Jeff Bezos is one of the world’s leading technology entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. He is an exceptional business tycoon who contributed greatly to the growth of e-commerce and majorly known as the founder and CEO of Amazon (since late 1994).
Under his guidance, Amazon, which first started as an online merchant of books and later added a wide variety of products and services, became the largest retailer on the World and a model for Internet sales.
Besides Amazon, Jeff Bezos has expanded his business interests and founded aerospace company Blue Origin in 2000. A company that plans to begin commercial suborbital human spaceflight in 2019.
In 2013, the billionaire purchased The Washington Post for a reported whopping sum of US$250 million, in cash. Bezos was named the world’s wealthiest person on July 27, 2017, and by July 2018, Forbes named him the ‘world’s richest man in modern history.’
Jeff Bezos Biography
Jeffrey Preston Bezos was born January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. as the son of Jacklyn Gise and Ted Jorgensen, a native of Chicago, Illinois. His mother was a 17-year-old high school student at the time of his birth and his father was a bike shop owner. After the divorce of his parents, 4-year-old Jorgensen (now Jeff Bezos) was adopted by his stepfather Miguel “Mike” Bezos, a Cuban immigrant whom his mother remarried in April 1968.
Bezos quickly adapted to a new when the family moved to Houston, Texas, where his stepfather Mike worked as an engineer for Exxon and where he was enrolled into River Oaks Elementary School from 4th to 6th grade.
Jeff Bezos attended Miami Palmetto Senior High School; got admitted into Princeton University where graduated in 1986 with a 4.2 GPA and Bsc. in electrical engineering and computer science. While at Princeton, Bezos was the president of the Princeton chapter of the SEDS, as well as elected to Tau Beta Pi.
He accepted a series of jobs before joining the New York investment bank D.E. Shaw & Co. in 1990. Soon he was named the firm’s senior vice president the youngest person to hold the position, at the age of 30. Bezos was responsible for examining the investment possibilities of the Internet and because of his enormous potential, the Web usage of the firm grew by more than 2,000 percent a year which sparked his entrepreneurial imagination.
In 1994 he quit D.E. Shaw and relocate to Seattle, Washington where he opened a virtual bookstore where he worked from his garage with a handful of employees. They began to develop software for the site business which is named after the South American river Amazon and the business sold its first book in July 1995.
Bezos strong desire to make a difference with a clear vision and his transformational mindset made Amazon to quickly became the leading e-commerce that runs 24/7 with super user-friendly features that encourage browsers to post their own reviews of books. It also offered discounts, personalized recommendations, and searches for out-of-print books.
In June 1998 Amazon began selling CDs, and later that year it added videos to its numerous products. The following year, Bezos added auctions to the site and invested in other virtual stores as he continues to grow and diversifies his business.
Net Worth
jeff Bezos net worth is estimated at $151 billion as of 2019. He briefly surpassed Microsoft founder Bill Gates in July 2017, to become the richest person in the world before dropping back to No. 2 but later reclaimed the top spot in October same year, and by January 2018, his net worth peaked at $105.1 billion.
Two months later, Bezos net worth skyrocketed to $127 billion, which is equal to the combined wealth of 2.3 million average Americans and continued his surge to $150 billion in mid-July 2018, making him the “richest man in modern history,” according to Forbes wealth index.
His wealth may have been reduced following his divorce with ex-wife Mackenzie Tuttle April 4, 2019, after 25 years of marriage with four children; three sons and their adopted daughter adopted from China. But Bezos retain the position as world’s richest in 2019.
The couple made headlines when they announced their divorce on January 9, 2019, via Twitter, after a long period of separation. After their separation became official on April 4, 2019, Bezos kept 75% of Amazon stock while his ex-wife Mackenzie gets 25% ($35.6 billion) of the company’s stock.
Bezos will also retain both his and his ex’s voting rights.
Jeff Bezos Houses
Jeff Bezos and his ex-wife own at least six houses across the U.S worth millions. Below is the breakdown of the worth and location of the homes.
Washington, D.C.
In 2016, Bezos shelled out $23 million for a 27,000-square-foot mansion in the nation’s capital, Town & Country reports, which is regarded as the largest house in D.C. Jeff Bezos is currently renovating the former textile museum, located in D.C.’s Kalorama neighborhood. The renovations will reportedly create 11 bedrooms, 25 bathrooms, five living rooms, two elevators, a solarium, and a whiskey cellar.
Beverly Hills, Calif.
The Amazon CEO purchased an 11,891-square-foot mansion in this celebrities spot in 2007 According to the Wall Street Journal. The property cost him $24.45 million and contains seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a tennis court, a garden, and a separate guesthouse.
According to Variety, Jeff Bezos also purchased a $12.9 million abode down the street from his other estate in July. The home is 4.568 square feet with four bedrooms and a swimming pool located on half an acre of land and home served as the venue for Bezos’s celebration in December for the release of the film Manchester by the Sea, which was produced by Amazon Studios.
New York City.
Bezos has been the owner of three units in a building on Central Park West since 1999. WSJ newspaper reported that Jeff purchased the apartments for $7.65 million from Sony Music chief executive Tommy Mottola, and in 2012, he purchased an additional 1,725-square-foot unit for $5.3 million. In general, Bezos shelled out a total of $12.95 million for his N.Y.C. crib.
West Texas.
According to the Land Report, Bezos owns over 300,000 acres in the Lone Star state. He has property in both Hudspeth and Culberson countries east of El Paso. Figure 2 Ranch near Van Horn, Texas serves as the base for Blue Origin, Bezos’s aerospace company.
Medina, Washington.
Bezos owe a 5.3-acre estate Outside of Seattle on Lake Washington that he purchased for $10 million in 1998, according to the Journal report. Two residences are located on the grounds, including a 20,600-square-foot, five-bedroom, four-bathroom and an 8,300-square-foot, five bedrooms with four-bathroom. Bezos also purchased the property next door in 2010 under an LLC, which was listed for $53 million, but the sale was later unlisted.
See Also: Mark Zuckerberg Net Worth, House, Wife, Education
Cars
Although Jeff Bezos tries to be modest with his billions since he believes in investing in what matters to customers, thus his car garage is filled with few vehicles which included a 1996 Honda Accord which he insisted on driving to work in since launching Amazon and earning over $12 billion in the process.
Let take a look into the world richest man’s collection of cars.
Honda Accord: The car model which has been in business in US since 1989 is Bezos favorite car and means of transportation since the launch of Amazon. He reportedly upgraded to the latest edition of Honda model which retails for just around $23,700.
Ferrari Pininfarina Sergio: Retailed at $3 million, the car’s design is an open roof that exhibits its purity.
Bugatti Veyron Mansory: Is a mid-engine sports car, developed by the Volkswagen Group. It is so named in honor of the racing driver Pierre Veyron and is priced $3.4 million.
Lamborghini Veneno: Interestingly Lamborghini was developed to celebrate Lamborghini’s 50th anniversary. The front of the car is designed for maximum airflow and for improved downforce and because of its smooth underbody, the airflow is not interrupted making it one of the most performing sports car.
As the CEO and president of the largest e-commerce marketplace and cloud computing platform, also own a private jet valued at $65 million. It is safe to say that Jeff Bezos has certainly earned the rights to a luxury lifestyle.
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