Prince Khaled is a prominent figure in the Saudi royal family, as well as a businessman, philanthropist, and environmentalist. He is the founder and chairman of the Living Oceans Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation and restoration of the world’s oceans.
He is also an avid yachtsman, who owns a fleet of vessels, including the Golden Fleet, which consists of the Golden Odyssey, the Golden Shadow, the Golden Osprey, and the Golden Eye. The Golden Fleet is used for scientific research, exploration, and leisure, and has traveled to more than 100 countries and territories around the world.
However, reports suggest that Prince Khaled never boarded the Golden Odyssey yacht after facing financial difficulties around the time of her delivery. According to some sources, Prince Khaled was involved in a corruption scandal in Saudi Arabia, which led to his arrest and the freezing of his assets in 2017. He was later released after paying a hefty settlement, but his troubles did not end there.
In 2019, he was sued by a Swiss bank for defaulting on a loan of $200 million, which he had used to finance the construction of the Golden Odyssey yacht. The bank claimed that Prince Khaled had failed to repay the loan, and that he had transferred the ownership of the yacht to an offshore company in the Cayman Islands to avoid seizure. The bank then filed a lawsuit in the US court, seeking to recover the loan and the yacht. The court ruled in favor of the bank, and ordered the seizure and sale of the Golden Odyssey yacht.
The new owner of the Golden Odyssey yacht is a Chinese billionaire with a penchant for luxurious sea vessels. The identity of the buyer is not publicly disclosed, but some speculate that he is Jack Ma, the founder and former chairman of Alibaba Group, one of the largest e-commerce companies in the world.
Jack Ma is known for his lavish lifestyle and his love for yachting, having previously owned a 65-meter yacht named Feadship. He is also one of the richest people in China, with a net worth of $50 billion, according to Forbes. The estimated value of the Golden Odyssey yacht is $150 million, with an annual running cost of around $15 million.
The Specifications and Design of the Golden Odyssey Yacht
The Golden Odyssey yacht is built with a steel hull and aluminum superstructure, with teak decks. Powered by twin diesel-electric Wartsila engines running at 250rpm, she comfortably cruises at 11 knots, reaches a maximum speed of 21 knots, and has a range of 6,500 nautical miles, promising seamless and thrilling adventures on the high seas.
