Jeff Bezos
Jeffrey Preston "Jeff" Bezos is an American entrepreneur, founder, and head of the Internet company Amazon.com, founder and owner of the aerospace company Blue Origin and owner of The Washington Post.
In 2017, he became the richest man in the world according to Forbes, taking the first line with a fortune of $ 90.5 billion. At the end of August 2020, Bezos's fortune was estimated at $ 204.6 billion, which made him the first person in modern history whose fortune exceeded $ 200 billion.
In January 2021, he lost the first position in the ranking of the richest people in the world to Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, but on January 12 he again took the leading position. Bezos's fortune is estimated at $ 192 billion.
Jeff Bezos will step down as CEO in the third quarter of 2021 and will chair the company's board of directors as executive chairman.
Biography of Jeff Bezos
Childhood
Jeffrey Preston Bezos was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Jacklyn Gise, a 17-year-old girl who was still in high school, and Ted Jorgensen, a one-year-old boy. Their marriage lasts a little over a year.
In April 1968, when Jeff was four, his mother remarried Miguel "Mike" Bezos, a Cuban who emigrated to the United States at the age of 16. Miguel adopts Jeff, whose surname is later changed to Bezos.
After the wedding, the family moved to Houston Texas, where Miguel became an engineer at Exxon. Jeff attends Houston's River Oaks Elementary School already showing some interest in technology: he once installed an electric alarm to keep younger siblings out of his room. Later the family moved to Miami, Florida, where Jeff attended Miami Palmetto High School and later at the University of Florida attended a scientific training course for students, receiving the Silver Knight Award in 1982.
Jeffrey Bezos graduated from Princeton University in 1986 in Electronic Engineering, more precisely in "Electrical Engineering and Computer Science", a degree course with which electronic engineering was identified at Princeton before 1985 (outside Italy, both electronic engineering and electrical engineering are defined as "Electrical Engineering"; sometimes a distinction is made with "Electrical and Computer Engineering" and "Electrical and Power Engineering"), then works on Wall Street in the IT sector, then building a network for international trade of a company known as Fitel, then to Bankers Trust, and, finally, in a financial company of hedge funds of New York, DE Shaw & Co.
Amazon.com
In 1994 Bezos quit his job from223 000 $ per year to found in the garage of his home in Seattle, Cadabra.com after having drafted the business plan of the project on a journey by jeep from New York to Seattle: not expected to make profits for the first 4-5 years. The company immediately renamed Amazon.com after the name of the Amazon, began in July 1995 as an online bookstore, offering a greater choice of titles than any other major bookstore or mail-order company.
In a few years, the catalog expanded beyond books, selling DVDs, video games, cameras, and appliances. It will expand its offer over the years to have 2018 a catalog of over 500 million distinct items for sale on 13 active platforms worldwide.
On May 15, 1997, Amazon.com enters the stock market, on the NASDAQ, under the symbol AMZN.
In November 2005, Amazon entered the S&P 500 index, replacing the old AT&T.
In 2005 it launched Amazon Prime, a premium delivery service (for a fee).
In 2006 Amazon Fresh came to life for home delivery of food products.
In 2007 he created Kindle, the ebook reader that four years later evolved into Kindle Fire, a competing tablet to Apple's iPad.
In 2010 he launched Amazon Studios, investing more than $ 4.5 billion to produce films and telefilms. Results: in 2015 a Golden Globe for the Transparent TV series, in 2017 two Oscars with the film Manchester by the sea. And the year after Amazon Instant Video for streaming movies on demand.
On November 6, 2014, launches Amazon Echo, a brand of voice-activated speakers with an integrated virtual assistant. Previously the same year, on July 25, he had launched the Fire Phone, a smartphone with which Amazon should have strongly entered the mobile phone sector; however, the cell phone was a failure, and the company ceased production as early as October, claiming it still had a stock of such unsold devices worth over $ 83 million.
In 2016 he experiments with Amazon Prime Air, a drone shipping service.
In 2018, he experiments with the first fully automated supermarket, Amazon Go, in Seattle.
On February 2, 2021, Jeff Bezos announced that in the third quarter of 2021 there will be a change at the top of Amazon, as he will leave the position of CEO to Andy Jassy, former CEO of Amazon Web Services since 2016, to become Executive President. of society.
Blue Origin
In 2000 Jeff, named in 1999 by the weekly Time Person of the Year, founded Blue Origin, a start-up company for human space flights. An operation kept secret until 2006 when he buys lots of land in West Texas to build a launch and test facility.
In 2014 he lost an unmanned vehicle prototype during a test flight in November 2015Blue Origin's Shepard spacecraft successfully flies into space reaching an intended altitude of 100 kilometers before performing a vertical landing at the launch site. Six vehicles are under construction. He planned the first space tourism flights for 2019.
Also, think about creating a perennial human settlement on the Moon. The idea is to provide by 2025 the means necessary for the transport of vehicles and men on the satellite so that someone else can then transfer heavy industry to the Moon, transforming the Earth into an exclusively residential place and leaving light industry there.
The Washington Post
In October 2013 Jeff buys the Washington Post from Graham for $ 250 million in cash, the newspaper that made US history with scoops like those on Watergate, 800 journalists, and troubling economic accounts. Amazon.com is not involved in the transaction.
In 2016, the newspaper was back in profit, making money from subscriptions and planning further expansion.
Bezos Expeditions
Bezos makes investments through its venture capital firm, Bezos Expeditions. He was one of the first shareholders of Google when he invested $ 250,000 in it in 1998. With that investment, he acquired more than 3 million Google shares which in 2017 were worth $ 3.1 billion.
Whole Foods Market
In June 2017 it acquired Whole Foods Market for $ 14 billion, a supermarket chain founded in 1978 in Austin, Texas, and famous in the Anglo-Saxon world for organic food and fresh products, with 460 stores located in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
PillPack
On June 28, 2018, it takes over the American online pharmacy PillPack for about a billion dollars, which specializes in preparing prescription medicines in a personalized way and sending them home. The health sector affects Bezos. It has previously invested in Unity Biotechnology, a life-extension research company with the hope of slowing or halting the aging process, Grail, Juno Therapeutics, and ZocDoc.
In January 2018, Bezos' Amazon is involved with Warren Buffett's holding Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase Bank in a new healthcare service reserved for the time being for employees (1.2 million) of the three companies.
Life of Jeff Bezos
Bezos was born to Jacklyn Gise Jorgensen and Ted Jorgensen (1944-2015), his parents divorced shortly after his birth. When Jeffrey was four years old, his mother Jackie married the Cuban exile Miguel "Mike" Bezos. The family moved to Houston, Texas, where Mike Bezos worked for the Exxon oil company. Jeffrey Bezos first attended the River Oaks Elementary School in Houston and, after the family moved to Miami, the Miami Palmetto Senior High School. From 1982 to 1986 he studied electrical engineering and computer science at Princeton University. Bezos received the academic degree Bachelor of Science (B. Sc.) With top marks in 1986.
Bezos then worked first for the Taiwanese mobile communications company FITEL, then for the New York asset management companies Bankers Trust and DE Shaw & Co. There, together with David E. Shaw (* 1951), the idea of an online book shop was born.
In 1994 he founded Amazon.com and separated from Shaw to further develop the idea of online trading on his own.
In 2000 he founded the private space company Blue Origin.
In August 2013, Jeff Bezos acquired The Washington Post for $ 250 million. These and other investments are managed by the company Bezos Expeditions.
On February 2, 2021, Bezos announced that he would be stepping down as CEO of Amazon in the third quarter of 2021, handing this position over to Andy Jassy and assuming the executive chairmanship of the Board of Directors, which is higher than the Board of Directors.
The private life of Jeff Bezos
Bezos was married to MacKenzie Bezos in 1993 and has four children: an adopted daughter who was born in China and three sons.
On January 9, 2019, the Bezos couple announced their intention to divorce.
In February 2019, Bezos published an open letter to the publisher of the National Enquirer, David Pecker, in which he accused him of blackmail.
Bezos would have been threatened with publishing intimate private photos if he did not stop investigating how private text messages from him and an extramarital affair got to the magazine. Bezos lives in a relationship with the presenter Lauren Sánchez. Bezos is considered a fan of Star Trek and - in an elaborate alien mask - made a cameo in the film Star Trek Beyond in 2016.
Projects of Jeff Bezos
In 2007 he supported The Clock of the Long Now project with $ 42 million and in 2012 a campaign to open marriage to same-sex couples in Washington with $ 2.5 million.
In 2019 Bezos presented the lunar module "Blue Moon" from his company Blue Origin.
Capital of Jeff Bezos
Since 2018, the business magazine Forbes has listed Bezos as the richest person in the world. He is the first person whose fortune exceeded $ 200 billion. Even adjusted for inflation, Bezos has the greatest fortune Forbes has ever calculated in the possession of a person.
In early 2020, Bezos announced plans to donate $ 10 billion to fight climate change. Climate change is the "greatest threat to our planet". Starting in the summer of 2020, the money will go to the newly founded Bezos Earth Fund, which in turn will support scientists, climate activists, and NGOs.
In 2020, Bezos sold Amazon shares, which grew 70 percent in value as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, for $ 10.2 billion through early November.
Privacy of Jeff Bezos
In 1993 she married MacKenzie Tuttle, whom she met the year before in the New York offices of DE Shaw & Co. The couple lives in Seattle. Four children, one of whom was adopted in China.
In January 2019, after 26 years of marriage, the announcement of the divorce. The agreement is reached in early April 2019: Jeff Bezos pays his wife 36 billion dollars (4% of Amazon, 12% remains to the ex-husband) which makes her, according to Forbes, the third woman richest in the world and makes divorce the most expensive in history.
Policy
In 2012, the Bezos family donated $ 2.5 million to Washington State's campaign to legalize same-sex marriage. Jeff Bezos has criticized Donald Trump during the presidential elections of 2016.
Philanthropy
Bezos supports his philanthropic efforts through direct donations, non-profit projects funded by Bezos Expeditions, and other charitable organizations. Through Bezos Expeditions, he funded the Bezos Center for Innovation at the Seattle Museum of History and Industry for $ 10 million and the Bezos Center for Neural Circuit Dynamics at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute for $ 15 million.
