New Luxury Goods Set Super-Wealthy Apart From Pack
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Don Weston used to feel special cruising the world in his 100-foot yacht. Yet on a recent morning at the International Boat Show here, the retired Cincinnati businessman stood on his upper deck, overshadowed by giants.
Next door was the Corrie Lynn, a 130-foot cruiser with a king-sized Jacuzzi, five cabins, retractable plasma TV screens and twin jet skis. Down the dock was the 197-foot Alfa Four, with an indoor gym, swimming pool and helicopter pad. The talk of the show was billionaire Paul Allen 's new pleasure boat, Octopus, which extends over 400 feet and has a basketball court, music studio and personal submarine. That's about to be topped by a yacht under construction in Dubai for a Saudi client. It's expected to exceed 500 feet, the size of a small cruise ship.
"I used to think I had a good-sized boat," sighs Mr. Weston. "Now it's like a dinghy compared to these others. How big are they going to get?"
The yacht business reflects a new arms race breaking out among the wealthy. With the population of millionaires soaring to more than two million in the U.S., the rich are finding it harder to set themselves apart. Many are turning to supersized luxury consumer products to rise above the pack. Today's super-wealthy, and the companies that serve them, are creating a whole new category of high-end products that are priced beyond the reach of mere millionaires.
Megayachts have grown in size from a typical length of 80 feet to 110 feet in the mid-1990s to well over 150 feet today. The market for luxury yachts has more than tripled since 1997, with some boats costing well over $100 million. Dozens of boats longer than 200 feet are now under construction.
The most expensive Mercedes used to be the CL600, which cost about $100,000 in the late 1990s. Last year, the Mercedes group, part of DaimlerChrysler AG, introduced the Maybach 62, which sells for more than $350,000. This year, it started selling the SLR, which is priced at over $450,000 and has a long waiting list. Not to be outdone, Volkswagen AG's Bugatti unit is about to introduce a sports car priced at more than $1 million.
Watch makers Patek Philippe, Rolex and Breguet are selling watches priced at more than $200,000, and limited-edition watches can now run in the millions.
The inflation rate for luxury goods reached 7% last year, more than twice the overall U.S. inflation rate, according to a study conducted by Merrill Lynch & Co. and the consulting firm Capgemini Group. The real rise isn't in trinkets for the mass affluent such as handbags, clothes and shoes. It's in the big-ticket items for the wealthy.
Vacation-home prices in Aspen, Martha's Vineyard, Northern California and other elite spots have doubled in recent years, real-estate agents say. Palm Beach has become an island of billionaires, with financier Ron Perelman recently selling his oceanfront estate there for more than $70 million.
Sotheby's and Christie's both topped $90 million in sales at their postwar and contemporary art auctions this month, with only a handful of works selling for less than $1 million. Racehorses are hitting prices not seen since the mid-1980s, with one yearling recently selling at auction for more than $8 million.
The luxury boom stems from a huge increase in personal fortunes. The wealth held by millionaires world-wide rose to $28.8 trillion as of the end of 2003, according to a separate Capgemini-Merrill study, up 11% from $26 trillion in 2001. That's more than the annual gross domestic products of the U.S., Japan, Germany, France and the United Kingdom combined. Those at the very top appear to be doing especially well recently. The wealth controlled by individuals in North America with more than $30 million in financial assets -- such as stocks and bonds, but not including real estate -- jumped 45% to $3.04 trillion in 2003 from $2.1 trillion in 2002, according to Capgemini-Merrill.
A generally rising stock market over the past decade, soaring executive compensation, higher real-estate values and lower taxes on the wealthy are all cited as explanations for the rising wealth. Also, more and more entrepreneurs who started family businesses after World War II are cashing out because of industry consolidation, creating what private bankers like to call "major liquidity events." Today's instant multimillionaires tend to be younger than the rich of the past, and more likely to splurge on lifestyle goods to differentiate themselves from hoi polloi affluent people.
Edward N. Wolff, a professor of economics at New York University who studies wealth, likens modern-day big spenders to nobles at the court of France's Louis XIV, who reigned from 1643 to 1715. To ensure the nobles' loyalty, Louis continually raised the "entry price" of being in his court, requiring them to wear increasingly expensive clothes and keep larger and larger homes. The nobles' need for greater wealth made them even more dependent on the king's good graces, and left them less money to spend on arms.
