Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s mega yacht Launchpad, valued at around €270 million, is docked at the Palumbo Shipyards in Cottonera after arriving in Malta early on Saturday morning.
The 387-foot yacht – significantly bigger than typical superyachts – billed as one of the most expensive in the world could be seen at port in Malta on Saturday afternoon.
According to maritime tracking website vesselfinder.com, the Launchpad entered docked shortly before 7am after spending around five days at sea.
It is unclear whether Zuckerberg is onboard or elsewhere in Malta.
The yacht hit the headlines last year after switching off its tracking system, a tactic known as “going dark” and a move viewed with irony by some commentators in light of Facebook’s monetising of users’ personal data.
American tech giants and the super rich have hit the news in recent months as US President and billionaire Donald Trump has acted to stymie global tax reform.
Last month, Trump torpedoed tax plans targeting billionaires and multinational companies, warning companies against “discriminatory, disproportionate” taxing of US tech giants.
Countries have accused Amazon, Microsoft, Google owner Alphabet and Facebook’s parent company Meta of sidestepping local taxes.
Meanwhile, in 2020, Roberta Metsola said Zuckerberg had expressed interest in visiting Malta to use the country’s unique social media landscape as a testing ground for new products to strengthen digital regulation.
As of this month, Zuckerberg is one of the richest people in the world, his wealth valued at over 220 billion US dollars.