American entrepreneur Jeff Bezos is the founder of Amazon and space exploration company Blue Origin. His successful business ventures have made him one of the richest people in the world.
Understanding Jeff Bezos’s background, career, and rise to becoming one of the richest businessmen in the world serves to offer great insight into the possible investment opportunities in burgeoning companies similar to Amazon- one of the largest online retail providers in the world.
Early Life and Education
Jeffrey Preston Bezos, known as Jeff Bezos, was born on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to a teenage mother, Jacklyn Gise Jorgensen, and his biological father, Ted Jorgensen. The couple were married less than a year. When Bezos was 4 years old, his mother remarried Mike Bezos, a Cuban immigrant.
Bezos had an early love of computers and studied computer science and electrical engineering at Princeton University. Upon graduation, he worked on Wall Street, and in 1990, he became the youngest senior vice president at the investment firm D.E. Shaw.
Fast-forward four years later, Bezos chose to quit his lucrative job to open Amazon.com, an online bookstore that became one of the internet’s biggest success stories. He started Blue Origin in 2000 and purchased The Washington Post in 2013. In 2017, Amazon acquired Whole Foods. His successful business ventures have made him one of the richest people in the world.
Personal Life
Bezos married Mackenzie Scott Tuttle in 1993, whom he had met at D.E. Shaw. The couple announced in January 2019 that they were divorcing, and the following day the National Enquirer printed a story revealing that Bezos was having an affair with another woman.
Their divorce was finalized in July 2019 with a $38 billion settlement, which made her one of the richest people in the world. The pair we married for over 25 years, and have four children together.
Jeff Bezos decided to go public with his relationship with news anchor Lauren Sanchez in 2019. At the start of their relationship, Lauren was also getting divorced from her husband, top Hollywood agent Patrick Whitesell. Sanchez and Bezos got engaged in May 2023.
Jeff Bezos’s Notable Achievements
As an entrepreneur, Jeff Bezos believes in leveraging the same framework to solve complex decisions. He also believes that the fundamental rule to building a startup is to build a business on the foundation of things that remain constant.
Although a significant chunk of his achievements as an entrepreneur were tied to his company, Amazon, there have also been other achievements linked to different companies such as The Washington Post and Blue Origin
Amazon, the online giant started life in 1994 in Seattle, thanks largely in part to the city also being home to a major Ingram Book Group distribution warehouse. Thanks to continued expansion into many more verticals, Amazon stocks (AMZN) have a total market capitalization of more than $1.50 trillion, owning close to 50 percent of the US e-commerce market, which is close to triple of the combined shares of Apple, Walmart, and eBay.
Apart from Amazon, Washington Post, and Blue Origin, Bezos has also invested in myriad established companies and startups. They include; Nautilus Biotechnology, Inc, Sonder Holdings Inc, Domo Inc, Nextdoor Holdings, Inc, Sana Biotechnology, Inc, and Pilot.com, Inc.
Between 2017 to 2021, Jeff Bezos was the wealthiest person in the world. The performance of Amazon alongside his many other investments and initiatives has resulted in a steadily growing portfolio and subsequent net worth. As at 2024, his net worth stood at approximately $167.6 Billion.
As Jeff Bezos transitions to new ventures and initiatives beyond his role at Amazon, his legacy as a transformative figure in business will continue to inspire entrepreneurs and innovators.Â