Today, Mr. Wolff says, it's the wealthy themselves who are bidding up the price of being on top. "For the wealthy to keep their status, they have to compete in terms of luxury consumption," Mr. Wolff says. "The mere fact that this group can pay these prices becomes an indicator of social standing."
Of all the unnecessary purchases, yachts are among the hardest to justify. Owners of a yacht -- generally defined as a vessel longer than 85 feet registered for private use -- rarely use their boats more than a month or two a year. Upkeep can cost millions of dollars a year, and yachts typically fall in value after three or four years. A new paint job alone can cost more than $100,000. What's more, international maritime law generally prohibits yacht owners from carrying more than 12 guests, excluding crew members, although some big boats can get permission for 36 guests. That means a yacht can't host large parties while cruising offshore.
Yachts do give their owners one important value: exclusivity. Norberto Ferretti, chairman of the Ferretti Group, one the world's top yacht builders, says his customers like the privacy and freedom that comes with cruising on a yacht. Entertaining guests on a yacht is "much more special than just bringing them to your villa," he says. Best of all, yachts separate the seriously rich from the merely well-off.
"Rich people can go to a beautiful hotel and pay $3,000 a night for a suite," he says. "The trouble is, when you go down the elevator, you're in the lobby with people who paid twenty times less. My clients don't like that."
Yet even yachts are becoming more mass-market. With cheaper, composite-material hulls and mass-production techniques seeping into the yachting world, yacht builders can now crank out larger volumes. There are 257 orders for "starter" yachts -- between 80 feet and 100 feet -- scheduled for 2005, up from 139 in 2001, according to ShowBoats International, a magazine for yacht owners.
For yacht owners to feel special at the marina, they now have to have boats of at least 200 feet, builders say. As of July 2004 there were 35 boats under construction of over 200 feet, including five measuring 295 feet or more, according to the magazine Yachts International.
Today's biggest yachts are loaded with new technology and toys. Computer-controlled stabilizers -- which anticipate the rocking movements of a boat and offset them with underwater fins or gyroscopes -- make megayachts perfectly still even when anchored. High-tech security systems, stereos, theaters and swimming pools have become standard. Most come with garages, to house jet skis, motorcycles, small motorboats and other vehicles.
In the U.S., the yacht wars started when Leslie Wexner, chairman and chief executive of Limited Brands Inc., built the 315-foot Limitless in 1997. The ship has 3,000 feet of teak wood along with a gym.
Shortly after, Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen bought the 354-foot Le Grand Bleu, which has its own 72-foot sailboat on board. Then he commissioned Lürssen, the German builder of the world's largest yachts, to produce the 414-foot Octopus. It was planned to be the biggest yacht in the world. Delivered last year, Octopus has a 59-foot speedboat, personal submarine, swimming pool and music studio, according to builders. The helicopter pad on the main aft deck doubles as a basketball court. People familiar with the boat say it cost more than $250 million to build and will cost more than $10 million a year to run.
Octopus, the 414-foot yacht owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen , is equipped with two helicopter pads, a basketball court, music studio and submarine.
While Octopus was under construction, Larry Ellison, the hypercompetitive Oracle Corp. chief who's also an avid boater, was building his own superboat. It was originally slated to be 393 feet. As the building of Octopus proceeded, Mr. Ellison expanded the size of his boat. The result, a 452-foot colossus called Rising Sun, was launched this fall, making Mr. Ellison king of the heap at least temporarily. The price tag was more than $200 million, people familiar with the project say. Neither Mr. Allen nor Mr. Ellison will comment on their yachts.
Now, a Saudi family is building an even larger ship, according to yacht builders and brokers. The boat, called Platinum, is expected to be about 525 feet long. It's scheduled for launch next spring.
Yachts are even outgrowing the yacht builders. Until recently Azimut-Benetti SpA, the world's top yacht builder, could build yachts up to only 230 feet. With demand for larger boats so strong, the company last month announced a joint venture with Fincantieri SpA, a cruise-ship builder, to meet the demand for the new breed of megayachts.
Paolo Vitelli, Azimut-Benetti's chairman, says one of his clients ordered a yacht and saw one of his business competitors with a larger boat. "He asked us to make his one meter larger than his competitor's," Mr. Vitelli says.
Demand is so strong that some custom-ship builders are booked until 2006. Since construction takes two or three years, a boat ordered today might not be delivered until 2008 or 2009. Buyers who want a boat right away must pay a steep premium for a finished new boat.
