Jeff Bezos was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to a mother who was under 18 years old at the time of his birth. His biological father, Ted Jorgensen, left shortly after he was born. His mother, Jacklyn Gise Jorgensen, later remarried when Jeff was five years old. Her second husband was Miguel Bezos, who had emigrated from Cuba to the United States at the age of 15, later became a petroleum engineer, and began working at Exxon. Miguel Bezos legally adopted Jeff, giving him his surname. During Jeff’s youth, the family moved to Miami, Florida.

Born on January 12, 1964, Jeff Bezos demonstrated outstanding academic success throughout his education. After completing River Oaks Elementary School, he graduated as valedictorian from a high school for gifted students. He later earned his degree in Computer Science from Princeton University, again graduating at the top of his class. During his summers, Bezos worked on his grandfather’s ranch in Texas, where he took care of cattle and repaired tractors.

In 1986, after receiving his university diploma, Jeff Bezos joined Fitel, a company that was actively recruiting Princeton graduates. He became the company’s eleventh employee in May 1986. By February 1987, he had been promoted to Vice President of Technology and Business Development. At just 23 years old, he was managing 12 programmers and analysts across the company’s New York and London offices, overseeing design, programming, and testing processes, while also managing relationships with major clients such as the investment bank Salomon Brothers.

In April 1988, Bezos moved to Wall Street to work at Bankers Trust Company as an assistant vice president. Only ten months later, at the age of 26, he became the youngest vice president in the company’s history. In December 1990, he joined the hedge fund D.E. Shaw as a vice president. While working at this firm, he married his assistant, MacKenzie Tuttle, in 1993. During his time at D.E. Shaw, Bezos proposed that the company’s first major step on the internet should be book sales. When this idea was not accepted, he resigned and decided to pursue the venture on his own.

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com and created something the world had never seen before. He built one of the most recognizable brands on the internet and became one of the wealthiest individuals in the world. Amazon.com was founded on July 16, 1995, and Bezos is both its founder and owner. He chose the company’s name by searching through a dictionary, specifically wanting it to begin with the letter “A” so it would appear at the top of alphabetical listings. While researching words starting with “A,” he came across the Amazon River, considered the largest river in the world, and decided on that name. His reasoning was his ambition for the company to one day be just as vast.

Initially, Amazon.com focused on selling books online, later expanding into video games, CDs, and many other products. According to Forbes, in 2014 Jeff Bezos had a net worth of approximately 30 billion dollars, ranking him as the 15th richest person in the United States.

Jeff Bezos officially launched Amazon.com on July 16, 1995, with the purpose of selling books online. On its first day, the company received only six orders. Today, the platform sells a wide range of products including books, televisions, sports shoes, and furniture, with daily sales exceeding 100 million dollars. Within 15 years, the company reached a valuation of 110 billion dollars.

Starting Amazon with only a few hundred thousand dollars borrowed from family and friends, Bezos fulfilled his ambition of creating the world’s largest book supermarket. Major American bookstore chains such as Borders were unable to withstand Amazon’s competition and eventually went bankrupt. With Kindle Fire, Amazon initiated a new revolution in publishing. This tablet-sized reading device allows users to download books at roughly half the price of printed versions, read them anytime and anywhere, and complete payments directly through the device. Many classics and dictionaries are available free of charge.

Amazon and Jeff Bezos are considered products of the American system that supports freedom of thought, freedom of expression, press freedom, innovation, entrepreneurship, strong education, access to venture capital, and a free-market economy.

Jeff Bezos married MacKenzie Tuttle in 1993, and the couple had four children. On April 4, 2019, they divorced after Bezos paid approximately 35 billion dollars in a settlement.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of December 27, 2016, Jeff Bezos ranked fourth among the world’s richest individuals with a personal fortune of 67.2 billion dollars. Forbes reported that his net worth reached 131 billion dollars in 2019.

On July 27, 2017, due to a rise in Amazon shares, Bezos’ fortune surpassed 90 billion dollars, allowing him to overtake Bill Gates and become the richest person in the world. However, the following day, Amazon shares declined after failing to meet expected profit figures, causing Bezos to lose approximately 6 billion dollars. As a result, he fell behind Amancio Ortega Gaona to third place, with a net worth of 84.7 billion dollars as of August 1, 2017.

In addition to Amazon, Jeff Bezos is the founder and owner of the aerospace company Blue Origin. In 2013, he also purchased the newspaper The Washington Post. In July 2018, after his net worth rose to 150 billion dollars, he was recognized as “the richest person in modern history.”

Source: Biyografiler.com