“A superyacht built for Apple Inc’s late co-founder Steve Jobs has been impounded in Amsterdam because of a dispute over an unpaid bill to designer Philippe Starck, a lawyer said on Friday,” Sara Webb reports for Reuters.
“Jobs, who died last year after making his name and fortune at Apple, never got to use the yacht – called Venus – but had commissioned the French designer to work on the vessel, which cost more than 100 million euros to build,” Webb reports.
Webb reports, “A lawyer representing Starck’s company Ubik told Reuters his client had received 6 million euros out of a 9 million euro commission for his work on the minimalist vessel and was now seeking to recover the rest of what he was owed. The yacht was impounded on Wednesday evening, the lawyer said, and will remain in Amsterdam port pending payment by lawyers representing Jobs’ estate.”
Read more in the full article here.
Fred Pals & Maud van Gaal report fro Bloomberg, “The claim is based on agreement that Starck would receive 6 percent of the vessel’s construction costs, which were originally estimated at 150 million euros, Het Financieele Dagblad reported today, citing Roelant Klaassen, a lawyer representing Starck. Jobs’s heirs say the vessel only cost 105 million euros to build, the newspaper reported.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Out of respect, we’ve said very little about this boat, but it’s been long enough now:
1. One glance at the thing is more than enough to give Jony Ive nightmares for years to come.
2. Obviously, Jobs had other things on his mind when the drawings were being passed back and forth over his last years. Sometimes what looks good on paper, looks like a floating house on the water. Thank God, Steve first got hooked on computers instead of boats.
3. The name “Venus” painted on that monstrosity’s big square ass is the height of irony. When you have to resort to the power of suggestion, you’ve failed.
4. Philippe Starck should stick to designing toothbrushes.
5. How will the Jobs estate ever be able to come up with the whole 3 million euros (US$3.96 million) to inflict the floating eyesore upon the open seas?
6. The Jobs estate should protect gorgeous ocean sunsets from the possibility of decades of tragic despoliation and leave it tied up at the impound dock until it sinks. Maybe that’s what Laurene is doing.
Related articles:
Insights into Steve Jobs’ design process revealed; spent 5 years working with Philippe Starck on super yacht ‘Venus’ – November 19, 2012
Steve Jobs’ yacht ‘Venus’ unveiled in Aalsmeer, The Netherlands (with video) – October 28, 2012
Philippe Starck: Oui, that ‘revolutionary Apple product’ is actually Steve Jobs’ family’s yacht – April 17, 2012
The real genius of Steve Jobs, the perfectionist – November 7, 2011
Steve Jobs’ quest for perfection could make even buying a sofa into decade-long ordeal – October 25, 2011
