The late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s 126.19 m superyacht has finally been sold to an unnamed mystery buyer for the low, low price of 235 million euros (about $375 million). The vessel, nicknamed “Octopus” before Allen’s death in 2018, is slightly longer than the average football field, and considered one of the largest superyachts in existence.
While the identity of the buyer is unknown, the Guardian reports that the yacht is planned to be made available for rentals via the major yachting broker, Camper & Nicholsons. The firm hasn’t yet announced a rental price for the vessel, but rest assured: it’s probably going to be a lot of money. As The Guardian’s report points out, other superyachts have been chartered out for about 1 million euros per week — or $1.6 million.
Yes, it’s a lot of money. But it’s a lot of yacht: the eight-deck ship features 13 cabins that can fit two guests apiece, with enough space for 63 additional crew members. There’s also two elevators, two helipads, and a full garage !) for parking cars, helicopters, and a separate 8-person submarine.
If that’s not enough for you, here’s a few more perks from the initial superyacht listing before it was bought: one of the eight decks is fully geared towards entertainment, and holds a cinema, gym, spa, and full basketball court. There’s a glass-bottomed underwater lounge where you can see fish flit by. There’s a full pool and jacuzzi. There’s also a dive centre — complete with hyperbaric chamber — for guests that might want to go scuba diving. Needless to say, it’s a pretty fancy boat.
And it turns out the market for these kinds of boats is booming, especially as the obscenely wealthy look for newer, fancier forms of socially distanced entertainment. As Bloomberg points out, there were more than 200 superyachts sold in the first quarter of this year, compared to just 131 being sold during the same stretch in 2020. Needless to say, Octopus’s high price tag probably isn’t going to make these people flinch.