This Is Lauren Sanchez's Net Worth – And How She Made Her Money
All eyes are on Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez as they enjoy their lavish nuptials in Venice. Dubbed the 'wedding of the century' for its starry guest list and the vast cost of the festivities, the Amazon founder and his TV journalist fiancée will be joined by their families and friends from the worlds of politics, Hollywood and business – including US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, with actor Leonardo DiCaprio and fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg also rumoured to be in attendance – for three days of wedding celebrations.
While much is known of Jeff's billionaire status, less is known about Lauren, who has also amassed a fortune of her own and is said to be a millionaire. Here's everything we know about Lauren and her net worth…
Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos ©Taylor Hill/FilmMagic
Despite being with the world's richest man, Lauren – who's best known for her TV career – has a considerable amount of money in the bank. The former news presenter has an estimated net worth of £30 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Lauren is thought to have made her money from her TV career, her aerial production company, book sales and public speaking engagements. She and Jeff also have an impressive property portfolio, including a $165 million estate in Beverly Hills, $78 million Hawaiian retreat and $23 million mansion in Washington, DC.
Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Lauren, 55, has always had big ambitions. After struggling at school due to her dyslexia, she pursued broadcast journalism at the University of Southern California. After graduating, she began her TV career, reporting for a local news station in Phoenix before moving to Los Angeles, where she joined KCOP-TV, now known as Fox 11 Plus. After that, she got a job at Fox Sports Net, presenting Fox Sports New Primetime, where she earned an Emmy nomination.
When she returned to KCOP-TV, she worked on shows including Good Day LA, Fox 11 News At Ten and entertainment programme Extra. Lauren became the original host of Fox's dancing competition So You Think You Can Dance in 2005, but that was short-lived. She also founded Pursuit Productions with Dan Friedkin, where they develop films and documentaries.
Lauren's dreams of becoming a pilot came true in 2016, when she was 40. After learning to fly a helicopter and getting her pilot's license, Lauren – whose dad worked as a flight instructor and mechanic who helped rebuild planes – founded Black Ops Aviation, the first female-owned aerial film and production company which provided aerial filming services for TV and film projects. Amongst their projects are Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk and Miss Bala.
'I want to be in a helicopter all the time. Life can be so chaotic with so much going on. Lift off and you're in an energy space that no one else is in. It's calming,' she said of flying. 'When I'm up there, I'm completely satisfied. I'm like, 'This is where I need to be'.'
Lauren published children's book The Fly Who Flew To Space, inspired by her own struggles with dyslexia, in 2024, which has helped to boost her fortunes.
Shereen Low is a senior news and entertainment writer for Grazia UK, who has covered some of the biggest showbiz news from the past decade.
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Telegraph
41 minutes ago
- Telegraph
What's wrong with a £30 million wedding? Bezos has done Venice a favour
One gathers from insiders, business journalists and whistleblowers that Amazon offers a workplace that is, shall we say, challenging at best. The company's culture is, of course, that bestowed by its CEO Jeff Bezos, one of the richest men in the world. Bezos and MacKenzie Scott, an intelligent, impressive and decent-seeming woman – who helped Bezos found Amazon – divorced as he pursued his affair with TV anchor Lauren Sanchez, a busty Latina known for her vaulting ambition and enormous personality. The Amazon CEO is a changed man with Sanchez: he's got himself a decent set of abs and a new wardrobe. The pair canoodles constantly in public, showing the world their love (and lust). The weekend saw them host a foam party aboard Bezos's yacht moored off Croatia. It was allegedly for Sanchez's son's birthday, but that didn't stop the lip-locked pair stealing the attention with their own lustful antics. Their €48 million wedding this week in Venice reflects their outsize passion. Due to take place at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, a 16th-century compound in the centre, it has attracted all the loathing and disruption you might imagine. Protesters from a group called No Space for Bezos threatened to fill the canal with inflatable crocodiles and thus block arriving guests. As Tommaso Cacciari, a member of the No Space for Bezos protest group, put it: ' This is a big victory for us. Who would have thought that we could change the plans of one of the richest men on the planet? ' The victory is limited, however, with the ceremony merely moved to the Arsenale, an even more glorious venue, and one with crenelated walls and a drawbridge that will be better at keeping protesters out. Venice Marco Polo is a traffic jam of private jets. Guests from Diane von Furstenberg to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have already arrived, looking hot (as in sweaty). Of course one can sympathise with the natural antipathy many