Jeff Bezos has spent hundreds of millions of dollars buying his way into one of Miami’s most exclusive neighborhoods. But even the founder of Amazon, which sits atop the Fortune 500, has yet to squeeze his way into the private club at the center of it.
Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sanchez Bezos, remain outside the membership rolls of Indian Creek Country Club, an invitation-only club on Indian Creek Island—the ultrawealthy Miami enclave commonly known as the “Billionaire Bunker.” Bezos owns three properties on the island that he purchased for a combined $234 million, according to public records.
The buying spree began in 2023, when he paid $68 million for a property on the island. He later bought the roughly 19,000-square foot home next door for $79 million and added a third property in 2024 for $87 million. The purchases have made Bezos one of the most prominent newcomers to an enclave built around privacy, security and extreme wealth.
Indian Creek Village, which is separate from the club, is an incorporated municipality on a roughly 300-acre island accessible by gated bridge or boat. It maintains its own police force, and the vast majority of the island’s land belongs to the country club.
But owning property there does not make someone a member of the Indian Creek Country Club.
That distinction became particularly clear this year. Bezos and Sanchez Bezos attended the club’s annual dock party in February as special guests, according to the Wall Street Journal. Bezos mingled with members at the party, including real-estate executive Richard LeFrak and businessman Eddie Lampert, the report said.
People who attended the event told the Journal Bezos was using the gathering as an opportunity to meet members and improve his prospects of being admitted.
Six months later, however, he is still not a member of the club.
Jeff Bezos and Indian Creek Country Club did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Fortune.
Being rich isn’t enough
Indian Creek Country Club was founded in 1929 and is centered around an 18-hole golf course, clubhouse and other private amenities. The club has roughly 350 members and has historically attracted doctors, attorneys, financiers, real-estate developers, entrepreneurs and other prominent South Florida figures.
People connected to the club told WSJ the initiation fee is close to $1 million, with annual dues of about $44,000. Applicants need sponsorship from two existing members and letters of recommendation from five others before being considered by a six-person membership committee. Nominees then go before a 15-member board for a vote.
But admission requires more than arriving with a nine-figure property portfolio and a globally recognizable name.
The Journal reported the club’s longtime members are wary of wealthy newcomers who could change the character of the community. It describes a clash between an established “old guard” and a newer generation of billionaires moving into South Florida.
The club’s exclusivity has also put Bezos in company with several other extraordinarily wealthy people who have not managed to get through the gates. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump—Bezos’ fellow Indian Creek residents—have not been admitted as well. Zuckerberg paid $170 million for an unfinished estate on the island after the property’s previous owner, celebrity plastic surgeon Aaron Rollins, reportedly spent years trying unsuccessfully to obtain club membership.
Kushner and Ivanka Trump have likewise spent years cultivating relationships with the community. The couple bought land on Indian Creek and later expanded their holdings. According to the Journal, Trump has played golf with members and the couple has attended club events, while Kushner has become involved in local government and efforts to address the island’s aging sewage system.
Kushner did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fortune.
Others have managed to make it inside. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon eventually secured membership after a difficult application process, according to WSJ. NFL legend Tom Brady and Jersey Mike’s Chairman Peter Cancro have also been accepted, while longtime members have included financier Carl Icahn and other prominent figures from Miami’s business and political establishment.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
