Jeff Bezos's $500 Million Yacht Is Too Big To Dock

Highlights

• Jeff Bezos' divorce from Mackenzie Scott was one of the most expensive in history, with him paying $38.3 billion to settle.
• Despite the high-profile divorce, Bezos and Scott remained amicable and wished each other well.
• Bezos' extravagant symbol of love, the $500 million Koru yacht, faced challenges including being too big to pass under a bridge and having to dock alongside commercial shipping vessels.

The third-richest person in the world, Jeff Bezos, accumulated a massive fortune, but has been accused of having lost his most important body part ... his "heart."

Bezos' emblem of love, his $500 million Koru yacht (upon which a statue of his fiancée Lauren Sanchez is a purported spearhead), was famously too big to pass under a bridge.

Yet Jeff Bezos' love and romantic gestures are too grand for any barrier.

The former president and CEO of Amazon started a new chapter of his life, but to end the first chapter, he had to pay a staggering $38.3 billion.

Jeff Bezos was the richest person in the world when he and ex-wife Mackenzie Scott got divorced in 2019.

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Mackenzie Scott was awarded a significant sum after her divorce from Bezos was finalized, reportedly worth $38.3 billion in total.

In December 2020, the New York Times covered Scott's ongoing efforts to distribute funds to charities, and explained:

When Ms. Scott and Mr. Bezos divorced [in 2019], Ms. Scott received 4 percent of the outstanding stock in Amazon, or 19.7 million shares. They were valued at the time at about $38.3 billion.

Those shares [as of December 15th 2020], after a pandemic-fueled surge in Amazon stock, would be worth about $62 billion; it is not clear how many shares [Scott] has sold.

The divorce made Mackenzie Scott the twenty-second richest person (and the third-richest woman) in the world.

Bezos' divorce was the most expensive in history as of 2019.

Later, Bill Gates broke this record and reportedly paid $76 billion, though the terms of his divorce settlement weren't publicly disclosed.

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Mackenzie Scott and Jeff Bezos parted ways amicably, particularly considering the dissolution of their marriage was both high-profile and high-stakes.

There was no hint of acrimony between them, nor did they speak negatively in the media about one another.

It all went smoothly. Mackenzie received many assets to which she was entitled, and they appeared to sincerely wish each other well after their divorce.

Investopedia said of the former couple's split:

As billionaire breakups go, this one was pretty amicable—the couple exchanged mutually appreciative messages on Twitter (now X)—and was swiftly resolved out of court.

The reason for the divorce was a common one – Jeff Bezos had already fallen in love with Lauren Sanchez.

Bezos didn’t want to waste any time, so he filed for divorce, and Lauren Sanchez divorced her husband, Patrick Whitesell.

After 26 years of marriage, Jeff Bezos couldn’t wait another 48 hours and confirmed his relationship with Lauren.

Lauren and Jeff met in 2000; Lauren's ex-husband Patrick, who is a Hollywood agent, introduced the pair at a party.

They have kept in touch since their first meeting; Jeff Bezos even hired her company to film his 2021 project Blue Origin aerially.

After paying $38.3 billion to end a marriage, many people would not think about getting married again, but Jeff sank deeply into the sands of love:

Jeff Bezos Proposes to Lauren Sanchez With 20-Carat Diamond Ring

In January, he started to publicly appear alongside Lauren Sanchez.

By the time May rolled around, they were officially engaged to marry.

In November, Sanchez discussed her plans to marry Bezos in a profile published by Vogue:

“We’re still thinking about the wedding,” says Sánchez, “what it’s going to be. Is it going to be big? Is it going to be overseas? We don’t know yet. We’ve only been engaged five months!”

He proposed at the start of their summer at sea, hiding the ring under her pillow after a starlit dinner à deux. She found it at bedtime, her makeup off. “When he opened the box, I think I blacked out a bit,” she tells me.

New Beginnings: Jeff Bezos' Koru, A Symbol Of His Love For Lauren Sanchez

Of course, this is the love story of a billionaire, among the richest in the world, and Jeff Bezos didn't disappoint in terms of extravagant gestures of love:

The former Amazon CEO hired Oceanco, a famous private yacht manufacturing firm, to build a super-luxurious yacht so he and his lover could traverse the globe in comfort and style:

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Oceanco obliged Bezos' request (and charged him half a billion dollars) to build Koru, the largest sailing yacht in the world.

Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos christened his yacht as Koru, after a symbol in Māori art which symbolizes life, strength, peace, and growth.

Koru Enshrouded In Controversy: Blood, Timber, And Backlash

Everything appeared to be going smoothly for the couple, but almost every billionaire eventually draws the ire of climate change activists, who continuously raise their voices against their individual plane usage, environmental pollution, and broadly harmful deeds to humanity:

Oxfam: Richest 1% Emit More Carbon Than 'Two-Thirds Of Humanity'

Unsurprisingly, they raised questions about Bezos' symbol of love, Koru.

According to some reports, the notorious Myanmar teak possibly used to construct the Koru is called "Blood Timber" because it is illegally smuggled, and reportedly, up to 70 percent of Myanmar timber has been exported illegally.

This is controversial not only because smugglers empty forests, but also because profits from the harvesting are funneled to the military, who initiated a coup and seized control of Myanma Timber Enterprise.

The military of Myanmar is responsible for the Rohingya genocide, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people.

Those who oppose the military are imprisoned and sentenced to death, and as such, Myanmar teak is known as "blood timber."

Concerns were raised because the Omani owner of Oceanco (Mohammed Al Barwani) was known to have a history of using Myanmar teak in making ships.

Further objections were raised against Bezos' Koru when it was alleged the Koru was likely to emit 7,154 tons of carbon emissions in a year.

Jeff Bezos and Oceanco did exactly what the public has come to expect of any billionaires; they ignored those voices and concerns.

Koru: Jeff's Romantic Gesture Was Too Big For Bridges And Docks

In 2021, Koru (the largest sailing yacht in the world), faced the first big challenge in her path — the historic Koningshaven Bridge in Rotterdam.

Koru could have been diverted from elsewhere, but Rotterdam city authorities initially planned to dismantle the bridge and set Koru free to roam the seas.

The people of Rotterdam were deeply displeased at the proposed disassembling of a piece of their heritage and pledged to throw rotten eggs at the boat, so the maiden voyage of the Koru was changed.

The mega-yacht finally met her owner in April 2023, and Bezos was pleased to take possession of his luxurious boat, with its polished wooden spearhead of Lauren Sanchez.

Later, Lauren Sanchez revealed that despite uncanny similarities to her, the statue was, in fact, modeled on Freyja, the Norwegian goddess of love.

The magnificent Koru contains a double-decked wooden coach house, in which 18 people can easily be accommodated in nine staterooms.

There are 36 crew members on the yacht, and Jeff Bezos spends $25 million per year to manage the crew and super-yacht.

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's Koru finally reached the shores of the United States in November, and encountered another challenge –there was no space for her to dock alongside other yachts.

Her anchor was dropped at Fort Lauderdale's Port Everglades (alongside commercial shipping vessels), and it costs Bezos $16,500 weekly to keep her there.

Consequently, Koru, a delicate and refined vessel, is docked alongside big sea goons like water oil tankers and massive container ships.

Jeff Bezos hasn't publicly voiced concerns about Koru's unusual location, but confirmed in November that he plans to relocate from Seattle to Miami.

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