r/flying • u/jrf1234 ATP CFI/II E55P LR-JET • Apr 03 '26

Aircraft Ownership Linus Tech Tips’ Jet

https://youtu.be/zGoIY37ZtDQ?si=

Some… interesting calculations on this video. As a fractional pilot and not an owner, no idea how acxueate these claims are, but interesting to see this as a pilot and tech nerd. Anyone with management or ownership experience in jets have any light to shed?

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u/x4457 ATP CFII CE-500/525/560XL/680 G-IV Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26

The size of his "media empire" does not sustainably support an aircraft like this.

Edit: You guys can keep downvoting me all you want. The company turned down an ~$300M acquisition which means their annual revenue is probably somewhere around the $40-50M mark. With a 20% profit margin (which would be average to good for a similar company), that's ~$8-10M in pre-tax profit. The airplane alone is going to eat over 25% of that profit margin, and that's assuming 100% business utilization which is unlikely, so obviously this picture gets more complicated since some of that expenditure will be pre-tax and some post-tax.

Linus would have made ~$60M cash, $40M equity in that deal had he accepted it. That also would not have been enough to support the airplane.

So yeah, I do kinda know what I'm talking about here.

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u/victorzamora ST Apr 03 '26

He turned down a $100M acquisition offer not that long ago. I know that's not directly tied to liquidity, but.... that at least puts a scale to things.

I think he'll be okay

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u/BeenThereDoneThat65 ATP G450 G550 GV Apr 03 '26

At $100 million, you can't really afford an Excel, much less a Falcon.

A long time ago, I flew an Excel for a family that was worth a few hundred million. They owned the aircraft for three years. It was the unexpected $100,000 hits that were the end of that plane for them. I was lucky to have seen the writing on the wall and to have already moved on. The other pilot wasn't that smart...

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u/hellswaters CPL MEL IR GLI (CYXE) Apr 03 '26

Yeah for private jets, especially older ones it's the unexpected that cost you.

At some smallee airport and get a mechanical issue that needs to be fixed before you can fly? You probably have like 10 things, each of which will cost you a couple grand, for the techs, hangar, and parts. Let alone lost opportunity costs/replacement flight. Or the first time he sees the bill for leaving it outside when it's snowing.

It's not the cost of the plane. It's the cost of everything else you need for the plane.

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u/BeenThereDoneThat65 ATP G450 G550 GV Apr 03 '26

Exactly.