Jeff Bezos is known as the founder of Amazon and, above all, became very rich, so rich that he can call himself the richest person in the world. But he is not only the founder of Amazon, but also the founder and investor of other companies. In this portrait we want to answer the 13 most important questions about what is perhaps the most successful founder in the world.
Where and when was Jeff Bezos born?
What many people probably don’t know about the Amazon founder: Jeff Bezos is just an abbreviation of his real name. His full name is Jeffrey Preston Bezos. However, he was born on January 12, 1964 as Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen in Albuquerque / New Mexico . His parents are Jacklyn Gise Jorgensen and Ted Jorgensen. However, his parents divorced shortly after he was born. Four years later, his mother Jackie married the Cuban exile Muguel Bezos, who eventually adopted Jeff and bequeathed him his surname “Bezos”. Jeff Bezos grew up in Houston and Miami with his two half-siblings, Mark and Christina.
What did Jeff Bezos study?
Even when he was at school, Jeff Bezos was interested in technical experiments, influenced by his grandfather, who owned a ranch in Texas and was a space technician. After graduating from Palmetto Senior High School in Miami, Bezos studied electrical engineering and computer science at Princeton University in New Jersey from 1982 to 1986 . He completed his bachelor’s degree with top marks.
Where and when was Amazon founded?
Before founding Amazon, Bezos first worked for the Taiwanese mobile communications company FITEL, then for the New York asset management companies Bankers Trust and DE Shaw & Co. Together with David E. Shaw, the idea of an online book shop was born. In 1994 , Bezos left the financial company to found the American parent company Amazon.com that same year as an online bookstore in its garage in Seattle , Washington state. As you can already guess, the name is derived from the longest river in the world, the Amazon. The name is supposed to symbolize the wide range of Amazon. Bezos also chose it because it begins with the letter A and search engines used to display their results in alphabetical order.
What hardly anyone knows: Amazon as a name was not the first choice of the IT founder. Originally the company was to be called Cadabra Inc. – based on the magic spell “Abracadabra”. But the likelihood of confusion with “Cadaver” was too great for Bezos in the end. Even though names like relentless.com, browse.com or awake.com were still in the running after that, Bezos ultimately decided on Amazon for the reasons mentioned above. The founder still secured the domains. They are still forwarding to Amazon today.
Is Jeff Bezos also the CEO of Amazon?
Yes, currently Jeff Bezos is (still) the CEO of Amazon. However, he will hand over the chairmanship to Andy Jassy at the beginning of the third quarter of 2021. He has been with the company since 1997 and is the head of the booming cloud business. Jeff Bezos remains loyal to Amazon as executive chairman of the board of directors.
How much does the Amazon founder earn?
Jeff Bezos net worth (as of 01/2021) is estimated at around 188 billion US dollars . This corresponds to around 153 billion euros. The corona crisis in particular once again resulted in a huge increase in his wealth. In the first half of 2020 alone, Bezos increased his net worth by $ 56.7 billion. This nice sum landed in his account in 182 days. His monthly salary is the equivalent of $ 9.45 billion. He made $ 311 million a day. His hourly wage is around $ 12 million and $ 216,000 per minute. Do you really want to know how much the Amazon founder earns per second? Okay, it’s about $ 3,600 a second.
Jeff Bezos and his Amazon stocks
Of course, a large part of Jeff Bezo’s fortune is made up of Amazon stocks. The corona crisis in particular has given the Amazon share a strong boost. An Amazon share currently costs 2,645 euros (as of May 12, 2021). In 2020 alone, the Amazon share rose by more than 75 percent. In May 2021, Bezos cashed more of his shares. At the beginning of May, Bezos had already sold around two million shares in his company, and further securities worth $ 1.7 billion followed in the course of May. Thus, the Amazon founder cashed in shares valued at $ 6.7 billion in May 2021. What does Jeff Bezos need so much cash for? Rumor has it he is either putting this into building a new (the world’s largest) yacht or into his space company Blue Origin.
Jeff Bezos
Source: Amazon
Date of birth: 01/12/1964
Place of birth: Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA)
Degrees: Bachelor of Science (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science)
Job: Computer scientist
Companies: Amazon, Blue Origin, The Washington Post
Who is the richest person in the world?
