The reclusive Google cofounder Larry Page has spent months during the pandemic enjoying Fiji's beautiful islands, but there's one thing he's not had with him: his famous superyacht, Senses.
Page has sold the boat, which came complete with helipad and private beach club, to an unknown new owner. The sale was confirmed by Phil Redpath, the general manager of Integrated Marine Group, which has been doing refit work on the vessel in New Zealand.
Another person, in Fiji, told Insider Page no longer owned the yacht. The exact date of the sale could not be confirmed, but the person said Page had plans to sell the yacht as far back as 2019. The person asked not to be identified because they'd worked with Page's team in the past and were not authorized to speak with the media. A Google spokesperson declined to comment, and Page didn't respond to emails seeking comment.
Page purchased Senses from the New Zealand businessman Arthur Douglas Myers for $45 million in 2011 — the same year his Google cofounder Sergey Brin snapped up his own $80 million superyacht, Dragonfly.
Page has spent several months in Fiji during the pandemic, along with his family and an entourage, according to people who have seen him there. Since selling Senses, the former Google CEO has downsized to a smaller yacht that has been spotted in Fiji over the past year, two of those people said, but it's possible Page has other vessels.
He might be at risk of falling behind other tech billionaires in the superyacht race. The Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has commissioned a 127-meter custom yacht from the Dutch shipbuilder Oceanco, according to an excerpt from Brad Stone's new book, "Amazon Unbound," that was published in Bloomberg Businessweek in May. It's so big, it has a smaller support yacht. Oracle's Larry Ellison and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt also own huge vessels.
Page's whereabouts since stepping away from Google in 2019 have been largely a mystery. He and Brin still control the company and its parent, Alphabet, through special voting shares. But despite the occasional appearance from Brin— and the odd phone call with CEO Sundar Pichai— the two have been mostly uninvolved with the company.
Do you have more to share? Got a tip? Contact this reporter at hlangley@insider.com or on the encrypted-messaging apps Signal and Telegram at +1-628-228-1836.
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: Where you should go to stay safe during an earthquake