So the Saudi Crown Prince MBS apparently hacked Bezos' account via an infected WhatsApp file that gave the Saudis access to Bezos' private info, including those "below the belt" selfies the National Enquirer obtained.
Last night I was reading Peter Bergen's book "Trump and His Generals" and came across a passage describing how MBS had sought a friendship with Jared Kushner. He "rushed me in ways that now woman had ever rushed me" said Kushner. And then this quote (pg 168): "They [Kushner and MBS] sometimes communicated their plans [about transforming the Middle East] on WhatsApp ..." I laughed at the WhatsApp reference since I had read earlier in the day about the Bezos situation.
Hmm ... if I were Kushner I'd get my phone swept for spyware.
10
I love how people applaud the civility of divorce. MacKenzie literally got billions of dollars...she was reasonable? Of course she was.
But if you are going to dump your intelligent and elegant wife..why for a b level "media" personality, older, overly pumped-up social climber? I'm confused. You do have options.
23
@Theresa Men re-living their childhood usually prefer someone they would have found attractive when they were eight or nine.
19
@sealow there is nothing pathetic about using wealth to improve yourself or go through a transformation after a stressful event like divorce. Just sounds like jealousy which is pathetic.
2
@Mark Adrain
Too bad his divorce didn't drive him into a period of self-examination. He clearly lacks a social conscience by ignoring the communities his company has impacted. He only cares about money. He is vacuous.
12
I know, right, most of us would be totally fine to have a red sports car or dating a younger guy (sorry about being so cliche for both men and women) they have to deal with midlife crisis at a whole different dimension. Still, him and his ex- remain relatively good term and they have not used their children (a bit of an assumption here) as the weapon, considering MacKenzie was fairly considerate with the settlement), it is far better than the brutality you see in divorces these days.
7
@Bos
I predict that he and MacKenzie will be a couple again one day.
1
What a horrible indictment of our culture. What he is and has is what we worship in a post-Christian society. If you're the most faithful atheist in the world, you can't think this is better.
2
@Working mom So.... none of the guys in your church have ditched their wives for someone trashier? That's not what the statistics show: regular churchgoers are as likely as anyone else to divorce, and, in my rather large sample, are as likely to trade in the wife sometime after forty.
6
Have the Saudis finally been called out? Trump wants to sell them billions of dollars of weapons, which will only be used to bomb nations they don't like. What's the point other than to enrich our Defense contractors. Saudi Arabia should be cut off from these purchases. No, Russia can't step in because they can't provide the parts for the weapons the USA has provided. The Crown Prince is a murderous criminal and should be brought to justice.
14
@Dave
I totally agree. GREED is destroying our democracy. The unmitigated voracity of the profit motive will be the undoing of western democracy.
8
Bernie 2020
make him and his company pay some taxes
maybe then he wont have a billion to plug into some skyward fantasy project
a truly loathsome person -
what has he contributed to the world with his obscene wealth?
tax him
bernie 2020
13
Cute, but President Bernie will have no control over corporations' local deals regarding taxes and, unless he can learn to get a bill through Congress - which he is done pitifully few times during his 29-year career there - he won't have any influence on the federal tax code either.
2
Time to start shopping at the Mom and Pop shops again.
15
@J. Faye Harding
What Mom & Pop shops!?
1
@J. Faye Harding
You can't they have all closed.....
4
He said he would rather be embarrassed by having very private pictures printed in the National Enquirer, than give in to blackmail. Once he was willing to be exposed, what else does he need to hide? Guys have to impress their girlfriends with ostentatious perks, but can take their wives for granted.
5
Mr. Bezos should sign up for some counseling with Mr. Buffett
on how to live a long happy life.
9
I’d rather schlep to the store to buy my stuff than easily get it from Amazon just to not hear about this guy anymore.
12
Count your money Jeff. Thank your ex profusely. Without her, you’d be selling shoes at Penney’s.
23
It's the old buy-a-red-convertible syndrome with old men when they realize they are mortal.
