In a scenario where the economy worldwide seems to be coming to a grinding halt, and people are losing their jobs left, right and centre, one would assume, sensible people will not go all out spending their money. But then, not everyone is Jeff Bezos.

© Reuters

Thanks to the stronghold that Jeff Bezosâ Amazon has all over the world, thanks to its businesses such as the e-commerce platform and Amazon Web Services, Jeff Bezos and Amazon saw their net worth increase exponentially over the last financial quarter. In fact, Jeff Bezos, who was any way the richest man on earth, despite a divorce settlement that saw half of his wealth go to his now ex-wife, saw his personal wealth grow by $24 billion.

© Reuters

Now, what do you do when you just canât stop minting money even when the world around you seems to be crumbling down? If youâre Jeff Bezos, you buy additional units around one of your apartments in New York City, a city with one of the highest real estate prices, for $16 million, or Rs 122 Crores. 

© Twitter/JeffBezos

Despite the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, Jeff Bezos bought another apartment unit at 212, Fifth Avenue, where he already owned a Penthouse, worth $58 million, and a few additional units around the penthouse worth $22 Million. In Indian money, thatâs Rs 445 Crore, and 168 Crore, respectively, which adds up to Rs 613 Crores.

© VisualHouse

The combined value of his property in just that one building comes up to be Rs 735 crores. As per a New York Post article, construction and renovation permits were granted to Bezos to combine all these units into one apartment.

© VisualHouse

In an interview with the New York Post, a New York-based real estate broker, Dolly Lenz said that for his latest 3 bedroom apartment, the one he bought for $16 Million, Bezos paid more than the market value. This comes at a time when New York City has emerged as the global hotspot for the novel coronavirus, with over 2,22,000 active cases as of while writing this article.

© Reuters

Bezos was recently in the limelight for asking people to donate to Amazonâs charity fund so that the warehouse workers across the Amazon network all over the world, and other people in need could be taken care of, and some money would go into research around the virus.

© Reuters

Bezos latest acquisition comes on the back of several reports stating that in a number of warehouses, workers havenât been given the proper PPEs to work, and often, they have to work while ignoring social distancing norms, because of the nature of their work. Not to say that much before the entire pandemic, Amazon has had several documented cases of having warehouses with inhuman working conditions.

© Reuters

One would assume such allegations and such PR nightmares would be enough for Amazon and the companyâs top bosses would face the music. But given how the company was recently valued at over $1.1 trillion, that does not seem likely, anytime soon.

View the full article