feel towards a wedding like this. Bezos is not a likeable character, the wedding is hardly a fairytale sort of romance, and at a moment of extreme income inequality, Amazon's evasive tax practices, while legal, do sit badly. Even so, Bezos is absolutely within his rights to take over Venice for his nuptials in as vulgar and showy a way as he chooses. Yes, the cost of the week's celebrations alone could save many lives less fortunate, but tough cheese. It's his money and he can do with it as he pleases. Indeed, those against the wedding are simply falling prey to the old European antipathy to wealth, especially American wealth, a hatred so extreme that many in the bloc are willing to be the poorer for it. Spain's anti-tourism antics, which include cracking down on Airbnb and second homes, show as much. The truth is that Venice, like most Mediterranean cities, would be completely lost without its income from foreigners, the wealthier the better. The main home-grown economy now is tourism and the money that people spend on hotels and everything else when in town for the film festival, the Biennale, and of course the holidays is their lifeline; the Covid lockdown nearly ruined Italy by keeping tourists out and restaurants partially shut. Venice's own costs are precipitously rising due to the rising sea level. It is the most expensive city on earth to renovate. Bezos's wedding will provide much-needed cash to the city and locals alike.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos mocked over 'cringe' wedding invitation that 'looks like it was made by a 10-year-old'
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez are tying the knot this week in Venice, Italy, during what's expected to be a lavish, multi-day celebration. It's believed their wedding will be attended by a slew of Hollywood stars, business moguls, and political figures. And while the nuptials - which will reportedly be attended by some 200 guests - are set to be a luxe experience, one element has been criticised. A copy of part of an invitation that was sent out by the couple has been obtained by ABC News, with some saying it looks like it could have been made by a 10-year-old. The document, which is decorated with whimsical cartoon images says: 'We're excited for you to join us! We have one early request: please, no gifts The invitationalso features what appear to be computer-generated §designs of butterflies, doves, the Venice canals, gondolas, and feathers in purple, gray and pink-hues. It adds: 'Instead, we're making contributions in your honor and with gratitude to you for making the journey to celebrate with us in Venice. 'Donations on your behalf are being made to the UNESCO Venice Office to safeguard the city's irreplaceable cultural heritage, to CORILA to restore the lagoon habitats that protect Venice's future, and to Venice International University to support research and education for sustainable solutions.' The document continues: 'This magical place has gifted us unforgettable memories. 'Our hope is that through these efforts and by you joining us, Venice will continue to inspire wonder for generations to come.' Despite the invitation's positive message, many were critical of the design - with some saying it looked cheap. One commentator said: 'Was the invitation made in microsoft paint?' Another agreed, adding: 'Wow what an ugly announcement/invitation. With all the money he has they could have at least done something pretty and classy.' In a similar vein, a third wrote: 'What in the Microsoft Paint is this? They couldn't afford an illustrator?' 'Did chat GPT make the invite?' another asked. 'Wow! Did they just send an evite for their multi million dollar wedding?' asked another. One strongly worded criticism said: 'That invite is atrocious. Onviously, money can't buy taste or class.' 'Canva for the win,' a further X (former Twitter) user joked. Another social media user wrote: 'Why does it look so goofy?' And another added: 'when you're one of the richest people on the planet but can't afford a Canva Premium template for your wedding invite.' The couple have caused some controversy by holding their wedding in Venice - something that was highlighted in the invitation's note that the couple would be making donations to 'the UNESCO Venice Office to safeguard the city's irreplaceable cultural heritage, to CORILA to restore the lagoon habitats that protect Venice's future, and to Venice International University to support research and education for sustainable solutions'. Despite this, their arrival in Venice has been far from smooth sailing and the couple is being plagued by protesters who are furious the needs of local residents are allegedly being sidelined to make way for wealthy tourists. Bezos is worth around $224.6 billion and is thought to be spending tens of millions on his wedding. 'If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax,' one gigantic banner read in St. Mark's Square. Greenpeace and the UK-based collective Everyone Hates Elon have joined protests in Venice attempting to disrupt, or even prevent, the planned wedding celebrations of Amazon founder Bezos this week. 'Jeff Bezos is the second-richest man in the world yet is reported to pay a 1.1 percent true tax rate,' the two groups said in a joint statement. 