A billionaire’s extravagant display of wealth has angered the internet.
Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie’s notorious superyacht Kaos made a long-term stop in the Spanish port city of Málaga, Luxury Launches reported, and the vessel again left controversy in its wake.
In August, the TikTok account yachting.advisors (@yachting.advisors) shared a brief clip of Kaos at sea, contrasting the Walton family’s amassed wealth with that of Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Walton’s yacht tends to draw attention whenever it docks, and not always in a positive way. In July 2023, activists vandalized the vessel while it was docked in Ibiza, holding up signs that read: “You Consume, Others Suffer.”
Two months later, Kaos was again targeted by the same group. During the second incident, they displayed a banner asserting that “billionaires should not exist.”
Kaos is worth an estimated $300 million, and Luxury Launches’ article detailed a staggering level of consumption, irrespective of whether its billionaire owner was aboard.
Amid skyrocketing electricity costs across the U.S., the yachting-centric outlet estimated the daily power usage of the vessel, regardless of whether it was occupied. Its calculations landed on a daily electricity demand rate of 7.2 megawatt-hours.
That level of consumption was, according to Luxury Launches’ estimates, worth between $3,300 and $4,200 (€2,800 to €3,600) each day, or “enough to power 250 American homes for a full day.”
Unsurprisingly, Kaos has been called “one of the most controversial vessels afloat today.”
Earlier this summer, author and former investment banker John LeFevre (@JohnLeFevre) decried Kaos’ excess.
“The Walton family heirs — who have never accomplished anything in life and protect their wealth through tax loopholes, while 15,000 Walmart employees are on food stamps — enjoy sowing chaos from the comfort of their yachts, one of which is aptly named Kaos,” LeFevre tweeted, citing Government Accountability Office findings from 2020.
Commenters on TikTok, some likely struggling to afford electricity, were similarly chagrined.
“Boycott Walmart” one succinctly replied.
“​​Walmart has got to be like top five evil [corporations],” a user remarked. Income inequality was a common theme in the comments.
“No human being should have such big wealth when others are starving, seems wrong,” a commenter opined.
“No compassionate [person] should want that much wealth while others are unhoused, unfed, unclothed, unhealthy, etc,” another replied. “These people are an example to us to do what we can for those less fortunate than we are, because the wealthy damn sure won’t.”
“I love seeing overly wealthy people living their best lives while the majority of us struggle,” one commenter added.
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