42
@DJK., or when they realize that they can. There is an element of giving oneself permission to indulge, after having denied oneself, instead playing by the rules for years. Time to go for what you think you really deserved all along and couldn’t attain before, whether that is an expensive sports car or a younger lover. That’s why it stinks so much for the people these second-adolescence men often leave behind. Is a first wife just a placeholder? Someone a man settles for until money makes him more attractive?
13
@DJK.
Hey, its not just men who do that. My cousins former blindsided him with a split-up and promptly bought a red vintage Mercedes two-seater roadster. And took most of the money too!
1
Never in a million years would I have guessed that Bezos was ripped. But still, yuck!
25
Yet again the Times glorifies the rich without mentioning that Bezos' lavish lifestyle is the product of grossly underpaying his employees, creating a sales ecosystem that damages our environment exponentially, and crushing decades of family owned businesses and, with them, the jobs of all the people they employed.
This article makes him seem like some goofy playboy; in fact, when viewed historically, he will be seen as a robber baron.
The Times has to do better.
109
@Todd
would a "Robber Baron" altruistically save a prominent newspaper and work hard to preserve its essential role in uncovering Washington's corruption? Or Saudi Arabia's corruption, as it were?
Seems to me a "Robber Baron" would be in lockstep with a corrupt administration to maximize profitability.
Yes, he is guilty of many of the ethical shortcomings that are part in parcel with building a massive tech company, but Lex Luthor, he ain't.
17
@Todd On what basis are you stating that employees are underpaid? Unemployment is at 50 year low; if Amazon's employees were so underpaid, they can and would go elsewhere.
5
@Todd
@Todd
"he will be seen as a robber baron."
He and all the other industrial capitalists.
You'd think that after all the almost financial disasters when we almost, almost went under due to the financial shenanigans of the uber rich, we'd have learned something.
Our main goal should be the economic and physical health of the great melting pot of the "people." Without a vibrant working class we are done, fini and all the king's
horses and all the king's men couldn't put humpty dumpty together again.
Jeff Bezos is just going through a typical
"middle age" syndrome that is very transparent. But what about the rest of us.
That's what is really important.
No universal health care
No affordable education
A million people homeless (the record is
reaching that)
More and more hungry adults and
children
Prescription drugs that are unaffordable
The scam of college school loans
leaving graduates with no jobs and
becoming indentured servants to the
loan companies
Bezos and the other 1% are getting tax free write offs and the public is getting nada.
Is this the best way to run a country?
27
I hope the FBI and SDNY are able to connect the dots between National Enquirer, Trump & the Saudis and their shared crimes.
23
"He began putting a billion dollars a year into his space company, Blue Origin"
Imagine if Jeff donated that amount towards environmental stewardship or better yet, ensure that all of his workers make livable wages. But why bother when you can hang out with Lloyd Blankfein (thanks for the financial crisis), David Geffen (who deserves his won Ronan Farrow expose) and Karlie Kloss (a Democrat married to the Kushner slum lord clan).
I'd rather spend time with Mackenzie.
72
All very interesting in a salacious way, but a distraction from a much more concerning problem. The extensive hack of his phone has resulted in compromise, not only of his marital problems, but certainly Amazon business plans as well as his personal movements and finances. The SEC should get involved in discussing what is involved and how to prevent insider trading or other forms of manipulation. Mr. Bezos really needs to re-think his security arrangements after this. The same guy that has organized the hack of the phone has also killed one of his employees. That should make him think about his security as well as his company's security.
10
A slightly different view (and it's nice to be part off an anonymous community so I can say this out loud!): I was in an uneasy marriage for 25 years...it doesn't matter why but I put much of the blame on myself...i felt it was the wrong decision the night before I married....i was too scared to do anything about it....and that feeling never left me. In my early 50s, I left my marriage (in a terrible manner) and am now remarried....I sometimes look back at those 25 years as i I were rip van winkle...sleepwalking through my days...despite having children I adored and a great, great job....when I met my current husband, I woke up. I can't think of another way to put it.
So I have sympathy for Bezos...he's starting his life over and everything is new to him and yes he's doing dumb things but that's what you do when a new world opens in front of you.
