Starbucks chief’s yacht arrives in Cornwall
THE luxury yacht belonging to the boss of the Starbucks coffee shop chain, Howard Schultz, has been seen in Cornwall this week.
The yacht that has an estimated worth of £118 million was spotted in Falmouth harbour on Wednesday morning before moving into the town’s Pendennis Shipyard later in the afternoon.
The vessel, named Pi, was built in 2019 by a Dutch company, Feadship. It is the 21st largest vessel the company has ever made with dimensions of 77.25m in length and 11.2m width, positioning it as the 195th largest yacht in the world. With two engines, it can reach speeds of 18.4 knots.
Pi can host up to 12 guests and 18 crew members and has its own helicopter pad, glass-bottomed swimming pool and onboard spa facilities.
It belongs to the American businessman who bought the coffee chain in the 1980s. He is ranked by Forbes as the 209th richest person in the world, with a net worth of $4.3 billion (£3.68bn). The 68-year-old is currently chief executive of the company, a job he has also filled previously.
It is likely that the superyacht is undergoing some work at Pendennis Shipyard, which is one of the world’s leading superyacht refit and custom build facilities.
The site employs over 450 skilled tradespeople and has completed more than 300 refit projects and 30 custom-made build projects on some of the most iconic yachts in the world.
Schultz is credited as Starbucks’ founder, despite the company being founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker at Seattle’s Pike Place Market. Back then, Starbucks was merely a coffee bean store but it became a fully fledged café after Schultz bought it in the early 1980s. He decided to turn the store into an espresso-based drinks café.
The businessman made most of his billion-dollar fortune thanks to Starbucks. He served as the chief executive officer from 1986 to 2000 and returned during the financial crisis of 2007-08.