The yacht Apple co-founder Steve Jobs commissioned, Venus, is free to leave dock and take to the seas now that a tentative agreement for payment has been reached with the craft's designer Phillpe Starck. Mr. Starck's attorneys had the yacht impounded after he claimed the Jobs' family paid him €3 million less than he was owed for his services.
Jobs family settles payment dispute, freeing Venus from the dock
The French news paper La Monde quoted Mr. Starck's attorney, Gérard Moussault as saying, “A solution has been found and a security has been lodged on a bank account for the boat to be free to leave.”
Mr. Starck has been disputing a €3 million difference in what the Jobs family paid him and what he thinks he was actually owed. His fee was based on 6 percent of the yacht's total construction costs, originally estimated at about €150 million. The family, however, said the actual cost came in at €105 million, shorting Mr. Starck €3 million by his estimates.
Mr. Starckhad been expecting to make €9 million, but at the lower price he made only €6.
Mr. Jobs commissioned the yacht before his death in 2011, but didn't live to see it completed. Venus is sleek, just like Apple's retail stores, with glass walls and teak woodwork, and is controlled by seven 27-inch iMacs.
The 80-meter long craft was finally finished in October 2012 and is now the property of his family.
There isn't any word on the terms of Mr. Starck's dispute resolution with the Jobs family, but it looks like both sides found the deal to be acceptable since Venus is now free to leave dock.