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Introduction
Jeffrey Preston Bezos (born January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.) is an American entrepreneur who played a key role in the growth of e-commerce as the founder and chief executive officer of Amazon.com, an online retailer. He had a net worth of more than $198 Billion as of 29/4/24.
Career and Amazon
Following his 1986 graduation, he started at Fitel, focusing on building international trade networks and rising to lead development and customer service. He later shifted to banking as a product manager at Bankers Trust from 1988 to 1990. He then joined D. E. Shaw & Co until 1994, where he became company's fourth senior vice-president by age 30.
In spring 1994, Bezos, inspired by web usage growth (2300% annually), decided to create an online bookstore.
With his then-wife, MacKenzie Scott, they left D. E. Shaw, and on July 5, 1994, founded Amazon in a rented garage in Bellevue, Washington, after drafting its business plan during a cross-country drive from New York City to Seattle.
They were selling books in every U.S. state and 45 countries on their first day. With Bezos leading and Scott actively involved in operations, handling finances and negotiations, the groundwork was set for Amazon's rapid expansion.
Initially dubbed Cadabra, Bezos renamed his venture Amazon, partly influenced by the alphabet's order. This is because he aimed to place the company at the forefront of online searches, as websites were often listed alphabetically back then.
Amazon is now one of the largest American technology companies in the world and has a strong foothold in many markets including e-commerce, cloud computing, content streaming, and more. Bezos also founded a spaceflight company, Blue Origin, in 2000 and also bought The Washington Post for $250 million in 2013.
Personal Life
During his time at D. E. Shaw in Manhattan in 1992, Bezos met novelist MacKenzie Tuttle, then a research associate at the firm; they married a year later. In 1994, the couple relocated to Seattle, where Bezos launched Amazon. Together, they have four children: three sons and a daughter adopted rom China.
In January 2019, Bezos and his wife MacKenzie announced their divorce after 25 years. Following this, National Enquirer revealed that Bezos had an affair with media personality Lauren Sánchez; which had lasted for months.
Bezos later released an online essay on February 7, 2019, alleging that David Pecker, the owner of American Media, Inc., engaged in "extortion and blackmail." This was in response to Pecker's threat of publishing intimate photos of Bezos and his girlfriend, Lauren Sánchez, if Bezos did not halt his inquiry into the leak of his text messages and other images to the National Enquirer.
The divorce was concluded on April 4, 2019, with Bezos retaining 75% of the couple's Amazon stock and MacKenzie receiving the remaining 25%, valued at $35.6 billion. Bezos also retained all of the couple's voting rights. On May 22, 2023, Bezos and Sánchez announced their engagement.
Interesting Facts
At the time of Jeff's birth, his mother was a 17-year-old high-school student and his father was 19 years old. His biological father drank and struggled financially and they divorced when Jeff was 17 months old.
At 16, Jeff Bezos began his employment at McDonald’s for a summer job. Bezos credits this experience with enhancing his sense of responsibility and ability to handle pressure. It also sparked his interest in service automation, customer service, and managing employees.
He accepted an estimated $300,000 from his parents as an investment in Amazon and also warned many early investors that there was a 70% chance that Amazon would fail or go bankrupt.
Bezos was an early investor in Google, putting in $250,000 in 1998. This investment translated into 3.3 million shares of Google stock, valued at approximately $3.1 billion by 2017.
Despite being worth $10 billion in 1999, Bezos drove a 1996 Honda Accord.
In 1999, Bezos received his first major award when Time named him Person of the Year.
In September 2000, Bezos founded Blue Origin, a human spaceflight startup. The 18-year-old Bezos in his 1982 high school valedictorian senior graduation speech stated that he wanted to preserve Earth from overuse through resource depletion.
In late 2002, Amazon faced financial strain due to excessive spending amid stagnant revenues and nearly went bankrupt. Bezos responded by shutting down distribution centers and cutting 14% of the Amazon workforce.
Bezos does not schedule early morning meetings and enforces a two-pizza rule—a preference that meetings are small enough for two pizzas to feed everyone in the boardroom.
Bezos maintains the email address jeff@amazon.com as an outlet for customers to reach out to him and the company.
Bezos owns the Y721, the world's largest superyacht, valued at over $500 million.
In March 2003, Bezos was in a helicopter crash in West Texas while scouting land for Blue Origin. He suffered minor injuries and was released from the hospital the same day.
In 2014, Amazon won a bid for a cloud computing contract with the CIA valued at $600 million.
In March 2019, Bezos's security consultant alleged that the Saudi government had hacked Bezos's phone. This was accomplished through a malicious file concealed within a video sent via a WhatsApp message to Bezos from the personal account of the crown prince on May 1, 2018.
Bezos used a door as his desk during the early years of Amazon to save money, as doors were more affordable. Over time door desks came to become a symbol of frugality at Amazon.
He prohibited the use of Microsoft PowerPoint during executive meetings at Amazon, opting instead for a six-page memo to be reviewed and discussed. He believes this forces clear thinking and considers it one of the best decisions they’ve made at Amazon.
Jeff Bezos maintained a consistent annual salary of $81,840 at Amazon for more than 20 years, equivalent to a typical middle-class American income.
Bezos fulfilled his childhood dream of going to space on July 20, 2021, aboard a Blue Origin rocket.
Jeff Bezos has invested more than $30 million in the transportation company Uber.
Jeff Bezos became a millionaire at the age of 33 and a billionaire at the age of 35.