Jeff Bezo's fortune

Short introduction

Jeffrey “Jeff” Preston Bezos is a world-famous American entrepreneur and investor. He is best known for the founding of the online mail order company Amazon and is still active there as CEO. Bezos has considerable assets and is a multi-billionaire. According to Forbes magazine, with nearly $ 100 billion in assets, he is currently the richest person in the world. Jeff Bezos was married to MacKenzie Bezos from 1993 to 2019 and has a total of four children, one of whom was adopted from China. Bezos currently lives in a relationship with the presenter Lauren Sanchez.

Early life

Jeff Bezos was born in 1964 under the name of Jorgensen in the city of Albuquerque in the US state of New Mexico. His parents Jacklyn Gise Jorgensen and Ted Jorgensen divorced early after Jeff was born. Shortly after the divorce, his mother married Cuban Miguel Bezos and adopted his last name. The family of three then moved to the city of Houston, where Jeff’s stepfather Miguel started a job with the oil company Exxon. Jeffrey Bezos attended the River Oaks Elementary School in Houston before moving on to Miami. There, young Jeff graduated from Miami Palmetto Senior High School. From 1982 to 1986 he studied electrical engineering and computer science at Princeton University. Jeff completed both courses with top marks and thus earned his Bachelor of Science (B. Sc.). After his first experiences in the professional world, with the Taiwanese mobile phone company FITEL and the New York asset management companies Bankers Trust and DE Shaw & Co, Jeff, together with his then business partner David E. Shaw, came up with the idea of an online mail order for books and thus laid the foundation for that Company Amazon.

Career

In 1994 Bezos separated from its business partner Shaw and further developed the idea of online mail order for books. He founded the company Amazon.com Inc. It was important for the name of his company Bezos that the name begins with an A, the first letter of the alphabet. The name Amazon is based on the great Amazon River, the flow of which should symbolize the coming power of his own company. One year after the company was founded, Jeff invited around 300 friends and acquaintances to present his work to them. Amazon sold books to all states and 45 other countries in the first month after it was founded. As of the second month, the company was already turning $ 20,000 a week and became known to large sections of the public due to its financial success. The first country-specific websites went online in 1998, and less than a year later, total sales were over $ 1 billion. Surprisingly, Amazon was still making losses up to this point. Due to the bumpy start of the company, the losses were $ 300 million and it wasn’t until 2002 that Amazon made a profit. In 2000 Bezos founded the private space company Blue Origin. Bezos acquired the Washington Post newspaper for $ 250 million. These and other investments are managed by Bezos Expeditions.

Career highlights

As of 2012, Amazon had $ 61.1 billion in sales and the value of one share in 2013 was $ 200 per share. During his career, Bezos was awarded several prizes. Among other things, he was named “Person of the year” by Time Magazine in 1999 and “Businessman of the Year” by Fortune Magazine in 2012. In 2017 Bezos was inducted into the “Logistics Hall of Fame” and the following year he received the Springer Award.

Famous quotes

“I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out. ”
-Jeff Bezos

“There are two kinds of companies; those that work to try to charge more and those that work to charge less. One will be second. ”
-Jeff Bezos

Success tips

Jeff Bezo’s success does not come from anywhere, as one of the most successful entrepreneurs and richest person in the world he has some wisdom for success. Among other things, Bezos claims that if you act competitively instead of paying attention to what the competitor is doing and focusing instead on customer orientation, you can do pioneering work. The successful entrepreneur also has the right words ready for people who cannot tolerate criticism. Bezos explains very simply that those who cannot tolerate criticism should best not create anything new or interesting.