription to supplement its existing Office365 products” have led to the increase in share prices on 18 July 2023.

From real estate to wheels: What’s the net worth of Google CEO Sundar Pichai

More about Satya Nadella’s net worth, education, career growth and more

Satya nadella’s net worth and earnings.

Fortune states that Microsoft’s company filings of 2022 show Satya Nadella earned a salary of USD 55 million, and according to Bloomberg findings, this brings his total compensation to over USD 1 billion since he became the CEO in 2014.

Bloomberg states, “Nadella’s boon includes all payouts he has collected from Microsoft that can be parsed from regulatory filings: equity grants, salary, bonuses and dividends. It’s underpinned by Microsoft shares returning more than 1,000% since his first day in the top job.” However, Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw told the publication that the CEO “does not have net worth [sic] of a billion dollars or more.”

The staggering USD 1 billion value puts Satya Nadella in the elite club of corporate billionaires who have drawn such compensation as an employee. Equity grants, service and performance-based payouts, and cash bonuses and dividends form a huge bulk of his earnings. Hence, a large part of Nadella’s income depends on Microsoft’s share price.

Microsoft under Satya Nadella

Nadella took the chair in 2014, which many perceived to be the company’s twilight period. However, through his efforts, the CEO pushed it to become a pioneering name in the realms of network and cloud computing. These steps have helped the Bill-Gates-co-founded company diversify its business while developing the core Office products.

Nadella’s idea to steer Microsoft to enter the AI sector with a multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI and ChatGPT became his most pivotal step. “Today, it’s [Microsoft] the second-largest company in the world and is considered the frontrunner in the race to capitalise on artificial intelligence,” says Bloomberg . Not only did it push the company ahead of rivals like Alphabet Inc. in terms of AI strengths, but the move also earned a 50 per cent rise in stock in 2023.

Such plans and strategies bore enormous fruit for both Nadella and Microsoft. On his first day as CEO, on 4 February 2014, Microsoft shares closed at USD 36.35. Nine and a half years later, the figure stood at USD 364.02 on 18 July 2023.

He is also credited for propelling the tech giant past the USD 2 trillion mark in market capitalisation, which currently stands at USD 2.59 trillion. It only trails behind Apple, which has a market cap of USD 3 trillion.

Satya Nadella: Career graph and jobs

Nadella started his career with the software firm Sun Microsystems. He joined as a member of the technology staff. Then, in 1992, he joined Microsoft and steadily rose through the ranks, especially from 2000 onwards. In the Y2K, he was promoted to an executive role. After that, he was employed in various divisions of Microsoft. However, Nadella’s stand-out moment came when he was made the executive vice president of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group in 2011. Under his leadership, the group’s business, in 2013, ballooned to USD 20.3 billion. This catapulted him to the CEO’s role in February 2014. Satya Nadella is only the third person to hold this coveted position at Microsoft after Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.

In 2014, he led the takeover of Mojang, a Swedish video game company responsible for creating Minecraft. This was followed by the acquisition of Xamarin and Linkedin in 2016. Two years later, he scooped up GitHub for USD 7.5 billion.

A glance into the genius Microsoft brain with these 8 Satya Nadella books recommendations

Satya Nadella’s life and education

Satya Nadella was born Satya Narayana Nadella in Hyderabad on 19 August 1967. His father, Nadella Yugandhar, was a bureaucrat who had served in the PV Narasimha Rao government.

After his schooling at Hyderabad Public School, Nadella pursued electrical engineering at the Manipal Institute of Technology and graduated in 1988. For higher education, he went to the US and earned a Master of Science degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 1990. He also obtained an MBA degree from the University of Chicago (1997) while working full-time at Microsoft.

Nadella got married in 1993 to Anupama, the daughter of his father’s friend as well as Nadella’s junior at Manipal Institute. They had three children, and unfortunately, one of them, Zain, died in February 2022.

Awards and recognitions

Satya Nadella is a recipient of India’s third-highest civilian award, Padma Bhushan. He officially received the award in October 2022 from India’s Consul General in San Francisco, Dr. TV Nagendra Prasad.

In 2022, he was also honoured with the Yale Legend in Leadership Award at the Yale CEO Summit on 14 December, for his continued efforts in driving products and efficient leadership.

