Billionaire Jeff Bezos hit with fines over his privacy hedge in Beverly Hills

They say that good fences make good neighbours, but a hedge so high that it throws long shadows across the entire street has got Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos into trouble with the Beverly Hills local authority in Los Angeles.

The huge hedge towers more than six metres into the air, is thick and dense, making it impossible for prying paparazzi eyes to catch a glimpse of Jeff and Lauren Bezos, who were married a few months ago in a lavish ceremony in Venice.

"The New York Times" reports that the hedge was already there when Bezos bought the $165 million mansion from music mogul David Geffen in 2020, but no one is too sure how it has become so tall.

It reports that Beverly Hills' regulations cap fences and hedges at 3.5 feet (1.5 metres) and that Bezos has to pay a monthly fine of $1 000.

These rules are designed to preserve property views by limiting how tall such barriers can be.

"Architectural Digest" reported that he 10-acre compound was constructed in 1937 by Warner Bros. movie mogul Jack Warner as a Georgian-style mansion, and is still referred to as Warner Estate.

Bezos reportedly has a property portfolio worth $500 million, including properties in New York, Hawaii, Malibu, Texas and Florida.

Reddit readers had lots to say about the shady shrubbery, with many taking Bezos' side.

One post reads: "And also like, can we really say any of us would do anything different? Especially something like this. If I’m a billionaire and I want a big privacy hedge, the city says no, my next question is 'how much is the fine?'”

Another made light of the situation, posting: "You’d need a separate budget to care for a hedge that big… a ‘hedge fund’ so to speak."

Many were of the view that fines should be proportional to your wealth, arguing that this might force Bezos to trim his hedge back, while others liked that it was a living structure that is visually more pleasing than a concrete or brick wall.