14
@Southern Hope No one really knows what transpired between Bezos and his first wife but I feel sorry for her and especially the children left behind. Yes, in some cases divorce is needed (e.g. abusive situations) and the family overall is better off but I really wished people would think this over carefully before having kids whose lives are impacted greatly by such decisions. I say all this as liberally-oriented person who nonetheless has seen the impact of divorce on children. Too many people get married to the wrong person for the wrong reasons because of societal pressures. Same for having kids.
7
Bill Gate's method of company buy-outs to stifle competition always seemed predatory. After watching 3 part series "Inside Bill Gate's Brain" you realize what a genius he really is, and more importantly his personal shift in his ability to connect to his wife. Gave me a real appreciation of the man. I am not sure about Bezos-- affairs, yachts...yawn.
22
@Frank, I am traditional enough to admire Gates for his loyalty to his first and only wife (at least as far as anyone knows about...I remember there was some weird stipulation in their marriage agreement about his being allowed to spend vacation time every year with a female friend). But what I think puts him miles above someone like Bezos is the philanthropic work Gates and his wife have done. Their foundation supports (and initiates) effective work toward furthering the greater good. They aren’t just endowing art museums that will display their personal art collections. They are involved in more down to earth things, like The Toilet Challenge. Everyone deserves clean water and sanitation. Put your money where it benefits the most people.
I could not get through that tv series on Gates, though. It was way too worshipful. Kind of made me gag.
5
Sounds like a typical mid-life crisis but with a ridiculous amount of money. MacKenzie is first wife material, Lauren Sanchez is subsequent girlfriend/wife material, it makes sense that he's acting out this way.
15
The story of one mid-life crisis among the rich an famous. As "ubique" said so correctly, "money can't buy taste..." Amen
21
If Jeff Bezos has proven one thing, it’s that money can’t buy taste; or class.
But if partying on an over-sized yacht with Jared Kushner’s sister-in-law is your thing, then I suppose $70 billion, and your family’s respect, is a small price to pay.
79
I gobbled up this story like a Hoover Deluxe.
Still, I'd rather be the observer than the observed.
9
wouldn’t it be nice if amazon-owned whole foods didn’t eliminate health insurance for almost 2,000 workers?
100
@Ria Wait, do you honestly think they would rather have health insurance than the comforting knowledge their boss has over $100 billion to spend on his new girl?
8
I like Bill Gates better. At least, he does useful stuff with his money.
100
@The Realist -- Rather than pay taxes, you mean. Stuff he does doesn't begin to make up for the tax he doesn't pay. You've been bought off by his "philanthropy."
11
Apart from his love of for-profit schools, maybe.
3
@SR But he has vowed to offset all the carbon his company has ever emitted and then decrease emissions. That, if he goes through with it, is massive.
3
Curious if he is smooching her cheek or whispering in her ear?
1
It would send quite the message, wouldn't it, if an important journalist working for you were murdered? Murdered by a government that is obscenely chummy with donald trump. Taking into account trumps known penchant for vengeance. There is not one single disgusting thing in the world that I would not put past trump.
29
@Chris - just stop. There is zero evidence that Trump had anything to do with the murder of the journalist. ZERO. Stop with the crazy conspiracy theories. STOP.
1
@DRS Not one person on this earth has earned being the focus of conspiracy theories more than trump has!
6
The United States is a plutocracy, whether it’s Buffet or Trump, Bezos or Gates. Capitalism ensures, for good or ill, that the top dog eats first, all eyes on him. As a feminist, I still say him, as this sad narrative of the male mid life crisis just keeps repeating. Of course the tabloids love Bezos: rich, white, powerful male lives large life. The ONLY shocking thing was how he stayed off the radar for so long, being the plutocrat he is.
32
Anabolic steroids will do that to a man's brain. I liked him better when he was just a super brainy, skinny nerd intent on conquering the world.
He has always had a huge ego, but back in the day it was funnelled into a relentless drive to succeed. Once he succeeded, it seems that he needed a new challenge to feed his ravenous ego.
Transforming himself from skinny nerd to manly man seems to have been the path he chose, much to his own detriment. Sad to see.
