Business

BYE-BYE, BOATIE: ICAHN SETS SALE FOR HIS YACHT

In choppy financial seas, even billionaires are unloading their prized but pricey toys.

Despite making a mint on his ImClone holdings, hedge-fund billionaire Carl Icahn is selling his beloved yacht, the Starfire, for $37.5 million.

The 72-year-old Far Rockaway, native put the 177-foot yacht up for sale late last month, just as markets were starting to tank to levels not seen since 2002, The Post confirmed.

The story of the sale was first reported yesterday on Cityfile.com, a blog about prominent New Yorkers.

Icahn, known for consistently making a mint by turning around troubled companies, has come upon tougher times lately.

His company, Icahn Enterprises, is down 76 percent this year. And his hedge funds are suffering some of their worst performances in years – dragged down by investments in companies like Motorola and Yahoo! Inc.

While the timing of the sale suggests the billionaire is feeling the pain of the credit crunch like the rest of America, a person close to the situation said the activist investor is actually looking to trade up.

“The reason it’s for sale is to buy a bigger yacht,” Kevin Merrigan, the broker handling the sale of the yacht, told The Post when reached at his Fort Lauderdale, Fla., office.

Merrigan declined to confirm that the owner of the yacht is Icahn, but said “the seller” is looking to buy something in the 250-foot range. He also said the seller has a couple of potential prospects in mind already.

Always the entrepreneur, Icahn is looking for a boat he can rent in order to make enough money to cover the operating costs. The triple-deck Starfire, for example, can be chartered for $125,000 a week – or as much as $250,000 per week during the peak season – to go to faraway places like Croatia or Sicily.

The ship, which requires a staff of 12 to run, comes with a helicopter pad, jacuzzi, gym, personal chef, and high-speed wireless Internet access so Icahn can keep up with his deals while still living the good life. The floating palace probably costs between $2.5 million and $3.0 million a year to operate, said Merrigan.

Icahn and his family are known for vacationing on the cruiser, which is currently en route to Turkey.