If you subscribe to news alerts about yachts and megayachts, you’ve probably been bombarded over the past 24 hours like I have with headlines like, “Tom Perkins ’embarrassed’ by yacht.” He appeared on “60 Minutes” over the weekend, promoting his autobiography and showing reporter Lesley Stahl around the magnificent Maltese Falcon. Most of the media latched onto one sentence in which he says what he spent on his yacht (which he didn’t specify) would have done wonders for charitable causes.
The implication, at least in the minds of the writers and editors of these stories, was that Perkins regrets purchasing his lavish 289-foot Perini Navi. But not so fast. Read the following excerpt from the program:
“Why don’t, why won’t you tell us? You’ve told us everything else. You don’t seem to be embarrassed about everything else?” Stahl says. “I’m embarrassed about that,” Perkins admits.
Asked why, Perkins says, “There’s the homeless and charity and there’s lots of things you could do with that money that would improve the world, right?”
“Oh, good point. That you bring up yourself?” Stahl asks.
“Yeah,” Perkins says. “So, you know, ‘How selfish is this guy?’ is, I guess, is the criticism. So the answer’s pretty selfish, but I’m just not gonna put a number on it.”
Why did it have to be the biggest boat?
“Lesley, I could give you some technical reasons on why it really has got to be big to work right. But I just wanted the biggest boat. Let’s admit it,” he says.
“It’s ego,” Stahl remarks.
“Do I have an ego? Yes,” Perkins admits. “Is it big? Yes.”
So, in reality Perkins doesn’t regret the yacht. In fact, I was struck by how refreshingly honest he was about how it all comes down to ego. As many of the megayacht industry’s representatives will tell you–and even as owners themselves will reveal, though usually not so publicly–people buy yachts not because they need them, they want them. And as I’ve told many a reporter who’s inquired about the continuing boom in megayacht construction, while some people spend their money on cars, jets, or homes, others like yachts.
If anyone still wants to cast a stone Perkins’ way, consider this first: Remember the last time you dreamt of winning a multimillion-dollar jackpot and going to town with the money–on things you want, don’t need? Of course you do. I do, too.
People will always criticize conspicuous consumption; sometimes understandably so. But as long as they’re as honest as Perkins in answering questions like the one above, maybe they’ll begin to realize we’re not all so different after all.
Leave a Reply