Bezos’ Miami Move Is Not About Washington’s Taxes
The billionaire is returning to a city where he went to high school and where his parents live — it’s as simple as that.
Bezos and partner Lauren Sánchez (L) at the 2023 Miami Formula One Grand Prix in May.
Photographer: Chandan Khanna/AFP
Miami is a city that runs on hype. For the legions of sales and marketing people hawking condos near the beach, there can be no greater gift than Thursday’s news that billionaire Jeff Bezos, the world’s third-richest man, is moving his permanent residence to the area. With the help of the South Florida propaganda machine, the decision will be portrayed as vindication of everything local leaders and developers have worked toward in the past 40 years — a capstone achievement for a city that’s “made it,” leaving behind its 1980s Cocaine Cowboys image and transforming itself into a tropical Silicon Valley meets Wall Street.
That fairy tale may sell a few condos, but what’s really behind Bezos’ decision?