Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and the world’s third-richest person, is pulling a Ken Griffin. Bezos recently announced his decision to leave Seattle, where he has resided since 1994, to relocate to Miami.
In an Instagram post, Bezos shared that this move is because he wants to be closer to his parents, who recently returned to Florida, where he spent his earlier years. He expressed deep emotional attachment to the city and said “Seattle, you will always have a piece of my heart.”
Bezos reminisced about Amazon’s beginnings in a Bellevue, Washington garage, which sold for $1.5 million a few years ago. Amazon has since grown into one of the world’s largest companies, with a workforce of over 55,000 employees just in Seattle where its headquarters will remain.
Bezos also said that the operations of his space exploration company, Blue Origin, are “increasingly shifting to Cape Canaveral,” which is about three hours north of Miami.
The billionaire and his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, recently acquired neighboring mansions in Miami’s “Billionaire Bunker” area and will be neighbors with the likes of investor Carl Icahn and NFL star Tom Brady.
The quiet part here though is that Bezos really does love cutting costs when he can. Washington’s 7% tax on capital gains, upheld by the state supreme court, has likely played a role in Bezos’ decision, especially as he has sold approximately $30 billion in stock since 2002.
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Florida, renowned for its favorable tax policies, is a preferred destination for billionaires, as it does not levy capital gains tax and lacks a broad income tax.
Last year, Citadel founder CEO Ken Griffin moved his family and the hedge fund’s headquarters from Chicago to Miami. With an estimated net worth of $25 billion, Griffin was Florida’s richest man — a title that will now belong to Bezos.
At the time, Griffin claimed that it was not about the taxes either.
“It’s gonna get me thrown out of here, but taxes weren’t part of our decision to come to Florida,” Griffin, said in a conversation with Francis Suarez, Miami’s Republican mayor. “When you’ve got great schools, a great environment and your streets are safe and clean, that’s when you’ve got a place you want to live in and call home.”
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