Steve Jobs’s superyacht Venus was free to leave Amsterdam port on Monday after the late Apple co-founder’s estate paid a deposit to resolve a dispute with designer Philippe Starck, who had had the yacht impounded.
“The Venus is no longer impounded, we have found a solution,” said Gerard Moussault, a Hague-based lawyer for the Jobs estate.
“A security deposit was paid into a bank account, but I cannot say for how much,” Moussault said after French designer Starck last week asked Amsterdam bailiffs to seize the sleek 70-metre (230-foot) yacht.
The vessel, which reportedly cost over 100 million euros ($127 million) to build, was impounded after Starck said Jobs’s estate still owed him three million euros for his contribution to its design.
Starck said he was to be paid a fixed sum of nine million euros, while lawyers for Jobs’s estate said he was to be paid a percentage of the project’s cost equal to six million euros.
Read more: > Jobs's estate pays to free impounded superyacht
There was no schadenfreude in this turn of events and it is good to be resolved. Takeaways from the end of this story.
Starck’s company name is Ubik, as in the Philip K. Dick story. Cool.
Build cost was 1.46 million a meter. Well above average but not extreme.
It came in under the cost estimate of 150 Million. Impressive, I didn’t think under cost happened.
Design was done on a percentage agreement with no contract. Interesting.
6% design fee was an estimate on my part, no inside knowledge. Estimate was based on the two characters involved.
Starck is raking it in.
Knowing what she cost and how much the design cost, still does not make Venus any prettier to look at.
Final takeaway. You can work a whole career and make a literal boatload of money, and you will be remembered for a goofy lemon juicer.