Amazon boss Jeff Bezos’ US$55 million nuptials in the Italian city of Venice say as much about the 1 per cent as the world we live in today
It was Jean-Jacques Rousseau who wrote, “The extreme inequality of our ways of life, the excess of idleness among some and the excess of toil among others, the ease of stimulating and gratifying our appetites and our senses, the over-elaborate foods of the rich … These are the fatal proofs that most of our ills are of our own making.”
If you were a Martian who landed in Venice last week, you might think Rousseau was a contemporary writer complaining about a city overrun by rich tourists.
The world’s occasionally wealthiest man, Jeff Bezos, and former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez reportedly splashed out US$55 million for their nuptials, which effectively allowed the couple and their 200 rich and famous guests to take over half the city.
No wonder many locals and eat-the-rich types were up in arms.
The Venice Marco Polo airport was jammed by private jets. Local caterers and servers were made to sign non-disclosure agreements, barring them from discussing publicly whatever they witnessed at those parties. An army of private security guards was deployed.
The couple originally chose the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, a Renaissance landmark and cultural hub, to hold the main event. But there were so many complaints and protests that a minor concession was made to move everyone to the more secluded Arsenale Di Venezia, protected by a moat and a drawbridge, better to shield them from the rabble.
It was perhaps poor timing that the wedding was held amid anti-tourism rallies in multiple European cities. Bezos and his better-or-worse half helped the protesters make their point.
It was claimed by some Bezos apologist in The Daily Telegraph newspaper in Britain that Mediterranean cities like Venice would be lost without tourist dollars. The hosts and their 200 exclusive guests probably spent more than 200,000 tourists like you and me ever would.
But then Venice may be literally lost to rising sea levels due to climate change, you know, as in being caused by emissions from prolific sources such as private jets.
Still, Bezos’ nuptials were hardly the worst.
The “wedding of the century” belonged to that of Anant Ambani, the son of India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, and his childhood sweetheart Radhika Merchant. It lasted a week and cost US$100 million last year. Some of the events were held within walking distance of slums in Mumbai, some of the worst in the world. The optics, to say the least, were not great.
Hong Kong, too, has its fair share of jaw-dropping weddings. Not all of them, though, end well. In 2011, billionaire apparels tycoon Bruce Rockowitz reportedly spent upwards of US$12 million on his wedding with the late singer Coco Lee. Tragically, their story did not have a fairy-tale ending.
It’s fascinating how some of the world’s most powerful tech bros in their middle age seem suddenly to have discovered their inner brat. Without much warning, Elon Musk let loose his inner fascist on an unsuspecting and previously admiring American public, and Mark Zuckerberg has changed his hairdo and started dressing like a gangsta rapper.
Since meeting Sanchez, 55, who not without reason, has been endlessly haunted by rumours of plastic surgery, Bezos has become probably the only gazillionaire with such well-defined pecs and abs. I have to admit he looks pretty good for a topless 61-year-old. The couple needlessly flaunt their love and lust in public. There may be a sex-positive message somewhere, like transformative romance is still possible in middle age – when an ambitious person meets a long-married multi-billionaire.
All these actually remind me of Bezos’ quiet, decent and talented ex-wife MacKenzie Scott. She went to Princeton, studied under Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, became an accomplished novelist, and helped Bezos launch and run Amazon in its early years.
After they split up, she reportedly donated US$19.3 billion to more than 1,600 charitable groups, some of which probably offer help to workers like those thousands laid off by Amazon.
