Venice’s Bezos-Sanchez wedding attracted some of the world’s wealthiest people

CNN
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A large sum of riches descended upon Venice, Italy, over the last few days for the lavish wedding of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez.

Opulence has been on full display as some of the famous attendees arrived at the canal city by private planes, helicopters and yachts before they were whisked away on water taxis to ferry them to the festivities. Pinpointing the combined wealth of this closely guarded guest list would be a painstaking and exhausting exercise but an estimate of their total net worth would likely be in the neighborhood of $435 billion.

Much of the total wealth can be attributed to the groom. Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the third richest man in the world, is estimated to be worth about $244 billion, according to Bloomberg’s billionaire index.

But the wedding guests also boast sizable fortunes. Trailing not too far behind Bezos is Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who is listed at No. 5 on Bloomberg’s list at $178 billion.

Absent from Bezos’ wedding were the top two richest people in the world: Tesla CEO Elon Musk ($367 billion) and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg ($258 billion). In fact, Gates is the only confirmed wedding guest who cracks Bloomberg’s list of the 500 richest people.

Coming in well behind Bezos and Gates are two media moguls who have dropped off Bloomberg’s billionaire index: Barry Diller and Oprah Winfrey.

Bloomberg estimates that Diller is worth almost $6 billion, which is under the $6.88 billion net worth of the No. 500 person on Bloomberg’s list. In 2018, Winfrey was listed at No. 494 on the Bloomberg Billionaire Index at $4 billion. Winfrey is currently estimated to be worth north of $3 billion.

Of the 200 or so confirmed guests, none boast the portfolios of Bezos, Gates, Diller and Winfrey, but there is still plenty of wealth to go around. The closely guarded guest list includes tech leaders, pop stars, media personalities, actors and athletes.

Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, is in Venice for the Bezos-Sanchez wedding. Altman was reportedly worth at least $2 billion in March 2024, according to Bloomberg. That figure did not include Altman’s stake in OpenAI, which Bloomberg reported in April finalized a $40 billion funding round, valuing the company at $300 billion.

Also in attendance is Kim Kardashian, who is estimated to be worth $1.7 billion, according to Forbes. She was in Venice alongside sisters Khloe Kardashian, Kendall and Kylie Jenner and their mother Kris Jenner. While the family’s reality TV show pushed Kim Kardashian further into the public eye, her shapewear company Skims, which is believed to be valued at $4 billion as of July 2023, is believed to be a major source of her wealth.

Kylie Jenner became a billionaire in 2019 after her beauty brand, Kylie Cosmetics, entered a partnership with Ulta Beauty, with Bloomberg reporting at the time that Jenner was worth $1.02 billion.

Also in attendance were Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Kushner, a former top adviser to his father-in-law President Donald Trump, launched investment company Affinity Partners in 2021 with assets under management jumping to $4.8 billion in 2024, according to a regulatory filing. Forbes estimated last November that Kushner’s net worth was at least $900 million.

Several other attendees boast a hefty net worth, including former NFL quarterback and current broadcaster Tom Brady ($512 million), according to Forbes. Leonardo DiCaprio, who was one of 2023’s highest paid actors ($41 million), according to Forbes, and R&B singer Usher, who headlined the 2024 Super Bowl halftime show, were also in attendance.

Other attendees include CBS broadcast journalist Gayle King, actor Orlando Bloom and actress Sydney Sweeney.