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Jeff Bezos

About Jeff Bezos

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Who is Jeff Bezos

Jeffrey Preston Bezos, better known as Jeff Bezos, is the founder and former chief executive officer of e-commerce giant Amazon. He is an entrepreneur, investor and media proprietor. His lucrative ventures have made him one of the richest people in the world, and Bezos has been named the "richest man in modern history" on the Forbes wealth index.
 
Early career of Jeff Bezos
 
After graduating from Princeton University, Jeff Bezos started a job at a fintech telecommunications start-up, Fitel. Within months, he was promoted as the director of customer service. He shifted to the banking industry and later joined D E Shaw & Co, a newly founded hedge fund. At the age of 30, he was appointed D E Shaw's senior vice-president.
 
Jeff Bezos as an internet entrepreneur
 
In 1993, Bezos quit D E Shaw to establish an online bookstore by taking financial help from his parents and other investors. Amazon, which took shape in his garage, was initially named Cadabra but renamed later. Within two months, Amazon’s sales reached $20,000 a week, growing faster than Jeff Bezos had envisioned. Amazon.com went public with an initial public offering (IPO) in 1997. By 1998, the online bookstore expanded to other products, notably CDs and videos in 1998, and clothes, electronics, toys and more through major retail partnerships later. While many dot.coms failed in the 90s, Amazon flourished.
 
In 2002, Bezos launched Amazon Web Services and secured a $600-million contract from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on behalf of the unit the next year. In 2007, he launched Amazon Kindle. For long, Bezos had been eyeing the food delivery market. In 2017, Amazon acquired the Whole Foods grocery chain for $13.7 billion in cash and Amazon Prime customers were offered in-store deals and grocery delivery in as little time as two hours, depending on the market. By 2018, his Amazon stock holdings had appreciated to slightly over $109 billion, which he began selling off to raise cash for other ventures. That year, Amazon reported its highest ever profit with quarterly earnings of $2 billion. By the end of 2018, Amazon was valued at more than $1 trillion. This made it the second company to ever hit that record, the first being Apple.
 
Bezos as an aerospace entrepreneur
 
Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000. This company develops technologies to lower the cost of space travel. For over a decade, the firm operated in the shadows, but Bezos in 2016 introduced its headquarters to reporters and revealed his vision of humans not only visiting the space but also colonising it. Two years later, he revealed the Blue Origin moon lander, which had been conducting test flights of its suborbital New Shepard rocket.
 
“We are going to build a road to space. And then amazing things will happen,” Bezos said. In 2019, Nasa collaborated with Blue Origin on 19 technology projects to reach the moon and Mars. The company is also working with Nasa to launch reusable rockets from a refurbished complex.
 
Bezos as a media proprietor
 
In 2013, Bezos entered the media business by purchasing American newspaper The Washington Post for $250 million in cash.
 
Jeff Bezos' net worth
 
Jeff Bezos is the wealthiest person alive and is also the first person in modern history to accumulate a fortune of over $100 billion. He has an estimated net worth of $156 billion. Bezos remains Amazon's largest stockholder and is one of the US' biggest landowners. Bezos also owns a $65 million Gulfstream G650ER private jet.
 
Jeff Bezos' personal life
 
Bezos, born on January 12, 1964, is from Albuquerque in New Mexico. He attended a science training programme at the University of Florida. In 1986, he graduated from Princeton University in Bachelors of Science in Engineering in electrical engineering and computer science.
 
In February 2019, Jeff Bezos and his wife filed for divorce after 25 years of marriage. The news had been announced by the couple on Twitter on January 9, 2019.
 
What seemed to be a very cordial exit from marriage soon spiralled into allegations of blackmail over nude photos and a private investigation into leaked texts. On February 9, Bezos alleged blackmail plot by the Enquirer and also claimed that the publication's reporting was politically motivated.
 
"Rather than capitulate to blackmail, I've decided to publish exactly what they sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten," Bezos said in the post. Jeff Bezos and his ex-wife MacKenzie Tuttle are the parents of four children — three sons, and a daughter adopted from China.
 
Jeff Bezos’ philanthropy
 
Bezos is often referred to as a cheapskate when it comes to giving away money. However, according to the Philanthropy 50 list 2019, he made the most charitable donations.
 
