Which billionaire’s luxury yacht trip won the summer? From Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s showy adventures on Koru, to Diane von Furstenberg and Barry Diller’s schmoozing with Oprah and Kris Jenner

Sep 22 , 2023

Jeff Bezos enjoyed spending the summer cruising around on his superyacht, Koru. Photos: @laurenwsanchez/Instagram, Getty Images

Jeff Bezos made headlines in 2019 for a rare appearance partying at sea on David Geffen’s yacht, the Rising Sun, with ex-Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and model Karlie Kloss.

Four years later, Bezos is no longer Amazon’s CEO, and he’s spent the last few months earning a new title: king of the high seas. As 2023’s yacht season comes to a close, it’s clear that Bezos’ brand new US$500 million superyacht won the summer.

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez were spotted on May 17 in Ibiza, Spain. Photo: GC Images

Many of the world’s rich and famous have shied away from being spotted while holidaying on yachts. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav made that mistake early in the season, sparking backlash after hosting a lavish soirée overlooking a bevy of yachts on the French Riviera, just weeks after the Hollywood writers’ strike kicked off.

But Bezos and his superyacht guests appear undaunted by coverage of their travels.

Jeff Bezos’ mega-boat Koru is almost twice the length of an Airbus A380. Photo: Super Yacht Times

Bezos named his mega-boat Koru after a Maori symbol of growth (perhaps a reference to being the world’s largest sailing yacht at 417ft long) and new beginnings.

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Koru took its maiden voyage to Gibraltar in April, and a flurry of photographed stops followed. In May, a shirtless Bezos and his now-fiancée Lauren Sánchez – who has a striking resemblance to the sculpture on Koru’s bow – took the yacht for a spin off the coast of Spain before sailing it to the Cannes Film Festival.

“Is it just me, or is it hot outside?” Lauren Sánchez wrote on this Instagram post of Jeff Bezos from late July. Photo: @laurenwsanchez/Instagram

In June, Koru made its way to the Italian Riviera, where the couple posed for photos on the ship’s deck. Then it stopped by the Italian island of Capri before posting up at nearby Positano, a cliffside town that’s become a favourite of celebrities and travel influencers.

There, the yacht played host to an engagement party for Bezos and Sánchez, which reportedly drew guests including Bill Gates, Whitney Wolfe Herd, Ari Emanuel and Leonardo DiCaprio. Just a week later, the couple was seen strolling the streets of Dubrovnik, Croatia, with Orlando Bloom, Katy Perry and Usher.

Diane von Furstenberg and Barry Diller own a superyacht called Eos, and appear to have had a whale of a time touring it around Europe this summer. Photo: EPA

Another highlight of this year’s yacht season was the 305ft Eos, owned by billionaire Barry Diller and fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, which also had a busy summer criss-crossing the Mediterranean.

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A staple of superyacht season, Eos’ 2023 summer schedule included an early stop in Mallorca, where Diller and von Furstenberg hiked with Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King; a trip to Greece where von Furstenberg visited with British Vogue editor Edward Enninful and Valentino co-founder Giancarlo Giammetti; and a stop on the Amalfi Coast where von Furstenberg snapped a picture with Kris Jenner.

Diane von Furstenberg cosies up to Kris Jenner in Naples. Photo: @therealdvf/Instagram

In August, the ship made its way to Croatia where its owners dined with Hollywood A-listers Candice Bergen, Emma Thompson and producer Jason Blum, as well as Diane Sawyer and Creative Artists Agency partner Bryan Lourd.

The Eos docked in Venice to end its summer season, where von Furstenberg hosted the annual DVF Awards – and began furnishing one of her dry-land residences.

Not too far away in Venice’s harbour was Maìn, Giorgio Armani’s yacht, on which he hosted guests including Sydney Sweeney and Kerry Washington as part of his One Night Only fashion event earlier this month.

Many of the world’s rich and famous have attempted to keep a low profile on their yachts this summer – but not all. Photo: Super Yacht Fan

Many of the world’s other famous superyachts – and the folks who frequent them – appear to have largely avoided the public eye this summer.

“In a world of long-lens constant paparazzi, there is a place for relaxed privacy that many of us take for granted,” a long-time superyacht employee, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, recently said.

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That’s likely the privacy that David Geffen is enjoying on the Rising Sun, the yacht where Bezos was photographed a few summers ago – and on which Geffen infamously self-isolated in March 2020.

While the ship has been keeping a low profile this yacht season, it’s reportedly been spotted in Capri and Mallorca, though without its typical celebrity entourage on board. Most recently, it made a splash in a place not typically known for attracting the world’s most expensive crafts: Portland, Maine.

This article originally appeared on Insider.

Millionaires and billionaires

Many of the world’s mega-rich have toned down their social media humblebrags recently – but not Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez, or Diane von Furstenberg, whose yachting lives have been on full display
From the Bezos-Sánchez engagement party attended by Leonardo DiCaprio, to Giorgio Armani’s fashion event attended by Kerry Washington, life on the high seas looks more glamorous than ever