On a recent morning at the Fort Lauderdale boat show, Don Davis stepped aboard Regency, his new 142-foot, three-deck motor yacht. With a touch of a button, two giant sliding glass doors sprang open to the sprawling living room. The carpet is hand-knotted from wool and silk in China, according to crew members. The bathrooms are fitted with Italian marble and the walls paneled with African Makore wood.
The grand stairway, sculpted from wrought iron and wood, spans three flights. Retractable plasma television screens adorn almost every room, along with surround-sound speakers, audio players and amplifiers. Mr. Davis designed the boat's X-shaped logo, which adorns the dining-room carpet and the formal China. Just filling the gas tank costs more than $12,000.
Mr. Davis, a Texas businessman whose interests include real estate and car dealerships, is selling Regency to build another yacht, perhaps even larger. His asking price is $18.5 million, and he's already gotten five offers.
The size competition may be reaching its limits. The sudden proliferation of big boats has led to a world-wide shortage of berths, or yacht parking spots. Boats over 300 feet are too big for most marinas and have to anchor far from shore or at cruise-ship terminals. Many of the supersized boats have been dogged by cost overruns and quality troubles, builders say.
"One owner came to me just after buying a huge boat and wanted to sell it," says Henk de Vries, managing director of Feadship, a Dutch yacht builder. "He said that when he stood on the deck, he felt too far from the water."
超级富豪的游艇“财富秀”
韦斯顿(Don Weston)以前驾驶著自己100英尺长的游艇时总能享受到独树一帜的感觉，但最近一天上午在大腕云集的的国际船舶展上，这位辛辛纳提的退休商人的游艇却相形见绌了。
韦斯顿展位的隔壁展出的是130英尺长的游艇Corrie Lynn，带有极可意(Jacuzzzi)水流按摩大浴缸，五个船舱，可伸缩等离子电视和喷气滑水板。展厅另一边展出的是长197英尺的Alfa Four，带有室内健身房，游泳池和直升机停机坪。展会上人们谈论最多的是亿万富翁保罗?艾伦(Paul Allen)崭新的休闲游艇Octopus，它长400多英尺，还带有篮球场，音响厅和私人潜水艇。而一位沙特阿拉伯客户定制的游艇风头可能超过它，该游艇正在迪拜建造，预计长度将超过500英尺，相当于一艘小型游轮。
“我曾经认为自己的船算是大的了，”韦斯顿感叹道，“现在与别人的一比较，真是小巫见大巫了。谁知道那些游艇还会变多大呢？”
