Jack Tame: Jeff Bezos' wedding is an expensive affair

$82 million.   

As we go to air this morning, that’s a rough estimate for the amount of cash going up in smoke as Jeff Bezos marries his bride at a star-studded Venetian affair.   

Eighty-two million. And I thought my wedding was an expensive affair! 

Everything’s relative, of course. $82 million represents just a fraction of the total wealth of the world’s third-richest man. To try and appreciate the true magnitude of his $300 billion estimated wealth, I put his finances into a scale that I can better understand. If every Jeff Bezos dollar was one second —so that one minute was $60, and one hour was $3600— depleting Jeff Bezos’ wealth would take more than 11,000 years.   

You’re gonna think I have a particular thing for Jeff Bezos. I honestly don’t. I was one of those bagging his fiancée's space flight a few weeks ago, but I swear it’s nothing personal. I would just be so embarrassed to be spending that much money to get married in a place where it would appear a reasonable number of locals don’t want me. 

I’ve spent enough time in media to know it’s hard to properly gauge these things from the outside. Protestors say Bezos has bought half the city and that his bash is an obscene example of money trumping every other concern. But the local mayor says that anyone blocking up the canals in protest or hanging out with banners and signs represents a tiny minority of Venetians, and actually the vast majority of Venetians are happy to welcome Bezos, his big bucks, and his blockbuster mates.   

Consumption in these European hotspots is clearly becoming a greater sore point. The backlash to the Bezos wedding recalls the protestors in Barcelona who’ve been going around and squirting visitors with water guns to protest the impact of overtourism on housing and infrastructure in the city. Whether it’s Italy, Spain, or Portugal, qualities that made coastal European cities so romantic and alluring in the first place are swiftly destroying them in the Airbnb, cheap flights, and mass-tourism age.  

Would you still go? I can confess to having visited both Venice and Barcelona during backpacking trips fifteen odd years ago, but I’m not sure I’d return anytime soon. Increasingly as I travel, I’m a little repulsed by the crowds at the absolute hottest spots. And I’m aware that like a driver complaining about a traffic jam, I’m part of the problem. 

The Mayor of Venice who has so staunchly defended the Jeff Bezos wedding says he’s embarrassed by the protests. The wedding is a great source of much-needed revenue for the city, he said. Italy’s tourism Ministry put out a report suggesting it could provide the city a tourism boost of more than $1 billion dollars. It’s a great way to put Venice on the map.  

I dunno. I’m not sure Venice needs to be put on the map! Maybe I’m wired differently but watching the scenes in Venice has, if anything, made me less likely to go back. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at b.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Eighty two million dollars as we go to here this morning.
That is a rough estimate for the amount of cash
that's going up in smoke as Jeff Bezos marries his
bride at a star studded Venetian affair. Eighty two million,
eighty two thousand, thousand, and I thought my wedding was

(00:34):
an expensive affair. Everything's relative, of course, everything's relative. I mean,
eighty two million dollars represents just a fraction of the
total wealth of the world's third richest man. So to
try and appreciate the true magnitude of his three hundred
billion dollar estimated wealth, I put Jeff Bezos's finances into

(00:54):
a scale that I can better understand. So get this,
If every Jeff Bezos dollar was one second, okay, so
one dollar, two dollar, three dollars, four dollars, so that
you know, one minute is sixty dollars and one hour
is what's three thousand, six hundred dollars, Depleting Jeff Bezos's

(01:14):
wealth would take more than eleven thousand years. It would
be the year thirteen thousand that we finally got to
the end of things. Now, look, you're gonna maybe think
that I have a particular thing for Jeff Beess, I
honestly don't. It's nothing personal. You know, I was one
of those who was bagging his fiance's spaceflight a few

(01:37):
weeks ago, But I swear it is nothing personal. It
would I would just be so. I would be so
embarrassed to be spending that much money to get married
in a place where it would appear a reasonable number
of locals don't want me. Yeah, it's funny. I've spent

(01:58):
like enough time in news and in media to know
that it's hard to properly gauge these things from the outside. Right, So,
protesters say that Jeff Bezos has bought half of their
city in that his bash is an obscene example of
money trumping every other concern. But the local maya says,
anyone blocking up the canals in protest or hanging out

(02:19):
with banners and signs represents just a tiny, tiny minority
of Venetians, and actually the vast majority of locals are
happy to welcome Jeff Bezos, his big Bucks and his
Blockbuster mates. Consumption in these European hotspots is clearly becoming
a greater saw point for those people who call these

(02:42):
spots home. The backlash to the Bezos wedding recalls the
protesters in Barcelona have been going around and squirting visitors
with water guns to protest the impact of over tourism
on housing and infrastructure in the city, whether it's Italy
or Spain or Portugal. Qualities that made coastal European cities

(03:02):
so romantic and so alluring in the first place, I
flee kind of destroying them in the Airbnb, cheap flights
and mass tourism age. Would you still go? I can
confess to having visited both Venice and Barcelona during backpacking
trips I don't know, fifteen odd years ago, but I'm

(03:25):
not sure I would return anytime soon, at least increasingly
as I travel. I don't know. I'm just I'm kind
of It's more, I'm not just put off. I'm kind
of repulsed by the crowds at the absolute hottest spots,
and I'm aware that, like a driver complaining about a

(03:46):
traffic jam, I'm very much part of the problem. The
mirror of Venice, who has so staunchly defended the Jeff
Bezos wedding, says he's embarrassed by the protests. The wedding
is a great source of much needed revenue for the city,
he said, and Italy's tourism ministry put out a report
suggesting that it could provide the city of tourism boost

(04:08):
of more than a billion dollars. It's a great way
to put Venice on the map. The thing is, I
really don't think Venice needs to be put on the map.
I don't know, maybe I'm wired differently, but watching the
scenes in Venice, as if anything, made me less likely
to go.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
Back for more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen
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