I left my new copy of Richistan at the office, so no cite.
The author claims the two Google founders wanted to buy a corporate jet, so they got a 767, ripped out the interior and fitted it out to carry only 50 people. Further, he says it was in the 17 million dollar range, about the same as a top-of-the-line normal tiny corporate jet.
True?
Just as I suspected. Not even close. Makes me question the rest of the book.
Well, yeah. But he didn’t specify it was a new 767. I mean once you leave the dealer’s runway there’s a hell of a depeciation hit. 
Missed the edit window:
No idea what a used 767 costs, and maybe that’s what they got. Still, $17 mil sounds low if the plane is still airworthy.
You’re jumping to conclusions. Checking further, it doesn’t seem wrong at all for a used jet.
http://searchengineland.com/070913-075208.php
The jet had been decommissioned and parked in a desert, the usual route for planes taken out of service. That would have brought the price way down, although increased the cost for refurbishing.
You can sometimes get really good deals at a police auction, but you have to be careful to check for damage caused by crash landings.
Wow… if that were an F-80, it’d look like one of our corporate jets with that paint job. Not the executive jet, which is a little LeerJet.
A WSJ story on the jet. There were some lawsuits with the designer.
Pictures of it as a Qantas jet
Edit: It’s funny how easy it is to look up info online once you find the “anonymous” holding company name, Blue City Holdings LLC.
I suspected my Google-fu was weak, the world of airliners is complex and has it own sort of geeks dedicated to it. Thank you all.
(I wonder how the operating costs compare to a small, but less-popular jet? I suppose 767 parts are cheaper, but fuel is more. I wonder about the interior. I am seeing “Conversion Van” red velvet.)