Late February 2025
Introduction
Jeff Bezos may be here in San Juan. I haven’t seen him but his mega-yacht Koru is docked in Old San Juan. So I’m guessing Bezos, if he is not here now, will soon arrive to enjoy some Caribbean sailing.
Bezos is of course the founder of Amazon. He has, according to a recent Forbes article, a net worth of $230 billion. And yes that is billion, not million. That makes him the second richest person in the United States, behind Elon Musk. Musk’s net worth is about $385 billion.
This is the second time I’ve seen the Koru here, She was in port in December for a couple of weeks. I knew then that Jeff Bezos would not be sailing her as he was being feted by Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago. As you might recall, Elon Musk crashed that party. I wonder how the conversation between them went. Perhaps they were discussing Trump’s promise to provide a tax cut for the rich.
It is hard to understand just how rich these two are. For comparison, here are the five poorest countries as ranked by GDP.
| Tuvalu | $62 million |
| Nauru | $184 million |
| Kiribati | $279 million |
| Palau | $283 million |
| Marshall Islands | $284 million |
These are small island nations with small populations. And note the GDP is listed in millions, not billions.
I wondered how Musk and Bezos compared to larger nations.
| Egypt | $395 billion |
| Elon Musk | $385 billion |
| Finland | $300 billion |
and
| Portugal | $280 billion |
| Jeff Bezos | $230 billion |
| Hungary | $212 billion |
I think I know why the Republicans want to cut taxes on the rich. There is no way Elon Musk should be poorer than Egypt, or Jeff Bezos poorer than Portugal.
There are better ways to portray a nation’s economic condition. One way to to divide the GDP by the adult population, giving a figure called Personal Purchasing Power. But that is for another time and place.
The Koru
Jeff Bezos’ mega-yacht Koru cost $500 million to build. Here is how that figure compares to the GDP of two countries.
| Dominica | $654 million |
| Yacht Koru | $500 million |
| Tonga | $500 million |
The Koru was built in the Netherlands, at the Oceanco shipyard, starting in 2021. She was delivered in April of 2023. There was some controversy surrounding her launch. The original plan was to partially dismantle the historic De Hef bridge to allow the Koru through. After a public outcry, the plan was changed and the masts were installed downriver of the bridge.
An image of the historic De Hef bridge in the Netherlands.
The Koru is 127 m (417 ft) long with a beam of 17 m (56 ft). She draws 5 m (16 ft) of water. At a gross tonnage of 3,490 tons, the Koru is larger than some warships.
The Koru has a crew of between 35 and 50, and can accommodate 18 passengers.
Note the data receivers on one of the masts. At least, that is what I think it is. If so, it allows Jeff Bezos and guests to watch the latest Prime releases.
When at sea, the Koru is accompanied by its own support vessel, the Abeona. The Abeona itself is 75 m (246 ft) long, has a helipad with enclosed storage space for a helicopter, and carries more crew and relief supplies for the Koru..
I haven’t seen the Abeona here in San Juan. Perhaps they are destined to meet on some other Caribbean island.
Notes and Sources
I used GDP estimates as generated by the World Bank and as listed on Wikipedia. Click here for more information.
The image of the De Hef bridge is from Wikipedia.
Click here for the source of the image of the Koru at sea.
Unless otherwise attributed, the photos are mine. I use a digital point and shoot camera and edit them with Adobe Lightroom and/or Photoshop.