Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has announced that he and his fiancée Lauren Sánchez will leave Seattle and move to his parents’ home in Miami to be closer to his parents.
‘As exciting as the move is, it is an emotional decision for me. Seattle, you will always have a piece of my heart,” the billionaire said in an Instagram post on Thursday.
Bezos also shared in the post a video of himself in Amazon’s first “office” in Seattle, where he founded the company from his garage in 1994 and grew it into one of the largest retailers in the world.
The short video shows Bezos’ desk in the cramped garage, with an extension cord running from inside to a fax machine, due to the lack of enough electrical outlets in the space.
“It doesn’t take long to tour the offices of Amazon.com, Inc,” the young CEO, who was 30 at the time, said in the video.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has announced that he and his fiancée Lauren Sánchez (with him above) will leave Seattle and move to his childhood home in Miami to be closer to his parents
Bezos wrote in the post that the video was filmed by his adoptive father Miguel, who married his mother Jackie when Bezos was a young child. Both parents are now in their late seventies.
“My parents have always been my biggest supporters. They recently moved back to Miami, where we lived when I was younger,” Bezos wrote.
“I want to be close to my parents, and Lauren and I love Miami,” he said, referring to his fiancée Lauren Sánchez.
In addition, Blue Origin’s activities are increasingly shifting to Cape Canaveral. Nevertheless, I plan to return to Miami and leave the Pacific Northwest.”
Bezos, who left his job on Wall Street to found Amazon, chose the Seattle area to found the company primarily because of its abundance of tech talent as Microsoft’s headquarters.
Amazon’s rapid growth transformed Seattle’s South Lake Union district, replacing warehouses and parking lots with office towers, highly paid tech workers and expensive dining options. The growth contributed to an economic boom and rising rents.
Announcing the move, Bezos also shared in the post a video of himself in Amazon’s first “office” in Seattle, where he founded the e-commerce company from his garage in 1994.
Jeff Bezos’ own desk in Amazon’s first office in his garage can be seen above
The short video shows an extension cord running from inside the home to a fax machine, due to the lack of sufficient electrical outlets in the room
The small garage provided space for another desk (above) and various office equipment
“It doesn’t take long to tour the offices of Amazon.com, Inc,” the young CEO, who was 30 at the time, said in the video
The company that started in a garage now has a valuation of more than $1.4 trillion, making it one of only six companies in the world with a market capitalization of more than a trillion dollars.
“I’ve lived in Seattle longer than anywhere else and have so many great memories here,” Bezos wrote in his Instagram post.
The modest one-story home in Bellevue where Bezos founded Amazon has changed hands several times over the past three decades and most recently sold in 2019 for $1.5 million.
Bezos’ primary residence in Washington state was a sprawling lakeside mansion in the affluent Seattle suburb of Medina.
The property consists of two parcels of land that he purchased in 1998 and 2005 for a total of $60 million.
Following a major renovation of the plots in the mid-2000s, the main residence is now a 25,000-square-foot Tudor-style mansion with six bedrooms and nine bathrooms.
Bezos said the move to Miami would bring him closer to his parents, Jackie and Miguel, along with him ranking second and third from left in 2022
Bezos’ primary residence in Washington state was a sprawling lakeside mansion in the affluent Seattle suburb of Medina
It also features an indoor and outdoor pool, a large guest house and waterfront access to Lake Washington.
The second property has an elaborately landscaped garden and another large house that Bezos reportedly used as an office.
The properties have significant waterfront access to Lake Washington, including two large docks, a boat shed and a small water slide. The main building has both an indoor and an outdoor swimming pool.
The significant renovations carried out to the property in 2010 cost an estimated US$28 million, for a total of US$88 million spent on the estate.
Bezos’ plans for a house in Miami are not yet clear.