Yahoo Finance Jeff Bezos buys neighbour’s Florida mansion for $79m
As one of the world’s richest men, there are not many things Jeff Bezos cannot buy – and his neighbour’s house is one of them.
Unhappy with just one property in a Florida neighbourhood better known as Billionaire Bunker, the Amazon founder has now spent $79m to buy the mansion next door.
The seven-bedroom property, which has a wine cellar, a home cinema and a sauna, is located next to a mansion that Mr Bezos bought earlier this year for a reported $68m.
Located in Indian Creek, a small village on a private island near Miami, the neighbourhood boasts celebrity residents that include American football star Tom Brady, singer Julio Iglesias and Ivanka Trump.
Set on Miami’s glittering Biscayne Bay, the area was the most expensive neighbourhood in the US in 2021, according to data from Zwillow. Mr Bezos’s deal is believed to set a new record price for a property on the island.
Mr Bezos’s sprawling new waterfront home, which is spread out across a 19,000 sq ft estate, was built in 2000 and last sold in 2014 for $28m.
It was listed earlier this year with a $85m price tag, as was first reported by Bloomberg.
Details of the house, which have previously been listed online, boasts of timeless “European glamour” across its seven bedrooms and 14 bathrooms.
It has “stately grounds”, “soaring ceilings” and “endless art walls”. Other home comforts include a library and a pool, while Indian Creek has a private golf course available to its 80 residents and a country club.
“Expect to live royally at America’s Billionaire Bunker,” said the now-deleted listing.
The two purchases provide the billionaire with an uninterrupted stretch of waterfront on the exclusive island totalling 4.6 acres, according to property news website The Real Deal. The news site said Mr Bezos and his former news anchor fiancé Lauren Sanchez had been looking for a mansion in Miami for some time.
Mr Bezos’s adoptive father Mike and his mother Jackie recently spent $78m on two waterfront homes in nearby Coral Gables.
His direct neighbours include Eddie Lampert, the owner of Sears department stores who is worth around $2bn. Other property owners on the gated Indian Creek development include the multi-billionaire hedge fund manager Carl Icahn.
Meanwhile, Jared Kushner, the son in law of former President Donal Trump, and wife Ivanka, bought a $32m property just down the road from Mr Bezos in 2021, undertaking extensive renovations to the plot.
Mr Brady, the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers star, moved to the island with then-wife supermodel Gisele Bundchen in 2020, buying a property for $17m.
A planned redesign of the mansion will include a separate gym, waterfront spa and multiple guest suites, according to The Real Deal.
The luxury mansion is the latest addition to the billionaire’s bulging property portfolio.
As the world’s third richest man, with a net worth of $155bn, Mr Bezos already owns real estate worth $600m.
He has properties in Beverly Hills, Manhattan, Hawaii, Texas and Seattle. He is also the owner of the world’s tallest sailing yacht, Koru, valued at close to $500m.
Mr Bezos, who founded Amazon in 1994, stepped down as its chief executive in 2021 to focus on his other ventures, including space business Blue Origin. He remains Amazon’s executive chairman and biggest shareholder.
News of his latest property purchase comes just days after Mr Bezos faced criticism for The Washington Post, which he owns, cutting 240 jobs.
The company blamed the redundancies on “overly optimistic” forecasts.
The Amazon founder bought the post for $250m in 2013 to bring his internet expertise to the newspaper as it grappled with the shift to online readership.
This consisted of a huge hiring spree and a doubling of headcount in the newsroom. Within three years, the company doubled its web traffic and turned a profit.
An Amazon spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
