Online Reporter
FORMULA ONE legend Bernie Ecclestone has put two of his yachts up for sale as he begins “clearing out his life” aged 95.
Ecclestone is one of the biggest names in motorsport after his influential role in building Formula One into a huge commercial success.
He spent over 40 years as CEO of Formula One until 2017, when Liberty Media completed its £6.4billion takeover of the group.
Ecclestone has amassed a huge fortune during his time at the top of the sport and is said to be worth around £2.4bn.He lives in a chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland, with his wife Fabiana and son Ace and revealed he has been offloading some huge assets after speaking in an interview with German outlet Bild.Ecclestone informed the newspaper he had sold one of his yachts in Croatia while conducting the interview.
He said: “We just sold it.” Wife Fabiana added: “We only used it eight days in a year. We don’t need such a big yacht for that.”
The yacht was named ‘Petara’ —which was inspired by his two daughters Petra and Tamara from his second marriage, to Slavica Radic.
Ecclestone also revealed another smaller yacht, moored in Ibiza, has been put up for sale.
The outlet claimed the Motorsport legend was “clearing out his life and wealth”.He had already cashed in on his collection of 69 super cars after selling them to Red Bull co-owner Mark Mateschitz earlier this year.
The final price of the sale was never revealed but it is believed the incredible collection was valued at around £500m.
The fleet included Ferrari F1 cars used by Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher, as well as Brabhams raced by the likes of Nelson Piquet.
Ecclestone told Reuters in March: “They’ve gone to a good home, which is the real thing I was interested in making sure.“They’ll present them somewhere, into a museum so people can have a look at them for a change which has never happened before.
“I’m more than happy that’s where they’ve gone. I wouldn’t have sold them to (just) anyone unless I knew where they were going to finish up.
“They’re going to build something like a museum and that’s where they’ll be.”The interview was published on Ecclestone’s 95th birthday —October 28 — and he said he was still as invested in Formula 1 as ever.
He said: “I still watch every race, even every practice session, and I get up at the appropriate times for the overseas races.” —Sun
Mathew Masinge