The late Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen’s 414-foot super yacht “Octopus” is on the market.
At 295 million euros ($326 million), the 414-foot vessel where the billionaire partied with U2 and Mick Jagger, and sailed to destinations from Venice to Shanghai, is listed at brokerages Fraser and Burgess.
Allen, who died in October at 65, co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1975 and left in 1983. He turned his stake into a $26 billion fortune over the next three decades, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Through his family office Vulcan Inc., Allen acquired sports teams, real estate, art and invested in startups. Allen had no spouse or children to inherit his empire, though his sister, Jody Allen, is Vulcan’s chair.
He had a deep affinity for the German-built super yacht. When it was first delivered in 2003, Allen was overwhelmed by its size — a third longer than a football field, according to his 2011 memoir “Idea Man.” At the time, it was the fourth-largest in the world, with the top three built for heads of state, he said.
‘A Spaceship’
“When I first stood on the bridge, I felt as though I was on a spaceship,” he wrote, adding that with features including a pool, basketball court, movie theater, a recording studio with ocean views, “all my passions come together in one moveable feast.”
The vehicle, currently anchored off Antibes, France, was far more than just a pleasure craft. Capable of scientific research voyages, Octopus was designed to venture into remote places.
Late Billionaire Paul Allen’s Yacht on Sale for $326 Million https://t.co/sReP8h3ejf pic.twitter.com/E5VnDqWO67
—