'The multi-million-dollar wedding is reportedly happening over three days, with the wedding ring alone worth as much as $5million.' A spokesperson from Everyone Hates Elon said: 'As governments talk about hard choices and struggle to fund public services, Jeff Bezos can afford to shut down half a city for days on end just to get married.' However, Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro and regional governor Luca Zaia have spoken out in favour of the nuptials, which have been dubbed, 'the wedding of the century,' pointing out that the celebrations are expected to bring $23-34million to local businesses. 'This is a city that handles 150,000 people a day,' Zaia told Italian daily Corriere della Sera. 'George Clooney, François-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek, Alexandre Arnault, Elton John and many others got married here.' Bezos has also pledged to make sizable charity donations, including $1.16million to Corila - an academic consortium dedicated to studying Venice's lagoon ecosystem - according to Corriere della Sera and Italy's ANSA news agency.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Congrats to Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez on the wedding – and to Venice for running them out of town
There are so many questions swirling around the forthcoming wedding of Jeff Bezos to Lauren Sánchez this weekend – for instance, who in their right mind books Venice in high summer? Why isn't Katy Perry going? And how is Eva Longoria still on every guest list, despite not having been famous since 2012? – but the one I keep sticking on in this: as the world's third richest man, Bezos could, we assume, charm almost any woman on the planet into some sort of marital arrangement with him. In which case, and with all due respect, why Sánchez? I don't mean this to be as rude at it sounds. Lauren Sánchez, a 55-year-old former TV presenter and licensed pilot, is, I'm sure, funny and clever and up there with Peter Ustinov as a great dinner party guest. Her betrothed, on the other hand, doesn't appear to be a man comfortable with making anything but the most obvious choices. Bezos got rich, built a rocket, and turned himself from a weedy tech nerd into a comic-book Mr Universe so that these days he looks like a man wearing an Amazon cardboard box under his polo shirt. That this person would choose not only a woman a mere six years younger than himself but one who, stylistically speaking, edges closer every year to the Jocelyne Wildenstein school of bizarre beautification speaks either to the loveliness of a genuine soul match or something else altogether. By which I mean: the strange aesthetic that many women inside the Maga world seem enthusiastically to have taken up as the norm. If there is a Maga look for women it is the one exemplified not only by Sánchez but by Kristi Noem, the head of Homeland Security mockingly nicknamed ICE Barbie for her combination of pageant-style looks and heavy-handed immigration policing, and by Melania Trump, whose eyes are creeping slowly but inexorably up the sides of her temples in what is informally known as 'Mar-a-Lago' face. What's odd about this style isn't that it's augmented, but that it's an aesthetic which seems deliberately to draw attention to its own artificiality in a way that, in other contexts, might be referred to as 'bad work'. People with money can make poor choices about cosmetic surgery too, of course, but the uniformity of this particular look – so heavy on the filler, silicone and Botox as to make its wearers seem not younger, but weirder, and in a state of constant discomfort – suggests something closer to design. If you were the type of person to make liberal references to The Handmaid's Tale, you might even speculate that this aesthetic has been tailored by the world's richest men to symbolise just how completely – almost derisively – they can control the bodies of the women around them. But let's focus on the wedding, which has provided us this week with welcome respite from the news from Iran, with the spectacle of a man worth $223bn being frightened off by the threat of angry locals coming at him with pool floats. The wedding on Saturday was originally planned to take place in the centre of Venice at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, a 16th-century meeting hall surrounded by canals, raising the spectacle of notable guests including Oprah, the Kardashians and Ivanka Trump arriving on public waterways via open-air taxi. It is safe to say the Venetians weren't happy. After a group called No Space for Bezos lightly threatened to disrupt the guests' arrival with inflatable alligators, Bezos changed venues to a less accessible hall outside the centre. (It should be noted that No Space for Bezos is not the same as Everyone Hates Elon, a different but equally energised group that unfurled a huge banner in the Piazza San Marco bearing the legend, 'If you can rent Venice for your wedding then you can pay more tax.' Let's hope Mark Zuckerberg, who will reportedly be at the wedding, gets his own bespoke group along these lines.) 'We are very proud of this!' said Tommaso Cacciari, No Space for Bezos's spokesperson, to the BBC on Tuesday. 'We are nobodies, we have no money, nothing!' Meanwhile, protest groups including Greenpeace are still planning on demonstrating in the city centre on Saturday to draw attention to the obscenity of a projected 90-odd private jets flying in for the event. As for Bezos and Sánchez, let's end on a gracious note and wish them all the happiness in the world as they marry in a city that doesn't want them, in front of 200 people who don't know them, in a celebration of money over sense. Hurrah! Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist
