Tech Billionaires And Their Fleet Of Private Planes

They have got everything that money can purchase, so the next thing they could do to flaunt their wealth might very well be owning a private jet.

For high-powered investors and executives, a private jet could be a clever purchase since it can cut back the time they need to spend on traveling.

Below is the list of well-known tech billionaires with their private jets:

Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon and the richest man on Earth, owns a plane under Poplar Glen, his holding company.

He owns a Gulfstream G650ER jet which can carry eight people with an estimated cost of $65 million.

Investor Mark Cuban has three planes. Back in 2017, in an interview, the billionaire said that his “all-time goal” had always been having a private jet since “the asset I value the most is time, and that bought me time."

When Cuban got his first plane in 1999 which is a Gulfstream V, he actually set a record in the Guinness Book of World Records. His purchase of $40 million made it into the record book for being the biggest single internet transaction.

Besides the Gulfstream V, Cuban has two Boeing Business Jets. A Boeing 757 is used to transport the NBA team Dallas Mavericks which he has owned ever since 2000. And a Boeing 767 is for chartered flights renting.

Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, has said that his private plane is his “big splurge” and “guilty pleasure.”

Gates is said to own a Bombardier BD-700 Global Express which can seat 19 people with a price tag of about $40 million.

Bill Gate is not the only Microsoft executive to spend money on a private jet. Charles Simonyi, a Hungarian software developer, who was the supervisor of Microsoft Office software until 2002 when he resigned from his position, also joins this list.

Simonyi owns a 233-foot yacht and a Dassault Falcon jet. As if owning a yacht and a private plane is not enough, Simonyi has even been to the ISS two times, in 2007 and 2009.

Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, is known for his unusual behavior. Ellison himself is a licensed pilot. David, his son, has been joining his dad on flights since he was only 13.

Ellison’s asset is pretty impressive with a Hawaiian island, a yacht racing team, and two military fighter jets. The two jets are an SIAI-Marchetti S.211 and a decommissioned Soviet MiG-29.

The late co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, used to own a Gulfstream V that can carry 15 passengers. The private jet, along with 10 million company shares, was a gift from Apple as a pay raise back in 2002.

When he passed away, Jony Ive, Apple’s head of product design, bought the plane from the widow Laurene Powell Jobs “at a significant discount.”

Tesla and SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk has already had private jets ever since he founded his firms in the early 2000s.

Musk used to own a 1994 model Dassault Falcon 900 which could accommodate 12 people, but it was put on sale in 2016. He now has a $70 million Gulfstream G650ER.

The private flight use of Musk sparked controversy back in Jan 2019. The CEO is reported to fly 150,000 miles on his Gulfstream G650ER. $700,000 was the amount of money Tesla paid to cover his air travel.

Richard Branson, Virgin Group founder, is famous for his luxurious spending. The list of his assets includes a Caribbean resort, an amphibious vehicle, and an underwater submarine.

Branson has a Dassault Falcon 50 EX which is his transportation to travel back and forth his private island in British Virgin Islands. He used to own a Falcon 900 X but exchanged for a smaller plane for traveling to Necker Island. Branson flies on his commercial airline company, Virgin Atlantic for longer trips, stating he wants to “spend time with the staff and passengers."

Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google founders, have invested quite a lot in private planes.

Their first plan which is a Boeing 767-200 commercial airliner was purchased from Qantas in 2005 for $15 million. Another $10 million was put into redesigning to transform it into a private plan which seats up to 50 people.

In 2012, the two, and Eric Schmidt, former CEO, were reported to have eight planes including a Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet, a Boeing 757, and two Gulfstream Vs.

As if owning a private plane, 8 of them to be exact, is not enough, the Google cofounders even have their own terminal which was purchased in 2013. The terminal is at the San Jose International Airport. $82 million was spent into its construction. Other executives and businesses in Silicon Valley can also use this terminal.

Through Planetary Ventures LLC, a real estate subsidiary of Google, the company runs a second airfield.