OceanGate's Titanic sub CEO tried to sell cut-price tickets

Publish date: 2024-08-27

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A Las Vegas billionaire has revealed OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush tried to sell him cut-price tickets for the doomed Titanic dive — telling him it would be even safer than crossing the street.

Property financing tycoon Jay Bloom — a one-time business partner of late “Everwood” star Treat Williams — shared a series of text messages showing how Rush tried to sell him and his son, Sean, spots that eventually went to Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Sulaiman, 19.

As far back as April, Rush started pushing a “last-minute price” of $150,000 — a $100,000 discount from the usual $250,000.

That steep discount was offered after Bloom admitted he and his son were worried about the safety of the sub that imploded, killing Rush and his four wealthy Titanic tourists.

“My son’s friend researched what could go wrong and put a little scare in him,” Bloom texted the CEO in February. “He’s excited to go, but concerned about the danger.”

Rush, 61, replied that he was “curious what the uninformed would say the danger is.”

Jay Bloom (right) shared text messages Stockton Rush sent trying to get him and his son, Sean (left), on the doomed Titanic trip. Facebook/Jay Bloom

The businessman then listed “perceived threats to the vessel,” including attacks by giant sea creatures and anything that “compromises the hull,” suggesting it was likely “really stupid stuff.”

“Yeah very stupid,” the now-dead CEO replied, dismissively.

“While there’s obviously risk it’s way safer than flying in a helicopter or even scuba diving. There hasn’t even been an injury in 35 years in a non-military sub,” Rush wrote.

Bloom said the CEO was even more complacent in person, recalling the last time he met him to try to get him onboard the doomed sub.

Bloom shared text messages with Rush in which he detailed his son’s safety fears. Facebook/Jay Bloom
The now-dead CEO called safety fears “very stupid,” saying his sub was “way safer than flying in a helicopter or even scuba diving.” Facebook/Jay Bloom

“We talked about the dive, including safety,” he said of the March 1 lunch and wander through the Titanic Exhibit at the Luxor Hotel & Casino in Bloom’s hometown of Vegas.

“He was absolutely convinced that it was safer than crossing the street,” Bloom wrote alongside the text messages.

“I am sure he really believed what he was saying. But he was very wrong,” wrote Bloom.

He noted that the seats he turned down went to prominent Pakistan businessman Dawood and his own son — who was also “terrified” of the Titanic trip, but went along to please his dad.

Stockton Rush, who died on the Titan sub, was convinced “it was safer than crossing the street,” Bloom said. OceanGate Expeditions/AFP via Getty Images
“He was very wrong,” Bloom wrote of the now-dead CEO’s confidence in the safety of his Titan sub. Becky Kagan Schott / OceanGate Expeditions

They died alongside Rush, who was piloting Titan, as well as British billionaire Hamish Harding and French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

Bloom said the sub deaths hit hard, coming “right on the heels” of “losing Treat Williams, another friend of 25 years and former business partner,” who died in a motorcycle crash in Vermont.

“Tomorrow is never promised. Make the most of today,” he wrote.

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