Nadella ranked sixth in the 2019 Forbes list of innovative leaders and was named the 40th most powerful person in the world in the 2018 list. In 2019, he was also conferred with the honour of Financial Times Person of The Year.

Expensive things owned by Satya Nadella

Nadella was once the owner of a USD 1.3 million home, one of his big-ticket purchases, in Washington’s Seattle city. He sold it in 2016 and raked in more than double the purchasing amount. He is also a part-owner of an American soccer club and an investor in the US T20 cricket league , which will kickstart in 2023.

However, Satya Nadella sees time as the most valuable asset in one’s life and believes in spending it judiciously. Speaking to Business Insider , he said, “I felt that one of the things that we should make sure we do for ourselves is to give people a sense for how are they spending their time so that they can then be more in control.”

Other interesting things to know about Satya Nadella

Satya Nadella is a sports buff too. And, as mentioned above, both he and his wife are part owners of a soccer club and an investor in the US T20 cricket league. He had also shown support for a National Football League club, Seattle Seahawks, when he posted the above image on Twitter. Like any other Indian, he has an undying love for cricket . As per a Hindustan Times report, Nadella is an admirer of both Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.

The tech wizard also has a literary flair and has authored a personal memoir titled Hit Refresh , published in 2017. All the proceeds from its sales were given to Microsoft Philanthropies. He also enjoys Indian and American poetry.

Nadella also serves as the board and committee member of several other global entities, such as Starbucks, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and is a trustee member of the University of Chicago.

(Main and feature image: Courtesy Jason Redmond/ AFP)

Satya Nadella’s net worth and the expensive things he owns

Trinetra Paul

Trinetra is an ardent foodie and bibliophile who writes about films, travel, food and lifestyle. As a writer and literature student, slam poetry and storytelling are her go to jam. When not working, Trinetra is busy looking for her next place to visit or binge-watching Instagram videos for travel inspiration.

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has now made $1 billion

Since becoming Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella has brought in a total of $1 billion.

What you need to know

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has reportedly brought in $1 billion since he entered his current role at Microsoft.
That figure includes Nadella's equity grants, salary, bonuses, and dividends.
Microsoft stock has climbed almost 1,000% since Nadella took over as CEO.

Fiscal reports and financial earnings don't always make mainstream headlines. They're important, of course, but few people memorize quarterly earnings and employee salaries. But certain thresholds turn heads when they're hit. That's the case with Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella, who has now reportedly earned more than $1 billion in payouts during his time at the company.

A recent report by Bloomberg cited a regulatory filing that shed light on Nadella's payouts. The figure does not just refer to his salary. It includes equity grants, salary, bonuses, and dividends.

Microsoft representative Frank Shaw told Bloomberg that Nadella did not have a net worth of $1 billion and did not comment any further. Of course, that phrasing only covers the net worth of Nadella, not his career earnings from his position at Microsoft.

To illustrate how much incentives and other forms of income can add up to, Nadella's salary in fiscal year 2022 was $2.5 million but his stock awards were $42.269 million.

Nadella joins an exclusive club of CEOs that have earned $1 billion. He now sits alongside Apple CEO Tim Cook and a few others to hit the billion-dollar mark. While $1 billion is impressive, it's far from the most a CEO has brought in. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang is worth $42 billion, though it's worth noting that Huang is also the co-founder of NVIDIA.

Windows Central take

CEO incomes are a more complex topic than I can discuss in a few short paragraphs. I'm also not an expert on macroeconomics or ethics. Undoubtedly, people will debate if it's right for anyone to make $1 billion. What I'll say is that Satya Nadella has made Microsoft far more than $1 billion during his tenure, so it's not surprising that he's been compensated.

Microsoft stock has skyrocketed since Nadella took over as CEO and the money has made money hand over fist. There have been bumps along the road, of course, but the overall value of Microsoft is at an all-time high. Markets Insider pointed out that Microsoft's share price has increased almost 1,000% since Nadella became CEO.

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Looking at a more recent win in a shorter timeframe, Microsoft's share value spiked $154 billion in a single day after the company unveiled the price of Microsoft 365 Copilot . With that bump, Microsoft's total cap reached $2.6 trillion.

