Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has announced he and fiancée Lauren Sánchez will leave Seattle and move to his childhood home of Miami, to be closer to his parents.
‘As exciting as the move is, it’s 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 out of his garage in 1994 and grew it into one of the biggest retailers in the world.
The brief video show’s Bezos’ desk in the cramped garage, with an extension cord running from inside the home to a fax machine, due to the lack of adequate outlets in the space.
‘It doesn’t take long to tour the offices of Amazon.com, Inc,’ the young CEO, who was then 30, said in the video.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has announced he and fiancée Lauren Sánchez (with him above) will leave Seattle and move to his childhood home of 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 70s.
‘My parents have always been my biggest supporters. They recently moved back to Miami, the place we lived when I was younger,’ wrote Bezos.
‘I want to be close to my parents, and Lauren and I love Miami,’ he said, referring to his fiancée Lauren Sánchez.
Also, Blue Origin’s operations are increasingly shifting to Cape Canaveral. For all that, I’m planning to return to Miami, leaving the Pacific Northwest.’
Bezos, who quit his job on Wall Street to found Amazon, selected the Seattle area to found the company the company specifically due to its abundance of technical talent, as the headquarters of Microsoft.
Amazon’s rapid growth transformed Seattle’s South Lake Union district, replacing warehouses and parking lots with offices towers, highly paid tech workers and expensive eateries. The growth contributed to an economic boom and rising rents.
In 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 out of his garage in 1994
Jeff Bezos’ own desk in Amazon’s first office in his garage is seen above
The brief video show an extension cord running from inside the home to a fax machine, due to the lack of adequate outlets in the space
The small garage had space for one other desk (above) and assorted office equipment
‘It doesn’t take long to tour the offices of Amazon.com, Inc,’ the young CEO, who was then 30, 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 cap over a trillion dollars.
‘I’ve lived in Seattle longer than I’ve lived anywhere else and have so many amazing memories here,’ Bezos wrote in his Instagram post.
The modest, single-story home in Bellevue where Bezos founded Amazon has changed hands several times in the past 30 years, and most recently sold for $1.5 million in 2019.
Bezos’ main residence in Washington state has been a sprawling lakefront mansion in the affluent Seattle suburb of Medina.
The property consists of two parcels he purchased in 1998 and 2005, for a combined $60 million.
Following a massive mid-2000s renovation of the lots, the primary residence is now a 25,000 -square-foot Tudor-style mansion with six bedrooms and nine bathrooms.
Bezos said the Miami move would bring him closer to his parents, Jackie and Miguel, seen with him above second and third from left in 2022
Bezos’ main residence in Washington state has been a sprawling lakefront mansion in the affluent Seattle suburb of Medina
It also includes 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 sizable house that Bezos reportedly used as his office.
The properties have significant waterfront access to Lake Washington, including two large jetties, a boat shed, and a small waterslide. The main house boasts both an indoor and an outdoor pool.
Significant renovations made to the property in 2010 are estimated to have cost $28 million, for a total of $88 million spent on the estate.
Bezos’ plans for a home in Miami are not yet clear.