With this merit, surely Jeff Bezos is the richest person in the world? Yes again. Because for a few weeks Bezos had to surrender this title to Tesla boss Elon Musk , who replaced him as the richest person in the world for a few weeks at the beginning of January 2021. The assets of Elon music but amounts to a sell off down the Tesla shares now “only” to around 180 billion. The Amazon founder has thus regained first place with around 188 billion. Depending on how the Tesla share and the Amazon business develop, it is quite possible that the title will belong to Elon Musk again in a few months. It remains a head to head race.
How much is Jeff Bezos donating?
In the past few years, Bezos has repeatedly donated money to various projects or charitable organizations. It was only in February 2020 that he announced that he would donate a total of 10 billion dollars for climate change . In November 2020, the first $ 791 million went to 16 different organizations fighting climate change as part of the Bezos Earth Fund. Among other things, the WWF received the equivalent of 84 million euros.
He also supported a 2012 campaign to open up marriage for same-sex couples in Washington with US $ 2.5 million and in 2007 the project “The Clock of the Long Now” with US $ 42 million.
Which companies are Jeff Bezos owned?
In addition to Amazon, Jeff Bezos has founded or acquired other companies. In 2000 he founded the private space company “Blue Origin” and in 2013 acquired the daily newspaper “The Washington Post” . He is also an investor through his venture capital firm Bezos Expeditions in numerous companies such as Airbnb and Twitter. Visual Capitalist once recorded how extensive Jeff Bezos’ emperium actually is on an impressive graphic.
Jeff Bezos and his flight into space
With his space company “Blue Origin”, Jeff Bezos realized a dream on July 20, 2021: He flew into space with the space rocket “New Shepard”. The flight lasted 10 minutes. Also on board: the youngest and oldest person in space to date. In addition to his brother Mark, the 18-year-old Dutch Oliver Daemen (his father, the investment manager Joe Daemen gave him his ticket) and the 82-year-old former US pilot Wally Funk were part of the “crew”.
After the successful landing back on earth, Bezos said to the journalists present: “Everyone who has been in space says that it has changed him. They look down at the earth and are amazed and awesome at its beauty, but also at its fragility ”. He could only agree with these statements.
Where does Jeff Bezos live?
It is impossible to say exactly where Bezos lives. Because the Amazon founder owns a total of five residences, including a penthouse in New York and a villa in the posh district of Kalorama in Washington DC It was not until February 2020 that he bought a new villa in Los Angeles for a mere 165 million dollars .
Who is Jeff Bezos’ wife?
In 1993 the Amazon founder married his girlfriend at the time, Mackenzie Bezos . After more than 25 years of marriage together, however, the divorce followed in 2019. Mackkenzie Bezos received nearly 19.7 million Amazon shares and now has a 4 percent stake in the company. That equates to around $ 38.2 billion, which in turn made her the fourth richest woman in the world . Jeff Bezos’ new girlfriend is moderator Lauren Sánchez .
Does Jeff Bezos have children?
Jeff Bezos has four children with his ex-wife Mackkenzie Bezos : an adopted daughter from China and three biological sons.
Frequently asked questions about Amazon and Jeff Bezos
Who is the richest person in the world?
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is (as of June 2021) the richest person in the world.
Where was Amazon founded?
Amazon was founded on July 5, 1994 in Bellevue, Washington (USA) by Jeff Bezos.
What was Amazon called earlier?
Jeff Bezos did not choose Amazon directly, but initially called his company “Cadabra Inc.”, based on the magic spell “abracadabra” to symbolize the magic of online shopping.
How much does the Amazon founder earn?
Jeff Bezo’s monthly salary is the equivalent of $ 9.45 billion. He made $ 311 million a day. His hourly wage is around $ 12 million and $ 216,000 per minute.
Where does the name “Amazon” come from?
Jeff Bezos really wanted to give his company a name beginning with the letter “A” so that it would appear at the beginning of telephone books and the alphabet. He looked for a suitable name and came across Amazon, based on the Amazon, the largest river in the world. Even then, Bezos had big plans for his company.