It’s hard to imagine billionaire Jeff Bezos, also the world’s third-richest man, standing in line for something. While he certainly paid his dues in the scrappy early days of Amazon, waiting in limbo for a social club membership is an entirely different story. That delay reveals far more about the institution than about Bezos himself. The Amazon billionaire, worth $270 billion, more than the nominal GDP of Qatar, cannot score an Indian Creek Country Club membership. Yes, the 62-year-old tech tycoon assembled a $234 million compound and secured honorary-chair status at the Met Gala, but clearly, that’s still not enough. Nearly three years after announcing his Miami move, he is still very much without an invitation.
Bezos commands virtually every trophy asset money can buy from a kingly real estate portfolio, a $500 million superyacht at his beck and call, and a private jet fleet worth more than $200 million. Yet he does not have the one thing money cannot buy. According to The Wall Street Journal, Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, were special guests in February at the annual dock party at Indian Creek Country Club.
It was his chance to turn on the charm, if not the billions, and get an in at Indian Creek Country Club, whose longtime members’ roots often go back generations. These were the people the billionaire had to impress through everything from small talk and charm to event appearances and handshakes. It has been nearly six months, and there is no invitation in sight. It seems even his three properties on the island known as Billionaire Bunker, worth about $234 million combined, are not doing his bidding.
Unfortunately, owning property on the island does not guarantee admission to the country club, although people who do not reside on Indian Creek island may still become members. That is simply how the world’s most exclusive single-family home community and most exclusive private members’ club operates. It may seem difficult to fathom that even Bezos needs something, but this case proves he does.
The Princeton university graduate needs at least seven members willing to support him, two current-member sponsors and five additional letters of recommendation. After that, the club’s six membership committee members determine the nominees. Then the 15-member board of directors, led by the country club’s president, former AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson, votes each nominee up or down, one member said.
The gatekeepers of Indian Creek Country Club do not consider a ballooning net worth sufficient merit to join the prestigious club, and they reportedly view some wealthy newcomers as “billionaire interlopers.” It may seem amusing that Bezos spent almost six times the club’s reported total assets buying his three homes, yet the institution retains complete power over whether he may join. The Wall Street Journal reports that the roughly 350-member club charges an initiation fee close to $1 million and annual dues of about $44,000. The ultra-high-net-worth individuals who are club members include names such as Carl Icahn, Peter Cancro, Richard LeFrak, Eddie Lampert, David Solomon and Tom Brady, among others. Even their combined fortunes do not come close to Bezos’s net worth. Perhaps it will take all 350 members for that. As for Bezos, he needs only seven.