Narcissism is an extremely powerful force. Sometimes for good. More often, for evil.
78
Could this tank the global economy?
3
I vote we bring back Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous! But call it "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous: Gilded Age II"!
There are just ton's and ton's of privileged 1%ers acting rich, talking down the poor (if Jesus loved them they's be rich like me!), with quotes like "I don't know why poor people are so upset. I mean, I got mine! Dad and mom left me millions so deal with it, losers!". "Tax cuts are good! I got mine from The Greatest President of All Time (for rich people that is!)"
Huge boats, Ferraris, NYC penthouses! Wooopee!
17
@Mike But who will replace Robin Leach?
2
Classic (late) midlife crisis. Trainer, (testosterone injections?), skincare system, hipper clothes, unaltered wife traded in for a surgically enhanced model. Kinda pathetic.
170
@sealow
Hey - at least she's not 19, right? Hooray for low expectations.
19
@sealow
Actually, if you look at photos of his former wife you will see that she, for whatever reason, seems to have gone down a path of physical reconstitution similar to her husband prior to their divorce.
Photos from 10 years ago show a tall, relatively flat chested, slender but completely natural appearing woman.
Photos taken shortly before their divorce show that she had lost most of her subcutaneous fat, resulting in an almost cachectic body habitus, but had simultaneously bulked up her upper body musculature, as if she was doing weight training of some kind. And she was sporting a new breast job (not huge and not particularly well done, to be honest.)
Her physical changes seem to have occurred at around the same time that her husband's did.
Not sure if she followed this path to fulfill her own desires or if this was, perhaps, an attempt on her part to remain attractive to her husband, who made his own desires clear to her. Tabloid stuff, indeed.
13
The business page of the print edition featuring this story makes any tabloid look tame. Not to mention the gushing NYTimes Magazine story a while back that had a "superhero" photo of Bezos posing in his office. The pot calling the kettle black.
7
Let's be real. Watching a mid-life crisis makes me embarrassed for him. The social climber gf, the pumped up look -- please, no. I have great interest in other aspects of his life, however. The Saudi prince is out of control and it's great to see him face someone richer, more powerful and oh, sane. The Post is a fantastic REAL news source and we should all be grateful for his ownership. Underneath that open shirt and pumped up chest is a basically good man, I think. The world needs more of the good to get rid of the trash that is thriving in Trump times.
52
Seems like a decent guy, but age and the attention of a new woman, combined with absolutely zero financial concerns took him out of himself. When you can have whatever you want, it must be hard to say no.
30
Totally playing to type. Loads of men of lesser wealth do precisely the same thing: dump the longtime wife for someone flashier, restyle themselves, start living large. I’m disappointed that Bezos is so — for lack of a better word — boringly average. Even those photos of his happy John Thomas that he was dumb enough to send out. Eye rolling beyond belief. If the richest man in the world acts like a besotted schoolboy who has finally achieved BMOC status, what hope is there for the gender?
As a woman and a longtime wife, I look at this situation and see all too clearly the life that Lauren Sanchez has (carefully, methodically) arranged for herself. I don’t blame her for wanting all that glitter and gold. Who wouldn’t? But I do blame Jeff a Bezos for being such an easy target. He is being led by the nose.
117
@Passion for Peaches I largely agree with your comment, but I don't understand why you blame him, but not her. Please explain.
4
All the people in this article have something in common and it isn't just loads of money.
10
In the words of Max Bialystock, if you've got it, flaunt it.
2
@Observor Well, he ended up in prison, so there's that..
9
He's going to fall off the tabloid pages fast if he doesn't pull another trade-in soon!
5
If Bezos were to really make a difference that would benefit the country as a whole, he'd buy up Fox "news" and turn it into a real news resource instead of the right-wing propaganda show it currently is.
149
@NativeSon He did that with the Washington Post. He does more indirectly - and perhaps more powerfully - with Amazon and all of the aspects of commerce and information that Amazon touches.
2
@NativeSon
Yes it would be great if he bought MSNBC and turned into a nonpartisan news channel. Great idea.
