Amazon founder and the world’s fourth richest person, Jeff Bezos, made headlines not just for his extravagant wedding to Lauren Sánchez, but also for selling a massive $737 million worth of Amazon shares just days before the celebrations.
According to an SEC filing, Bezos sold 3.3 million Amazon shares on Friday and Monday — a move that coincided closely with the couple’s three-day wedding extravaganza in Venice, Italy. The celebration was anything but modest: an exclusive 200-guest affair that brought together celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Leonardo DiCaprio, and members of the Kardashian family.
The event featured Murano glass gift sets, private water taxis, a live performance by Matteo Bocelli, and luxurious meals prepared by three-Michelin-starred chefs — catering alone is estimated to have cost over $1.1 million.
While the average American wedding costs around $33,000 (according to The Knot), Forbes estimates the Bezos-Sánchez wedding racked up a bill of over $20 million — more than 600 times the national average.
For Bezos, whose fortune exceeds $200 billion, the stock sale could have easily covered the entire celebration 36 times over — and he’s not done yet. Filings indicate the billionaire may sell up to $2 billion more in Amazon stock soon.
The sale and the spectacle underscore the growing trend of billionaires making bold financial moves around high-profile personal milestones — blending business with lifestyle in the most extravagant ways possible.