Sean Endicott brings nearly a decade of experience covering Microsoft and Windows news to Windows Central. He joined our team in 2017 as an app reviewer and now heads up our day-to-day news coverage. If you have a news tip or an app to review, hit him up at [email protected] .

fjtorres5591 Previous reports have stated that Nadella's bonuses and awards in his contract are conditional and based on the company's fiscal performance rather than its stock price. He's making money for the company so why shouldn't be paid proportionally to what he makes for the owners? Especially when you consider those owners are 72.25% institutional, 6.23% Microsoft insiders, and 21.51% retail investors. The institutional stockholders are mostly mutual funds and pension funds, not Wall Street gamblers. A lot of people live at least in part off the dividends MS pays out. He's been a good steward of the company so whatever he makes in taking it to three billion is well earned. Reply
Sean Endicott Ya, one reason I phrased my thoughts at the end the way I did was that Nadella makes Microsoft more money than he costs the company. That being said, I think many argue that no one needs to be a billionaire, even if they earn more than that. To me, Nadella's compensation makes sense from Microsoft's perspective. He clearly helps the company grow and hit its targets. Whether it's moral, just, or right to have anyone be that rich is a question people other than Microsoft probably need to answer. Reply

Sean Endicott said: Ya, one reason I phrased my thoughts at the end the way I did was that Nadella makes Microsoft more money than he costs the company. That being said, I think many argue that no one needs to be a billionaire, even if they earn more than that. To me, Nadella's compensation makes sense from Microsoft's perspective. He clearly helps the company grow and hit its targets. Whether it's moral, just, or right to have anyone be that rich is a question people other than Microsoft probably need to answer.

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Microsoft names new Windows and Surface chief, The Verge reports

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Microsoft hires ex-DeepMind co-founder to lead Copilot AI initiatives

Mustafa suleyman will be executive vice president and ceo of microsoft ai and report directly to ceo satya nadella..

By Sascha Brodsky

Computerworld |

Microsoft on Tuesday announced the hiring of Mustafa Suleyman , a former co-founder of DeepMind, the AI startup acquired by Google in 2014. Suleyman will assume the role of executive vice president and CEO of Microsoft AI, directly reporting to CEO Satya Nadella.

During Suleyman’s time at Google, DeepMind established itself as a frontrunner in AI research; it also caught the eye of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who moved to counteract Google's growth by founding the nonprofit AI lab, OpenAI.

“Microsoft has been strongly signaling that they consider AI to be a core strategy,” said Casey Ellis, founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Bugcrowd, a San Francisco, Calif.-based cybersecurity company. “The appointment of Suleyman doubles down on this.”

Suleyman departed from Google parent company Alphabet in 2022 to co-found and lead Inflection AI. Along with Suleyman, Karén Simonyan, Inflection's co-founder and chief scientist, will join Microsoft as the chief scientist for Microsoft AI, accompanied by several other Inflection employees, according to a memo by Nadella.

The newly formed Microsoft AI group will focus on developing the Copilot chatbot, which is integrated into various Microsoft products, including Bing and Windows. The group will also oversee consumer AI products and research. Mikhail Parakhin, CEO of advertising and web services and head of the team responsible for Copilot, Bing, and Edge development, will join the new organization under Suleyman. Misha Bilenko, corporate vice president of Microsoft generative AI, will also be part of the group.

“I’ve known Mustafa for several years and have greatly admired him as a founder of both DeepMind and Inflection, and as a visionary, product maker, and builder of pioneering teams that go after bold missions,” Nadella wrote.

AI executive shuffle

Inflection said it would continue with a new CEO, Sean White, who was the former chief of research and development at Mozilla, and said it is bringing its Inflection-2.5 AI model to Microsoft Azure and other cloud platforms. An exact date has not yet been announced.

“We are hugely proud of what we’ve achieved with Pi,” Inflection said in a blog post . “There will be no immediate changes to the service and we’re committed to ensuring that users get ongoing access to great AI experiences in the future.”

Suleyman's move to Microsoft is part of a larger trend of high-profile shifts in the AI industry. SAP recently appointed Walter Sun , who’d been with Microsoft for 18 years (last serving as vice president of AI), as its new global head of artificial intelligence. At Microsoft, Sun developed Bing Predicts and was involved in creating Dynamics 365 AI for Market Insights, which helps businesses understand market trends and brand sentiment. He also played a role in introducing Dynamics 365 Copilot, utilizing OpenAI's GPT-4 to aid in marketing efforts.

