Tech billionaires aren’t just all snatching up trophy Florida mansions—they also have competing half-billion-dollar megayachts jostling for dock space

In early December, a sleek 466-foot yacht entering Miami’s harbor interrupted the city’s sparkling skyline. Sergey Brin, a co-founder, chose to make a stylish appearance at the city’s Art Basel fair by arriving on a superyacht named Dragonfly.

Miami and its neighboring coastal communities are rapidly turning into the backdrop for Silicon Valley’s most lavish wealth displays, with this ostentation now expanding beyond beachfront mansions to massive yacht docks. 

Over recent years, billionaires such as Brin and founder Jeff Bezos have showcased increasingly opulent multi-deck megayachts, some as large as small cruise liners. The Dragonfly—featuring a movie theater, beauty salon, and multiple helicopter pads—is rumored to be worth approximately . Bezos owns a 417-foot yacht called Koru, which reportedly cost . Meanwhile, the Breakthrough—dubbed a “modern engineering marvel” by one commentator—was reportedly commissioned by Bill Gates and was listed for sale last year at .

Yet these floating palaces are now encountering a critical limitation where even vast billionaire wealth offers little leverage: dock space.

Miami provides several deep-water berths capable of accommodating larger vessels, including docking areas specifically built to welcome superyachts. , for example, can host yachts up to 550 feet and offers amenities such as access to a marina lounge. Some marinas have even undergone extensive renovations, including in Palm Beach in 2022. 

However, with a recent influx of new billionaire residents relocating from the north and , South Florida’s bays are becoming overcrowded. 

At some marinas, yacht owners pay as much as just to secure docking access. Tensions between neighbors have led to involving fortunes worth hundreds of billions. When Bezos first attempted to dock his megayacht at Port Everglades, roughly 30 miles north of Miami’s port, he was due to his vessel’s size and a shortage of available berths. Instead, Koru had to anchor beside oil tankers and large cargo ships at the city’s container port.

This scarcity could intensify as more . Florida has long attracted the ultra-wealthy, particularly the affluent residential corridor stretching north of Miami. Home to Mar-a-Lago and former President Donald Trump’s weekend retreat, this area has seen a growing number of Silicon Valley figures and Wall Street elites purchasing property in recent years—drawn by proximity to the former president and to . 

California’s proposed billionaire wealth tax, set for a November vote, has also driven high earners to seek new locales. CEO and billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, for instance, has reportedly in the so-called “billionaire bunker,” which is also home to Bezos and NFL legend Tom Brady. 

Nonetheless, the shortage of yacht berths for Florida’s newly arrived wealthy may be creating business opportunities. In November, Citadel founder and three-year Florida resident Ken Griffin plans to construct a private yacht marina in Miami Beach. The facility is expected to accommodate nine vessels and will include office space, an art gallery, and a “special events” area for up to 300 people. 

Why build a custom private marina? Griffin’s own 308-foot superyacht reportedly at the dock of his nearby mansion.