从游艇业的迅猛发展可以看出，在富有人群中展开了新一轮的“军备竞赛”。在美国，由于百万富翁数量增加到了200万人以上，这些有钱人发现让自己显得与众不同变得更加困难。许多人把目光投向超豪华消费产品，以彰显自己的独特地位。如今的超级富豪和为这个人群服务的企业正在打造一整套全新的高端产品，其定价甚至不是一般百万富翁能承受得起的。
大型游艇的规格已经从90年代中典型的80－110英尺上升到了150英尺以上。自1997年以来，豪华游艇的市场规模已经扩大了两倍多，其中有些价值在一亿美元以上。还有数十艘船身长度超过200英尺的游艇正在建造中。
梅塞德斯(Mercedes)最昂贵的车曾经是CL600，在90年代末售价大约为10万美元。去年，作为戴姆勒克莱斯勒(DaimlerChrysler AG)一部份的梅塞德斯集团推出了Maybach 62，售价超过35万美元。今年，该公司开始销售SLR跑车，售价超过45万美元，而且登记排队等待买车的名单拉得很长。大众汽车(Volkswagen AG)也不甘落后，其Bugatti子公司将要新推出一款运动型轿车，价格在100万美元以上。
手表制造商百达翡丽(Patek Philippe)，劳力士(Rolex)和宝玑(Breguet)正在出售标价超过20万美元的手表，而限量发售的珍藏版手表的价值现在能达到数百万美元。
根据美林公司(Merrill Lynch & Co.)和咨询公司Capgemini Group的调查结果，去年奢侈品价格上涨幅度达到了7%，是全美国通货膨胀率的两倍多。价格实际增长的并不是手提包、服装鞋帽这样的大众消费品，而是有钱人的大宗商品。
据房地产代理人说，近些年来，在阿斯彭、Martha's Vineyard，北加州和其他主要风景区，度假屋的价格上涨了一倍。棕榈滩(Palm Beach)已成为亿万富翁聚集的岛屿，金融家罗恩?派瑞曼(Ron Perelman)最近就以7,000万美元的价格出售了他的海滨庄园。
在本月举行的战后和当代艺术品拍卖会上，苏富比拍卖公司(Sotheby's)和佳士得拍卖公司(Christie's)的成交额均超过了9,000万美元，其中只有少数几件作品的价格不足100万美元。赛马的价格达到了80年代中期以来的最高水平，近期有一匹幼马在拍卖会上售价超过了800万美元。
这阵奢侈品浪潮的掀起源于个人财富的激增。根据Capgemini和美林联合进行的调查，截至2003年底，全球百万富翁手中的财富总共达到了28.8万亿美元，较2001年的26万亿美元上升了11%。这一数字比美国、日本、德国、法国和英国一年国内生产总值的总和还要高。那些财富数量位居前列者最近看起来状况尤其良好。Capgemini和美林的调查结果显示，北美洲金融资产超过3,000万美元的个人手中掌控的财富（包括股票和债券等，但不包括房地产）总和从2002年的2.1万亿美元上上升到了2003年的3.04万亿美元，增幅达45%。
过去十年股市总体的上涨，高层薪金增加，房地产升值以及对富有者税收的降低都是富豪人群财富增加的原因。另外，由于产业的整合，越来越多在二战后开始创立家族企业的企业家开始套现，形成了私人银行家称为的“套现现象”。如今，瞬间致富的百万富翁比以往的富豪们更呈现年轻化趋势，而且更可能在彰显生活品味的商品上不惜重金，以将自己与一般富裕者区别开来。
纽约大学(New York University)研究财富的经济学教授爱德华?沃尔夫(Edward N. Wolff)将当今时代的豪华奢侈品消费者比作法国路易十四时代（1643年到1715年）的贵族。为了确保贵族的忠诚，路易十四不断提高对宫廷贵族的最低要求，要求贵族们穿著的服装越来越昂贵，府邸也要越来越大。这些贵族对更多财富的需求使得他们更依赖于国王的宠幸，这也使得他们扩充军备的钱所剩无几。
沃尔夫说，如今是有钱人自己将居于富有者地位的标价越推越高。“为了保持身份地位，他们不得不在奢侈消费品上竞相攀比。单从这些人是否能够承担得其这些昂贵的开销就能看出他们的社会地位。”
在所有的非必需品支出中，游艇是最无必要的支出之一，船主们一年里也用不上一两个月，而维修保养费每年要花上数百万美元，在三四年之后游艇通常还会贬值。单单是对船进行一次重新粉刷，就要花费超过10万美元。而且，国际海事法通常禁止游艇除船员搭载12名以上的游客，尽管一些大型游艇可获准搭载36名乘客。这意味著游艇在海上航行时不能举办大型聚会。
对其所有者来说，游艇能带给他们一种重要的价值：个人专属。全球顶级游艇制造企业Ferretti Group董事长诺伯托?法瑞提(Norberto Ferretti)称，他的客户喜欢乘坐游艇航海所带来的私密性和自由的感觉。他说，在游艇上招待客人比带他们去自己的别墅特色鲜明多了。而最重要的是，拥有游艇是那些超级富豪有别于一般富人的标志。
他说：“富有的人能到一家漂亮的酒店，为一间套房支付每晚3,000美元的费用。而问题在于，当他走出电梯时，大堂中其他人的花费都不足他花费的二十分之一，我的客人不喜欢这种感觉。”