Sun's work includes evaluating AI models for Dynamics 365 and researching effective AI prompts.

Copilot’s rise

Microsoft's push into AI has been clear since announcing its partnership last year with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. The company has been integrating the Copilot generative AI (genAI) assistant throughout its product lineup to automate tasks, facilitate content creation, and boost productivity.

The integration of Copilot AI aims to automate various tasks and facilitate content creation, potentially saving users valuable time. By leveraging the capabilities of the genAI assistant, users can streamline their workflows and focus on more creative aspects of their work.

Microsoft recently introduced a Copilot assistant tailored for finance professionals looking to streamline repetitive tasks and expedite access to financial information. Through the Copilot interface, Microsoft's key productivity applications, notably Excel and Outlook, are integrated with users' existing financial systems, enhancing efficiency and accessibility.

Copilot for Finance is engineered to simplify audits by seamlessly gathering and reconciling data, automating communications and payment arrangements for collections, and speeding up financial reporting by quickly identifying discrepancies. The tool can perform multiple tasks in Excel, including the automated generation of reconciliation reports to ensure data accuracy.

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Microsoft has a new Windows and Surface chief

M icrosoft is naming Pavan Davuluri as its new Windows and Surface chief today. After Panos Panay’s surprise departure to Amazon last year, Microsoft split up the Windows and Surface groups under two different leaders. Davuluri took over the Surface silicon and devices work, with Mikhail Parakhin leading a new team focused on Windows and web experiences. Now both Windows and Surface will be Davuluri’s responsibility, as Parakhin has “decided to explore new roles.”

The Verge has obtained an internal memo from Rajesh Jha, Microsoft’s head of experiences and devices, outlining the new Windows organization. Microsoft is now bringing together its Windows and devices teams once more. “This will enable us to take a holistic approach to building silicon, systems, experiences, and devices that span Windows client and cloud for this AI era,” explains Jha.

Pavan Davuluri is now the leader of Microsoft’s Windows and Surface team, reporting directly to Rajesh Jha. Davuluri has worked at Microsoft for more than 23 years and was deeply involved in the company’s work with Qualcomm and AMD to create custom Surface processors.

Mikhail Parakhin will now report to Kevin Scott during a transition phase, but his future at Microsoft looks uncertain, and it’s likely those “new roles” will be outside the company. Parakhin had been working closely on Bing Chat before taking on the broader Windows engineering responsibilities and changes to Microsoft Edge.

The Windows shake-up comes just days after Google DeepMind co-founder and former Inflection AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman joined Microsoft as the CEO of a new AI team. Microsoft also hired a bunch of Inflection AI employees, including co-founder Karén Simonyan who is now the chief scientist of Microsoft AI. As a result, most of Inflection’s staff is joining Microsoft AI in what is being seen as a talent acquisition that carefully avoids direct regulatory scrutiny.

Suleyman is now the CEO of Microsoft AI, a new team that will handle the company’s consumer-facing AI products like Copilot, Bing, and Edge. Suleyman reports directly to Microsoft’s CEO, and it looks like he was set to manage Mikhail Parakhin, but that’s no longer the case.

Jha says the Windows team will “work closely with the Microsoft AI team on AI, silicon, and experiences,” but there’s going to be some interesting areas of potential overlap that these new leaders are going to have to navigate. Microsoft AI now looks after Edge, a browser that’s a key part of the Windows experience.

Here’s Rajesh Jha’s memo in full:

