With great power comes great responsibility, but also a lot of fun! Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, one of the world's top 5 richest men, is about to have a lot of that as part of his extended birthday celebrations.
On May 14, Mark Zuckerberg turned 40 and kicked off celebrations with a relatively intimate party thrown together by wife Priscilla Chan. Then, he hopped on his private jet and flew to Panama, more likely to board his brand-new megayacht Launchpad, which had traveled there days before.
Gone are the days when Zuck was the geeky multi-millionaire who lived an apparently regular life. Now that he's a family man – and a billionaire, to boot – Zuck is leaning hard into the billionaire image. That means, among other things, treating himself to the fanciest, most exclusive toys money can buy.
Not only is Zuckerberg building himself a massive underground bunker on his Hawaiian property, where he plans to make his own beef from cows he feeds with macadamia nuts and beer, but he's also joined the very exclusive club of megayacht owners. Forget about starter yachts or even custom superyachts: Zuckerberg went for the biggest boat there is.
Photo: Facebook / Mark Zuckerberg
Earlier this year, Zuckerberg took delivery of Launchpad, formerly Project 1010 from Feadship, a gargantuan 387-foot (118-meter) custom vessel originally built for a Russian oligarch and sold off by the shipyard to recoup construction costs. The megayacht is believed to have cost over $300 million, which sounds like an accurate figure given the yard's reputation, the size of the watercraft, and the fact that it's a custom project.
In addition to Launchpad, Zuckerberg also bought a $30 million shadow vessel, which is technically a superyacht all on its own. He purchased Wingman (ex-Dapple) from Valve founder Gabe Newell, a Damen Yachting shadow yacht that hides very luxurious interiors under its military-like exterior, and is designed to haul plenty of gear, freeing up deck space on the mothership.
The last time we spoke about the pair, they had left Port Lauderdale in Florida, U.S., turned off their AIS (automated identification system) tracking in the Caribbean Sea, and went dark. Reports were saying they'd been spotted off the coast of Panama, which hinted that Zuckerberg was probably getting ready to come onboard – if he wasn't there already – to kick off the summer season and take his new toy on the maiden journey.
Photo: Damen Yachting
It turns out that the reports were accurate. A tracking account for Zuckerber's private jet, a 2021 Gulfstream G650, shows that it traveled to Panama, after making a few rounds across the country, most likely to pick up more people.
The 3,294-mile (2,862-nm/5,301-km) flight dumped some 31 tons of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, but it also got Zuckerberg onboard his floating palace, ready to kick off an extended vacation that will double as birthday celebrations and Launchpad's maiden journey. That's how billionaires kill several birds with only one stone.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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