Donated multiple times to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center: $ 10 million in 2009, $ 20 million in 2010, $ 15 million in 2011, and $ 35 million in 2017. He also donated $ 800,000 to Worldreader, a non-profit founded by a former Amazon employee.
In 2015, it funded the recovery of two first-stage F-1 Rocketdyne Saturn V engines from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. They have been identified as belonging to the S-1C stage of the July 1969 Apollo 11 mission. The engine is on display at the Seattle Museum of Flight.
On May 23, 2017, he donated $ 1 million to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the committee that provides pro bono legal services to protect the rights of American journalists.
In January 2018, he donated $ 33 million to TheDream.US, a scholarship fund for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States when they were minors.
In June 2018, Bezos also donated a grant to Bill Gates ' Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a private philanthropic coalition to promote carbon-free energy.
Recognition
He was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 1999.
In 2008, he was selected by US News & World Report as one of America's Top Leaders. Bezos was awarded an honorary doctorate of science and technology at Carnegie Mellon University in 2008.
In 2011, The Economist awarded Jeff Bezos and Gregg Zehr an Innovation Award for the Amazon Kindle.
In 2012, Bezos was named "Entrepreneur of the Year" by Fortune magazine.
In addition, he is a member of the Bilderberg Group and attended the Bilderberg conference in 2011 in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and the 2013 conference in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Business Council in 2011 and 2012.
Wealth
According to Forbes, Jeff Bezos was listed in January 2018 as the richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US $ 157 billion.
In 2014, he was ranked the best CEO in the world by Harvard Business Review.
In October 2017, Bezos was the richest person in the world according to Forbes, surpassing Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
Jeff Bezos has also been featured on Fortune's 50 Best World Leaders list for three years in a row, leading the list in 2015.
In September 2016, Bezos was awarded the Heinlein Award for Advances in Space Marketing earning $ 250,000. Bezos donated the award money to the international student organization Students for the Exploration and Development of Space.
Awards
- In 1999 Time magazine voted him Person of the Year.
- In 2012 he was named Fortune Businessman of the Year.
- In 2012, Bezos was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
- In 2017, Bezos was inducted into the Logistics Hall of Fame.
- In 2018 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
- In 2018, Bezos received the Axel Springer Award.
Controversy
In May 2014, Bezos was voted “Worst Boss in the World” at the World Congress of the International Trade Union Confederation.
On August 15, 2015, the New York Times published an article entitled " Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace ".
In the article, the newspaper criticized Amazon's business practices and the management style cultivated by the company. Bezos in turn commented on the article and stated that he did not recognize his company in the description in the newspaper.
Jeff Bezos | |
---|---|
English Jeff Bezos | |
Birth name | Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen |
Date of Birth | January 12, 1964 (57 years old) |
Place of Birth | |
Citizenship | |
Education | |
condition | $ 191 billion (February 2021) [1] |
Company | Amazon.com |
Position | Executive Chairman of the Company |
Mother | Jacqueline Giese [d] |
Children | Preston Bezos [d], second son of Jeff Bezos [d], third son of Jeff Bezos [d], and adopted daughter of Jeff Bezos [d] |
Awards and prizes | |
Autograph | |
Media files at # |
Biography [ edit | edit encyclopy ]
Childhood [ edit | edit encyclopy ]
Amazon.com [ edit | edit encyclopy ]
In 2016 he experiments with Amazon Prime Air, a drone shipping service.
In 2018, he experiments with the first fully automated supermarket, Amazon Go, in Seattle.
Blue Origin [ edit | edit encyclopy ]
The Washington Post [ edit | edit encyclopy ]
Bezos Expeditions [ edit | edit encyclopy ]
Whole Foods Market [ edit | edit encyclopy ]
PillPack [ edit | edit encyclopy ]
Life
Private
Projects
In 2019 Bezos presented the lunar module "Blue Moon" from his company Blue Origin. [19] [20]
Capital
Privacy [ edit | edit encyclopy ]
Policy [ edit | edit encyclopy ]
Philanthropy [ edit | edit encyclopy ]
Recognition [ edit ]
Wealth [ edit ]
Year | Millions | Year | Millions |
---|---|---|---|
2000 | 8,050 | 2010 | 12,601 |
2001 | 2,000 | 2011 | 18,900 |
2002 | 1,500 | 2012 | 23,200 |
2003 | 2,500 | 2013 | 28,900 |
2004 | 5,100 | 2014 | 30,500 |
2005 | 4,800 | 2015 | 43,800 |
2006 | 4,300 | 2016 | 59,200 |
2007 | 8,700 | 2017 | 95,800 |
2008 | 8,200 | 2018 | 112,000 |
2009 | 10,800 | 2019 | 125,000 |
Awards
- In 1999 Time magazine voted him Person of the Year. [28]
- In 2012 he was named Fortune Businessman of the Year. [29]
- In 2012, Bezos was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
- In 2017, Bezos was inducted into the Logistics Hall of Fame.
- In 2018 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
- In 2018, Bezos received the Axel Springer Award. [30]