I want to share an update on the Windows and Web Experiences (WWE) team following last week’s announcement and the creation of the Microsoft AI organization. Mikhail Parakhin has decided to explore new roles. Satya and I are grateful for Mikhail’s contributions and leadership and want to thank him for all he has done to help Microsoft lead in the new AI wave. He will report to Kevin Scott while supporting the WWE transition. As part of this change, we are bringing together the Windows Experiences and Windows + Devices teams as a core part of the Experiences + Devices (E+D) division. This will enable us to take a holistic approach to building silicon, systems, experiences, and devices that span Windows client and cloud for this AI era. Pavan Davuluri will lead this team and continue to report to me. Shilpa Ranganathan and Jeff Johnson and their teams will report directly to Pavan. The Windows team will continue to work closely with the Microsoft AI team on AI, silicon, and experiences. The Web Experiences team will report into Mustafa in the new Microsoft AI organization. Jordi Ribas will lead Search, Maps, and Platforms with Andrey Proskurin, Fatima Kardar, and Nick Lee reporting to him. Rukmini Iyer will lead Advertising with Paul Viola and Weiqing Tu reporting to her. Mike Davidson continues to lead Design and will work with Pavan and team on how to realign Windows design. Ali Akgun, Kya Sainsbury-Carter, Qi Zhang, and Rajesh Sundaram’s roles remain unchanged. They will join the Microsoft AI leadership team along with Jordi, Mike, and Rukmini, all reporting to Mustafa. We are excited for this team to help Microsoft AI achieve its bold ambition to build world-class consumer AI products. And I very much look forward to closely partnering with Mustafa and the team as we bring our AI products, including Copilot, to the breadth of our E+D products and services. Thanks, Rajesh

This article may contain affiliate links that Microsoft and/or the publisher may receive a commission from if you buy a product or service through those links.

Microsoft has a new Windows and Surface chief

IMAGES

Microsoft co-founder's $326 million yacht is up for sale
Microsoft Cofounder Paul Allen's Former Yacht Is Listed for $325.5
Microsoft co-founder's $326 million yacht is up for sale
Bill Gates Yacht / Charter the Same Superyacht as Bill Gates
Microsoft co-founder’s mega-yacht sails onto the market for a cool
Late Microsoft Founder Paul Allen's $326 Million Super Yacht Just Hit

