Billionaire tech tycoon Charles Simonyi just got a new yacht: the man behind Microsoft Word and Excel owns Norn, a US$250 million megayacht with an open-air cinema and pool-slash-dance floor

May 27, 2023

Former Microsoft software developer Charles Simonyi has a new megayacht, Norn. Photos: Getty Images, Handout

Made by German shipbuilder Lürssen, Norn is a step up from Charles Simonyi’s previous luxury boat Skat, which he sold to Swiss entrepreneur Eugenio Losa

A yacht like Norn, which boasts zero-speed stabilisers and a dynamic positioning system, can easily cost upwards of US$20 million to operate annually

Lürssen, the German shipbuilder, has delivered another incredible luxury boat, this time to billionaire tech tycoon Charles Simonyi. The 295ft Norn megayacht is just a letter different from another Lürssen product, the US$500 million Nord owned by Russian billionaire businessman Alexie Mordashov – and nearly as fantastic.

Norn’s shape is also reminiscent of another Lürssen yacht, the 230ft Skat, which was also previously owned by Simonyi, the man behind several Microsoft programmes, for more than two decades. Designer Espen Oeino reimagined Norn as a more youthful and energising version of Skat with the same narrow rectangular windows and greenhouse-style glazing on the upper deck. She was delivered to Simonyi, a yacht enthusiast, after her recent maiden voyage and is currently located at the Kiel Canal in Germany.

Read on to get to know the Norn yacht better.