Jeff Bezos is moving to low-tax Miami from Seattle, leaving the city after almost three decades as Amazon’s home state mulls a wealth tax.
Mr Bezos announced the move on his Instagram account, saying he wanted to be closer to his parents who moved to Miami, Florida, earlier this year.
Miami, which has no income or capital gains tax, has become increasingly popular among the ultra wealthy in recent years. Mr Bezos last month paid $79m for a seven-bedroom mansion on a private island near the city, known as Billionaire Bunker.
Mr Bezos’s new neighbours will include Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump and hedge fund billionaire Carl Icahn. Other nearby residents include Tom Brady, the American football star, who bought $17m waterfront property in the area three years ago.
Miami’s low taxes contrast with Seattle, Washington, where Amazon is based and Mr Bezos has lived since 1994.
The State of Washington has a 7pc tax on capital gains, introduced in 2022, and officials have proposed a 1pc wealth tax on residents with over $250m in assets. It also has one of the highest retail sales taxes in the country, at 6.5pc.
In a post on Instagram, Mr Bezos said: “Seattle has been my home since 1994 when I started Amazon out of my garage.
“I’ve lived in Seattle longer than I’ve lived anywhere else and have so many amazing memories here. As exciting as the move is, it’s an emotional decision for me.”
Mr Bezos, 59, will move back to Miami, along with fiancée Lauren Sanchez, 53. The Amazon founder lived in the city with his family as a teenager, attending high school in the city.
The billionaire’s rocket company, Blue Origin, is also relocating some of its operations to Cape Canaveral, the US rocket base in Florida.
Mr Bezos will follow his parents to Florida after they recently returned to the state. Mr Bezos’s adoptive father Mike and his mother Jackie spent $78m on two waterfront homes in Coral Gables, an upscale area in Miami, earlier this year.
Mr Bezos said: “I want to be close to my parents, and Lauren and I love Miami. Also, Blue Origin’s operations are increasingly shifting to Cape Canaveral.”
The Amazon founder has bought two adjoining properties on Billionaire Bunker, located on Indian Creek, creating a vast waterfront estate. One is worth $79m and another for $68m.
A now-deleted listing for one of the mansions reads: “Expect to live royally at America’s Billionaire Bunker.”
The more expensive of the two mansions boasts of timeless “European glamour” across its seven bedrooms and 14 bathrooms. It features a wine cellar, a home cinema and a sauna, “stately grounds”, “soaring ceilings” and “endless art walls”.
The properties are located on a private island of just 80 homes – as well as a country club and a golf course.
Florida has the fifth lowest tax burden out of all the US states, at 6.3pc of total income.
While Mr Bezos was chief executive, Amazon long faced scrutiny of its corporate tax affairs around the world. In 2021, Mr Bezos said he supported increasing US rates of corporation tax.
In a post on Instagram, Mr Bezos shared a video of Amazon’s first “office”, in his garage in Seattle. The company now boasts a vast headquarters in the city and is valued at $1.4 trillion, while Mr Bezos himself is worth $160bn, according to Bloomberg data, and owns roughly $600m worth of real estate.
Mr Bezos stepped down as chief executive in 2021 to focus on his rocket venture.
As well as a more generous tax regime, Mr Bezos is also likely to enjoy the more balmy weather in Florida, with average January lows of around 20 degrees celsius, compared to Seattle’s notoriously cold, wet and windy winter months.
With its low taxes, year-round sunshine and more golf courses than any other state, Florida has long been a playground for America’s billionaires 46 of the 400 of richest US billionaires call the state home, according to a list compiled by Forbes.
The state’s richest residents, aside from newcomer Mr Bezos, include Ken Griffin, the hedge fund and trading billionaire who owns Citadel Securities. He is worth $33bn.
Away from Indian Creek, perhaps the state’s most famous resident is Donald Trump, who along with wife Melania resides at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Palm Beach.
Technology companies have also been setting up shop around Miami. Venture capital investor Andreessen Horowitz opened its first office outside of Silicon Valley in the city in 2022.
