Amazon founder Jeff Bezos apparently flew to Sydney on a $US80 million private jet with his new wife Lauren Sanchez Bezos, arriving around 13:00 local time on Friday.
Security guards said they had seen the Bezos eating at the upmarket Mimi’s restaurant near Coogee beach. Bezos is ranked as the fourth richest man in the world by Forbes, with a fortune of about $260 billion ($372 billion).
This masthead was produced by blurry photos of the couple and customers who were amazed to see one of the world’s brightest stars in the tech world in Sydney, having lunch with an unknown woman in pink.
There was no official confirmation that the man was Bezos, but one source said that if it was not him, it was someone whose wife was the image of Sanchez Bezos, and who had enough money to surround him with personal security. Bad security guards preceded the Bezos’ entry into the restaurant, the security guard said, and sat at a nearby table during their meal.
Flight tracking data also shows that the plane widely reported to belong to Bezos, a Gulfstream G700 private jet, landed in Sydney at 1.15pm AEST after taking off from the Pacific.
Billionaire owner of Washington Post is no longer the chief executive of Amazon, the online shopping and services giant that accounts for most of his wealth, but remains the company’s executive chairman.
Bezos has instead reportedly spent most of his time at his rocket company Blue Origin, which is on the verge of raising $10 billion in capital as it tries to find out at Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The increase, which is complete, values the company at about $130 billion, but hit a snag in May during one of its signature New Glenn rockets. exploded to the ground during the test.
Flight tracker Jack Sweeney first identified Bezos as the owner of a Gulfstream G700 jet, which has a top speed close to Mach 1 and can accommodate up to 19 people, in 2024. It is among the luxury private jets available for purchase and top of the Gulfstream lineup, boasting up to five living areas, depending on the 3km range and configuration.
Bezos’ wealth puts him below the world’s richest man, Musk, and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, but above Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg. Bezos married Sanchez, his second wife, in 2025.
The Bezos’ plans in Australia are unknown. Amazon in Australia and Merivale, the company that operates Mimi, were contacted for comment.
The company, now run by Bezos’ lieutenant, Andy Jassy, has adapted to the growing popularity of artificial intelligence by investing in leading AI lab Anthropic. Its cloud computing business has also been stressed by AI companies’ demand for processing power to train their new models.
His ownership of Post it has proven to be more controversial in recent years. After buy the paper for 250 million dollars in 2013while he was with left-wing politics, Bezos did not make major changes. But during Donald Trump’s second presidency, Bezos has installed conservative-leaning editors-in-chief he worked on the deep cuts on the paper and change its editorial politics.
Fellow tech billionaire Bill Gates visited Australia in February, attending the Australian Open and touring the Pilbara in Western Australia to explore its potential as a home to major data centers.
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Nick Bonyhady is the business editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He is a former federal deputy editor, technology editor and industrial relations reporter.Connect through X or email address.
