Oceanco acquired by tech mogul Newell
Gabe Newell, co-founder Valve Corporation, has taken ownership of Dutch superyacht builder Oceanco.
Dutch custom superyacht builder Oceanco has been acquired by American tech mogul Gabe Newell, ending the 15-year ownership of the Barwani family.
Newell, the co-founder of video game developer Valve Corporation, comes in as a “hands-on visionary” who wants to put the people behind the brand first, says Oceanco.
“This is not about buying a yacht company. It is about plugging into a tribe of builders, dreamers, sailors, creatives and engineers – and seeing what kind of future they can shape when no one’s holding them back. This isn’t a transaction. It’s ignition,” says the company’s website.
Newell was an early pioneer of the Windows operating system at Microsoft before founding Valve with Mike Harrington in 1996. Valve’s Half Life game was a commercial success and was a precursor to the company’s hugely popular Counter-Strike action game which regularly features more than one million concurrent users. Valve also owns Steam, the world’s largest digital distribution platform for gaming. In 2024 Forbes estimated Newell’s net worth at $9.5bn.
He is also the owner of the marine research organisation Inkfish and the neuroscience company Starfish Neuroscience.
Oceanco has built a host of high-profile yachts incuding Kaos, Bravo Eugenia, Black Pearl and Koru, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The Barwani family still owns Turquoise Yachts, a leading Turkish custom yacht builder.
Oceanco built the superyacht H3.
Custom superyacht builder Oceanco is based in the Netherlands.
