The yachting world is currently speculating that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has finally bought a superyacht. Well, two.

It’s being widely reported that Zuckerberg is suspected to be the new owner of Feadship’s Project 1010, now named Launchpad, as well as Wingman (ex-Dapple), a shadow vessel built by Damen Yachting (previously owned by Valve founder Gabe Newell).

Project 1010, a Russian-commissioned mega yacht, was built in the Netherlands. Zuckerberg was seen touring the ship in early March, but sanctions related to the ship’s Russian origins are believed to have delayed its stateside arrival. (All Launchpad images courtesy of yachts.mp4)

Neither Zuckerberg nor Feadship will ever put out a statement to confirm ownership.

“It is Feadship’s standard policy to never divulge any information about our yachts with reference to ownership, costs, or delivery, etc,” says Feadship in a media statement. “Whether it is an 18-meter Feadship from the 1960s or a 118-meter Feadship from the 21st century, we do not share private information.”

“You might have seen rumours before about him owning superyachts, or you may be thinking he already owns a superyacht as he has previously linked with superyachts in the past like MY Andromeda, however, that yacht is actually owned by a colleague. Zuckerberg has never owned a superyacht until now so any of the images and videos you see online are false,” says eSysman SuperYachts.

The $300 million, 118-metre Launchpad is currently moored in Fort Lauderdale, Florida after making her maiden voyage from Gibraltar to St Maarten last week. Wingman is close by.

The total cost of these new purchases is estimated at a combined $330 million says autoevolution.

In 2021, Zuckerberg was worth circa $108 billion, an amount that rose to $138.4 billion by January 2024. The Sun calculates that the Facebook founder makes between $6 million and $12 million each day, equating to an estimated yearly earning of more than $3 billion. In 2018, Zuckerberg earned roughly $1.7 million an hour, according to previous Business Insider calculations. By 2020, he ranked as the fourth richest person on the planet. In December 2021, Zuckerberg was said to be building an estimated $270 million, 57,000-square-foot Doomsday bunker. Plans included filling the football field-sized space with 30 bedrooms, elevators, a swimming pool, sauna, tennis court, and a full-sized gym.

This year is Feadship’s Diamond Jubilee

Since its modest origins in 1949, the company says it now has an astounding 1,700-metres of yachts under construction, including ground-braking projects like hydrogen fuel cell propulsion: the majestic 118.80-metre Project 821. It has four shipyards in the Netherlands, operates in eight other locations and employs over 2,000 people.

Feadship sprung from a pragmatic – perhaps even desperate – post-World War II plan to rescue Dutch industries by kick-starting exports to generate much-needed hard currency. With most of Europe digging out literally and financially, boat builders wishing to prosper in needed to look further afield. So a group of marine business owners gathered for an organizational meeting at De Roode Leeuw café in Amsterdam in 1949 to devise a plan to sell Dutch-built boats abroad.

Feadship’s plan to sell Dutch boats to USA

The United States represented by far the most attractive potential market. Assured of some government support, six boat builders launched Feadship, the First Export Association of Dutch SHIPbuilders with one purpose: “to promote the export of luxury craft to the United States of America”. Each of the members pledged the sum of 500 Dutch Guilders (purchasing power of € 2.400 today) to the cause – a significant amount at this impoverished time for a clearly ambitious venture.

They made a simple plan. Each yard would contribute a boat designed for export and all would share in the cost of marketing Feadships abroad.

Three small boats were shipped – 8-metre and 10-metre motor cruisers and a 6.50-metre daysailer – to the January 1951 New York Boat Show. Feadship says all the yachts were quickly snapped up. With news of custom yachts of 23 and 30-metre ordered by prominent Americans in 1952, and 17-metre Capri and 19-metre Coronet crowned Queens of the 1953 and 1954 New York Boats shows respectively, Feadship was off.

The early years were not without teething pains and troubles with agents, cash flow, and the withdrawal of several original members, but with ninety yachts sold in America in the first eight years, the potential rewards for persevering in the market were clear. The builders of two of those very first Feadships shown in the US, Royal Van Lent and Koninklijke De Vries, now are juggernauts of the superyacht world and the Feadship brand has delivered over five hundred yachts to date, with another four slated to deliver in 2024.

In 2020, MIN reported that a vintage Feadship superyacht found in storage at a nationalised shipyard was being sold off by the Scottish government. The 25m (82ft) vessel was discovered after ministers took over the Ferguson shipyard in Port Glasgow, which went into administration in 2019. It remains unclear how the yacht ended up at the yard, but at the time it needed complete renovation and restoration.

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