Jeff Bezos is reportedly selling his £370m superyacht Koru because it is too recognisable.
The Amazon founder is said to feel that the 417ft vessel, the largest sailing yacht in the world, is drawing too much attention.
Mr Bezos, whose cumulative worth is about £203bn, has also soured on the £22m-a-year cost of maintaining the giant vessel, the New York Post reported.
Mr Bezos’s change of heart comes just three years after the maiden voyage of the custom-made Koru, which was built by Dutch shipbuilder Oceanco and completed in secret in two years.
Since its conception, the yacht has been seen as a symbol of excess, not least because the support vessel for the Koru, the Abeona, cost approximately £55m and runs to 250ft.
Because of the Koru’s sails, the yacht’s helipad was put on the Abeona instead.
The Koru has a sculpture of Lauren Sanchez, Mr Bezos’s second wife, as a mermaid on the bow, needs a crew of 36 and can accommodate up to 18 guests.
The size of Koru’s sails meant that a helipad had to be fitted on its support vessel instead – Thomas Kronsteiner/Getty Images
Last June, Mr Bezos, 62, married Ms Sanchez, 56, in a lavish ceremony in Venice, and had the engagement party on board the Koru.
Among those who have sailed on the yacht have been the couple’s celebrity friends Kim Kardashian, Leonardo DiCaprio and Katy Perry.
Yet the ship’s size has at times drawn the kind of scrutiny that Mr Bezos now seems to want to avoid.
He prompted anger in the Dutch city of Rotterdam after Oceanco requested to dismantle the 95-year-old Koningshaven Bridge so that the Koru could sail through it.
Angry residents threatened to throw cartons of rotten eggs or tomatoes as the boat passed, and so Oceanco withdrew its application and quietly towed the Koru to another shipyard without its mast.
The Koru, which was built in secret within two years, made its maiden voyage in 2023 – Joe Raedle/Getty Images
The size of the Koru, whose name is Māori for “loop” or “coil” – which symbolises new life – has also caused other problems for Mr Bezos.
In 2023, the vessel proved too large to dock in the Florida Everglades so was forced to moor at a less glamorous port alongside oil tankers and container ships.
During the past three years, the Amazon founder has made extensive use of the Koru and it has been seen in Saint-Tropez, Capri and Sardinia.
Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos held their engagement party on board the Koru last June – Jean Baptiste Lacroix/Getty Images
The New York Post published its report on the day of the Met Gala in New York, for which Mr Bezos and Ms Sanchez are honorary co-chairmen, an appointment that prompted backlash.
Some celebrities, including Meryl Streep and Zendaya, said they would not attend the ball on Monday evening, after Mr Bezos reportedly spent an eight-figure sum to co-host and sponsor the event.
Streep’s absence is seen as particularly significant because she plays a fictionalised version of Anna Wintour, the senior Vogue magazine executive who has presided over the event since 1995, in The Devil Wears Prada 2.
The Telegraph has contacted Amazon and representatives for Mr Bezos and Ms Sanchez for comment.