A super yacht built for then Apple founder Steve Jobs has been seized in
Amsterdam following a bill row with product designer Philippe Starck.
Last
Wednesday the bailiffs of an Amsterdam court boarded the ship, called
Venus, and chained it to the dock with the vessel forbidden to be moved,
Xinhua Friday quoted the Het Financieele Dagblad daily as saying.
The
row is about an unpaid invoice of three million euros (about $4
million) sent by Starck, who worked with Jobs for years in designing the
ship.
As a compensation he would get six percent of the costs of
the yacht. Since Venus was estimated at 150 million euros, Starck
expected to receive nine million euros.
However according to the
heirs, Jobs' ship in reality only cost 105 million euros and as a result
Starck was paid six million euros.
The French designer did not
get a response to the invoice for the remaining three million euros, Het
Financieele Dagblad reported.
The 80-metre aluminium motor ship
was just about to leave the port of Amsterdam. After a construction
period of two years, Venus was launched in Aalsmeer two months ago and
delivered to Jobs' widow Laurene.
Steve Jobs died in October last
year at the age of 56 years. He had planned to sail the world on the
Venus with his wife and children. The yacht includes a sun terrace with
Jacuzzi and is controlled via seven 27-inch iMacs.
The duration of
the seizure was not immediately known. Jobs and Starck became good
friends during their cooperation and never contractually agreed the
payment.