COMMENTS

Microsoft Cofounder's $278M Superyacht Snapped up by Mystery Buyer
A 414-foot luxury yacht once owned by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen and listed for $278 million was sold to a mystery buyer, reports said. The vessel, named Octopus, was purchased for an ...
Microsoft Cofounder Paul Allen's 414-Foot-Long Explorer Yacht 'Octopus
Paul Allen's 414-foot-long superyacht Octopus is one of the largest private yachts in the world. Burgess Yachts. It's well known that Microsoft cofounder, investor and philanthropist Paul Allen ...
Secret buyer nabs Microsoft grandee's superyacht for £200m
Last modified on Fri 6 Aug 2021 13.00 EDT. A vast "explorer class" superyacht built for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has been sold for almost £200m, and is now available to rent for anyone ...
Octopus (yacht)
Octopus is a 126-metre (413 ft) megayacht built for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. She is one of the world's largest yachts. Launched in 2003 at a cost of $200 million, [1] Octopus is a private vessel that has been loaned out for exploration projects, scientific research and rescue missions. [2]
The Octopus, a 414-foot superyacht formerly owned by Microsoft's
The Octopus is already seeing bookings and interest for this winter and next summer as interest in charting enormous yachts rises among the super-rich. ... a 414-foot superyacht formerly owned by Microsoft's cofounder, can be chartered for $2.2 million — take a look at the vessel ... Texans CEO and Chairman Cal McNair took to Reddit to show ...
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's superyacht lists for $90M
Fraser; Getty Images. The superyacht of the late Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, has hit the market for a cool $90 million. Allen, who passed away in 2018 at the age of 65 ...
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The late Paul Allen's superyacht is up for sale. The co-founder of Microsoft bought the yacht in 2003 and has described it as a spaceship. For a cool US $326 million, the Octopus yacht could be ...
Paul Allen: Microsoft co-founder, philanthropist and superyacht
Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with his high school friend Bill Gates, has died aged 65 from complications of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. ... Highlights of the yacht, which is now the 14th largest in the world, include a swimming pool, a basketball court, and interior styling from award-winning Jonathan Quinn Barnett. While, for research ...
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allens mega yacht OCTOPUS
Octopus is a 126m (414-foot) mega yacht built for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. She is one of the world's largest yachts. Launched in 2003 at a cost of $2...
The rise of the 'gigayacht': Why size matters to the super rich
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's 126-meter gigayacht Octopus, pictured at Ushuaia Bay, southern Argentina. ... CEO of Burgess Yachts, one of the world's leading yacht brokers.
Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen's ship topples, injuring 25
00:00. 00:53. A massive ship owned by the estate of billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen toppled over Wednesday from strong winds in a Scottish dry dock, sending 15 people to the hospital ...
A huge ship once owned by Microsoft's co-founder has tipped over with
Hong Kong, CHINA: The world's largest yacht owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is anchored off Kennedy town in Hong Kong, 05 May 2007. The 126.18 meters Octopus features amongst other two helicopters on the top deck, and a sixty-three foot tender docked in the transom (one of seven aboard) as well as an eight-person submarine, and is built in Germany at a cost of 200 million USD ...
Billionaire Yachts: Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, Sergey Brin
Late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen's yacht can be booked for $2.2 million per week or more, ... which was designed specifically for the CEO in 2005. That yacht reportedly has 82 rooms, a movie ...
Tech billionaires and their yachts
Charles Simonyi led the team that built the first edition of the Microsoft Office software suite and was rumoured to have previously owned Lürssen's iconic 71-metre SKAT.. Nearly two decades after her launch in 2002, she joined the market for the first time and now Simonyi is thought to have upgraded to the 89-metre Lürssen Norn. Both yachts, penned by Espen Onion, share similar design ...
Yachts Owned by Billionaires, From Jeff Bezos to Larry Page
Late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen's yacht can be booked for $2.2 million per week or more, ... which was designed specifically for the CEO in 2005. That yacht reportedly has 82 rooms, a movie ...
BILL GATES • Co-founder of Microsoft
Bill Gates is the co-founder and chairman of Microsoft. He was born on October 28. 1955. He was the largest individual shareholder in Microsoft. He owned 6% of the common stock, but sold and gifted most. He stepped down as Microsoft's CEO in 2000. Then he started working full-time at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Satya Nadella
Satya Narayana Nadella (/ n ə ˈ d ɛ l ə /; born 19 August 1967) is an Indian-American business executive.He is the executive chairman and CEO of Microsoft, succeeding Steve Ballmer in 2014 as CEO and John W. Thompson in 2021 as chairman. Before becoming CEO, he was the executive vice president of Microsoft's cloud and enterprise group, responsible for building and running the company's ...
Steve Ballmer
Early life and education. Steven Anthony Ballmer was born on March 24, 1956, in Detroit, Michigan as the son of Beatrice Dworkin and Frederic Henry (Fritz Hans) Ballmer, a manager at the Ford Motor Company.Frederic (1923-2000) was from Zuchwil, Switzerland and arrived in the United States in 1948. He is Jewish. Steve's mother was the daughter of Samuel Dworkin, a Russian Jew who fled to the ...
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's earnings reportedly top $1 billlion as
Published July 20, 2023. Updated July 20, 2023, 11:51 a.m. ET. Microsoft boss Satya Nadella has reportedly raked in more than $1 billion in compensation at the company - a personal fortune ...
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Satya Nadella's net worth and earnings. Fortune states that Microsoft's company filings of 2022 show Satya Nadella earned a salary of USD 55 million, and according to Bloomberg findings, this brings his total compensation to over USD 1 billion since he became the CEO in 2014. Bloomberg states, "Nadella's boon includes all payouts he has ...
Microsoft 'pulled up a megayacht' for Activision Blizzard ...
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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has now made $1 billion
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has reportedly brought in $1 billion since he entered his current role at Microsoft. That figure includes Nadella's equity grants, salary, bonuses, and dividends ...
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Microsoft has announced who will lead its newly-formed artificial intelligence (AI) division, and surprisingly, it will not be OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. In an unexpected turn of events on Tuesday ...
Microsoft names new Windows and Surface chief, The Verge reports
REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes Purchase Licensing Rights. Companies. Microsoft Corp. March 25 (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT.O) had named Pavan Davuluri as its new chief for Windows and Surface, The Verge ...
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Key Takeaways

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.

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.

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.

Bezos has long been interested in yachts. In 2019, he was spotted aboard entertainment mogul David Geffen's superyacht.

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.

Ellison has owned several superyachts over the years, including the Katana, the Ronin, and the Rising Sun.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Brin meanwhile owns a number of yachts and vessels including the 73-meter Dragonfly, and the 40-meter Butterfly, Insider reported in January.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

Barry Diller, chairman of digital media company IAC, co-owns a $70 million yacht with his wife, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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.

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.