6
@NativeSon do you think that Fox News would disappear if it got bought out? It's full of content tailor-made to an audience that would migrate to another platform if it were bought out. There would be benefit in dispersing the audience, but it would be a poor business decision.
7
Just like clockwork. Jeff's just having his mid-life crisis. Eventually he'll settle back down.
27
I think he's finally paid for the mid-life crisis he had sitting in his shopping cart.
86
Is there any possibility that Trump could have put MBS up to it? "But I want you to do us a favor, though."
25
@Hydra Anyone that DOESN'T think trump had a hand in it is just really, really dim. trumps vindictive nature is legend.
8
Not as juicy as the enquirer but maybe more interesting. Rich capitalists are rich capitalists whether they be liberal Democrats or punishing republicans. They have their own yachts and jets and trade their old wives in for sexy young ones. I’m so glad I’m just a humble, middle class human being.
8
Let the guy enjoy himself, if indeed these activities do bring joy to him. I mean he'll be dead in 30 or so years; hence, live.
10
I can't blame the guy for smelling the roses. He has transformed shopping and has become the defacto way to buy things. I am far from an enviromental zealot but I was thinking about how the convenience of buying a single bottle of vitaimns which i have done and the impact that has on the enviroment. Multiply my lazy and seflfish action times a billion and that is a problem.
27
This evil man and woman abuser needs to be paying taxes. He has closed lots of malls down in America and raised rents so high where ever he brings his business i will never purchase from him. His warehouses are going to have no human stock workers he is putting in only robots. That should anger many Americans as we won’t have a future.
23
@D.j.j.k. - "Evil man and woman abuser"?
Nonsense.
Surely you mean Donald Trump...
14
@D.j.j.k. The irony may be that many of these Americans who should be angry are probably buying stuff at Amazon as comment on here!
2
Who actually cares? We elected a Philanderer-in-Chief as president — for all of his money, Bezos is still a blip on America's radar.
10
This man deserves his privacy just like the rest of us. What he allegedly did and his personal life are his own business.
28
Big tech tracking our lives is very, very creepy. More disturbing are the discussions I have with my students who do not see the big eye tracking their ever digital move as problematic.
22
Truisms are truisms for a reason.... Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
It makes you appreciate people like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates even more.
80
I find this story a little depressing. Pretty sure I’d rather hang out with MacKenzie Jeff than Lauren Jeff, but then, I guess I’ll never be a “style icon.”
40
Neither will Lauren- be a style icon that is. Maybe a permanent guest star on Botched.
8
@Ally H
I think a "Real Housewife" is probably more her niche....
6
All the public really knows about Jeff Bezos is that he's successful in business, and he had an affair. None of that defines a character. We never knew him in the first place, so who is to say that he's changed? The only thing that's changed here is the intensity of the media glare surrounding him. To that we must attribute the arrival of a pretty girlfriend and the hacking of a phone. But for the rest of us, Jeff Bezos remains as unknowable as Charles Foster Kane.
50
@Susan G.,
You summed it up well.Did show some guts in an embarrassing position.His future has it’s adversaries to deal with,the Prince,Individual One and Sanchez’s brother plus being the owner of Amazon and Washington Post.
5
@Susan G. I suspect Mr. Bezos isn't a fraction as interesting as Citizen Kane.
3
I think Mr. Bezos is out of his true character. He is brilliant and that has gotten away with him. I would rather see him making headlines through acts of social responsibility.
101
@Ostinato
Or at least paying his vast pool of contract labor a little bit better.
21
@Gabby K And giving them proper toilet breaks.
2
It’s nearly impossible to imagine what daily life and influences must be like for someone with such unlimited resources must be like. Add middle-age panic and you might get... exactly what we’re seeing.
83
I think Mr. Bezos is getting played by Ms. Sanchez. It’s like he’s trying to be cool, but a little bit too hard.
81
Why will you play the woman playing him card?
I think Mr. Bezos is by all accounts a pretty stable genius in a non-trumpian way, regardless of what anybody might think of moguls and business empires.
It is obvious that he is in love and he acts like somebody who is in love, good for him.
18
Too hard? Doubt it.