Bezos donates to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and has pledged $500,000 to a former Amazon employee's NGO called Worldreader. In January 2018, Bezos made a $33-million donation to TheDream, a college scholarship fund for undocumented immigrants brought to the US as minors. He has also donated to Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund, which aims at promoting emissions-free energy. That year, he launched the Bezos Day One Fund, which focuses on "funding existing non-profits that help homeless families. In 2020, Jeff Bezos offered $690,000 to help Australia recover from the worst bushfires in its history.

Latest Updates on Jeff Bezos

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is also meeting with Trump next week, the president-elect said Thursday, highlighting his contacts with tech titans

Updated On: 13 Dec 2024 | 8:39 AM IST

Bloomberg Billionaires Index 2024 reported that Elon Musk has become the first person in history to achieve a net worth exceeding $400 billion. Here's a look at the richest men in the last century:

Updated On: 12 Dec 2024 | 2:44 PM IST

With New Glenn's entry into the space market, a new rivalry is expected to begin between Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin

Updated On: 26 Nov 2024 | 3:27 PM IST

It's the latest tit-for-tat between the world's two richest individuals, whose businesses compete in the commercial space industry

Updated On: 22 Nov 2024 | 8:14 AM IST

Donald Trump is set to assume office on January 20 and has been naming his picks for key administrative roles. The list also features Musk, who will co-lead DOGE to make the US govt more 'efficient'

Updated On: 21 Nov 2024 | 4:55 PM IST

Donald Trump's return to the White House may bring potential advantages for Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, as his policies favouring US companies could create a conducive environment for them

Updated On: 08 Nov 2024 | 2:34 PM IST

Jeff Bezos, the reigning swashbuckler of the internet age until Musk came along, was playing a cooler game, content to let Musk take the headlines and the risk

Updated On: 31 Oct 2024 | 10:02 PM IST

Writing in an article on the Washington Post's website, Bezos said that endorsements do not influence election outcomes but may, instead, sway public trust

Updated On: 30 Oct 2024 | 10:11 AM IST

Bezos also said the Post's action was unrelated to former President Donald Trump's meeting with executives from Blue Origin, another of his businesses, on the day of the announcement

Updated On: 29 Oct 2024 | 7:48 AM IST

Elon Musk, 53, has also been in the spotlight for his increasingly vocal - and costly - support of Republican candidate Donald Trump

Updated On: 25 Oct 2024 | 8:41 AM IST

The previously unreported incidents illustrate the hurdles Blue Origin is grappling with while ramping up production of New Glenn

Updated On: 22 Aug 2024 | 8:53 AM IST

His wealth also derives from space-exploration company Blue Origin and the Washington Post

Updated On: 03 Aug 2024 | 12:31 PM IST

After the sale plan, Bezos would own about 912 million Amazon shares, or 8.8 per cent of the outstanding stock

Updated On: 03 Jul 2024 | 9:53 PM IST

SERA, a US-based agency, is planning to offer six seats on a future mission of New Shepard, Blue Origin's reusable suborbital rocket, to citizens from various countries

Updated On: 01 Jul 2024 | 5:36 PM IST

The US Space Force, which manages the launch procurement program, said Blue Origin received $5 million to provide an assessment of how it will meet the Pentagon's launch requirements

Updated On: 14 Jun 2024 | 8:58 AM IST

He was selected as one of the six crew members for the NS-25 mission, becoming the first Indian space tourist and the second Indian to journey into space

Updated On: 20 May 2024 | 11:22 AM IST

Dwight, now 90, got to experience a few minutes of weightlessness with five other passengers aboard the Blue Origin capsule as it skimmed space

Updated On: 19 May 2024 | 9:07 PM IST

After decades of playing second fiddle to China and Japan, the region of about 675 million people is drawing more tech investment than ever

Updated On: 11 May 2024 | 8:48 AM IST

The moves underscore how Silicon Valley insiders are monetizing their holdings after tech stocks rallied to fresh records, rebounding from a 2022 slump caused by accelerating inflation, rate hikes

Updated On: 09 May 2024 | 7:13 PM IST

Vijaywada-born Gopichand Thotakura, one of the co-founders of Preserve Life, is set to join Blue Origin's crew for the NS-25 suborbital mission

Updated On: 12 Apr 2024 | 12:35 PM IST