但是，游艇市场也趋于大众化了。由于价格低廉的复合材料船身及批量生产技术在游艇制造业中的应用，游艇制造商能够进行更大量的生产。据面向游艇所有者的杂志ShowBoats International称，2005年对于“入门型”游艇（长度在80－100英尺）的订单就有257份，高于2001年的139份。
游艇制造商称，游艇主人在航行时若想找到独树一帜的感觉，其船身长度至少要在200英尺。根据Yachts International杂志称，截至2004年7月，正在建造的长度超过200英尺的游艇有35艘，其中包括5艘身长在295英尺以上。
当今最大的游艇上到处都应用了新技术，还安装了许多娱乐设施。电脑控制的稳定器（即探测船体摇晃程度并用水下陀螺仪抵消波动的仪器）使大型游艇在抛锚时也保持平稳。高科技安全系统，立体声系统，剧院和游泳池都已经成为了标准配置。其中大多数游艇还带有车库，能装下喷气滑水板，摩托车，小型摩托艇和其他车辆。
在美国，游艇大战始自1997年，当时Limited Brands Inc.董事长兼首席执行官莱斯利?维克尼(Leslie Wexner)建造了一艘315英尺长的游艇，称作Limitless，建造中使用了3,000英尺的柚木，还带有一个健身房。
此后不久，微软(Microsoft Corp.)联合创始人保罗?艾伦购买了354英尺长的Le Grand Bleu，该游艇上配有72英尺长的帆船。之后，艾伦又委托全球最大一艘游艇的制造商－德国的Lurssen制造了长达414英尺的Octopus，当时是希望它成为全球最大的游艇。据建造商称，该游艇于去年建成，配有59英尺长的快艇，私人潜水艇，游泳池和音响厅。船上还有直升机停机坪，兼做篮球场。知情人士称，建造该游艇耗资2.5亿美元，每年的使用和维护费用将超过1,000万美元。
在Octopus建造的同时，甲骨文(Oracle Corp.)公司总裁拉里?埃里森(Larry Ellison)这个乘船发烧友也打造了自己的超级游艇。埃里森最初设想的船身长度是393英尺。随著Octopus的建造，埃里森也扩充了对自己游艇长度的要求。最终，埃里森的称作Rising Sun的452英尺巨型游艇在今年秋季问世，使埃里森成了私人游艇之王，至少在短时期内是如此。知情人士称，该船价格超过2亿美元，而艾伦和埃里森都未就自己的游艇发表评论。
据游艇建造商和经纪人透露，目前一个沙特阿拉伯家庭正在建造一艘更为巨大的游艇。该游艇称作Platinum，预计长度达525英尺，将于明年春天建成。
游艇的迅猛发展甚至超过了游艇制造商的能力。直到最近，全球顶级制造商Azimut-Benetti SpA也只能制造230英尺长的游艇。由于对大型游艇的需求十分强劲，该公司上月宣布与游轮制造商Fincantieri SpA成立合资企业，以满足对新一代巨型游艇的制造需求。
Azimut-Benetti董事长保罗?维他利(Paolo Vitelli)称，他的一个客户定制了一艘游艇，后来看到他一个生意场上竞争对手有一艘更大的，“就要求我们把他的船造得比竞争对手的长一米。”
对游艇的需求十分强劲，以至于一些订单的制造时间已经排到了2006年。由于建造一艘船要花上两三年时间，现在下订单，客户要等到2008年或2009年才能拿到游艇。想要立即购买到新的成品游艇的人，就必须交纳相当高的额外加价。
最近在劳德代尔堡的船舶展上，戴维斯(Don Davis)登上了他的新船Regency，这是一艘长142英尺，三层甲板的游艇。只要按一下按钮，两扇巨大的玻璃门就打开了，可以看到宽敞的起居室。据船员说，羊毛和真丝地毯是在中国手工编织的，浴室里铺的是意大利大理石，装饰墙面所用的是非洲麦哥利(Makore)木。
宽大的楼梯分为三段，是用熟铁和木头精心制成的。几乎每个房间都装有可伸缩的等离子电视，还配有环绕音效的扬声器、音响和扩音器。戴维斯先生为该船设计了X形的标识，用来作为餐厅里地毯的图案，瓷器上也印了同样的标识。仅给油箱加满油就需要不止12,000美元。
戴维斯先生是德克萨斯州一名商人，从事房地产和汽车经销。他准备出售Regency，再建造另一艘可能会更大的游艇。Regency售价为1,850万美元，而戴维斯先生已经收到了五份购买申请。
这种攀比可能已经接近极限。大型游艇数量的剧增导致全球范围内出现船泊位紧缺。长度超过300英尺的游艇对大多数码头来说过于巨大，因而这些船不得不在离岸很远的地方抛锚或是停在游轮码头。据建造商说，许多超级巨型游艇的主人都面临著费用超支和船质量问题。
荷兰游艇制造商Feadship的董事总经理汉克德维斯(Henk de Vries)称：“有一位游艇主人在购买了一艘巨型游艇后不久就来找我，想将其卖掉。他说当他站在甲板上的时候，感到自己离海水太远了。”
