Jeff Bezos Net Worth: Know how Jeff Bezos Built His Empire

Jeff Bezos Net Worth: $135.3 Billion /14,840 Crores USD

As one of the world’s richest men, Jeff Bezos has accumulated a net worth of $135 billion. The 53-year-old CEO of Amazon is the 17th most influential business leader according to Forbes, and he has grown his net worth by investing in technology companies.

In fact, you might be surprised at just how many tech startups Bezos has stakes in. His personal investments include an investment firm named Process Ventures, which focuses on artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. Through this company alone, Bezos owns around 20 percent of its shares. Here’s a look at how Jeff Bezos built his empire with his stake in multiple technology companies. 

Jeff Bezos Early Life

Jeff Bezos was born on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His parents, Jacklyn and Ted Jorgensen, divorced when Bezos was very young, and his mother remarried. His biological father was a Cuban immigrant who became a bar owner, and his mother was an English teacher. Bezos was named after the world’s richest person at the time, oil tycoon John Newkid.

After his parents’ divorce, Bezos was mostly raised by his mother and step-father. He developed an interest in computers at a very young age, and he would often take apart computers and try to put them back together again.

As a teenager, Bezos discovered that he had a passion for business, and he would often build his own businesses and attempt to sell them for profit. While attending high school, Bezos started his first entrepreneurial venture.

Read More: Dwayne Johnson Net Worth

He and his friend started an in-house business to fix and resell broken lawn mowers. Bezos was named High School Student of the Year in 1982, and he graduated from high school in Miami, Florida, with a $10,000 donation to Florida Hospital for Children. 

Jeff Bezos Business Career

After graduating from high school, Bezos applied and was accepted to Princeton University. While attending Princeton, he worked at Exxon as a cubicle operator. After working at Exxon, Bezos enrolled in a computer science program at the New Mexico Military Institute.

He then transferred to the scholarship program at the University of New Mexico, where he graduated with a computer science degree. While in college, Bezos started his first business, an online service that connected computer terminals.

After graduating from college, Bezos tried to get jobs with various tech companies, but he was rejected because he lacked any experience. Because of this, he started an exploration company called Bezos Exploration, which was based in Houston, Texas.

Bezos left his exploration company after two years to found his next company, an internet brokering company called the Bezos Network. Internet brokerages were not very popular at the time, so Bezos struggled to make money with his company.

He was forced to shut down his internet brokering company in 1994. After shutting down his internet brokering company, Bezos started an educational venture called the Dream Institute of Distance Education. He left this educational venture after three years to found his next company, an online bookstore called Amazon.com. Bezos’ online bookstore was not initially successful, and he was forced to shut it down after two years.

He was forced to shut down his online bookstore after it was sued by Barnes & Noble for trademark infringement. 

Jeff Bezos Early career

After shutting down his online bookstore, Bezos started an online construction management company called the Bezos Construction Company. He left his construction company after one year and worked as an executive for a Wall Street firm. He worked as an investment banker for a firm called Fitel, where he became the company’s first non-founder CEO.

After working at Fitel, Bezos partnered with two other people to start an internet services and software company called the Amazon.com. While running Amazon.com, Bezos would often wear a portable computer device on his belt buckle to track his progress and make sure that everyone was following his directions.

In 2000, Bezos was named Time’s Person of the Year, and Amazon was valued at $48 billion. In 2001, the success of Amazon was threatened after the dot-com bubble burst and Amazon stock dropped significantly.

After the decline of Amazon stock, Bezos took out a $6 billion loan from investors to keep Amazon running. Amazon’s stock took another decline in 2008 when the financial crisis hit the country.

In 2011, Amazon’s stock fell to $89/share, which was the lowest point of Bezos’ career. The decline in Amazon’s share led Bezos to announce that he would give Amazon shareholders $800 million of his own money. 

Amazon

Once Amazon.com was established as a successful online retailer, Bezos decided to make Amazon a full-scale online shopping center.

He started Amazon’s first online bookstore in 1995, and in 1996, he started the company’s first online store that sold everything from books to toys. In 1997, Bezos established Amazon’s first distribution center, which allowed Amazon to start selling products to people in different states.

In 1999, Bezos introduced the company’s first online shopping website, which was the first website to make Amazon products available to people all over the world.

In 2000, Bezos changed Amazon’s business strategy, and the company started to offer other products and services besides books. Amazon started offering music downloads, video games, electronics, kitchen supplies, and many other products.

In 2001, Bezos decided to expand Amazon internationally, and the company started to sell items to people in 10 countries around the world.

In 2002, Bezos expanded Amazon’s product offerings to include groceries, and Amazon acquired a company named Whole Foods.

In 2004, Amazon started to offer its customers the option to have their groceries delivered to their homes.

In 2005, Amazon expanded its grocery delivery service to include other types of products like toys and cleaning supplies.

In 2007, Amazon started to offer its customers the option to have their groceries delivered within one hour.

In 2011, Amazon started its Amazon Prime program, which is a membership service that provides free two-day shipping on Amazon purchases and unlimited streaming of Amazon’s original TV and movie content.

In 2015, Amazon acquired a company named Twitch, a website that allows users to watch others play video games online.

In 2017, Bezos announced that Amazon would be expanding their Twitch service to include a virtual game arena called Twitch Arena. Amazon acquired Whole Foods in 2017 for $13.7 billion, and the company plans on making changes to Whole Foods stores and adding new Amazon products. 

Read More: Jack Ma Net Worth

Blue Origin

Bezos’ first investment in a space exploration company was Blue Origin, which was founded in 2000. Blue Origin is an aerospace manufacturer and spaceflight services company headquartered in Kent, Washington.

The company’s main goal is to make space travel available to everyday people. The president and founder of Blue Origin is Rob Meyerson, and the company has over 1,000 employees. Blue Origin’s first major project is the New Shepard, which is a reusable rocket-and-spaceship system that can take people and supplies to suborbital space.

The New Shepard is designed to autonomously fly to the edge of space and land vertically back on Earth. The New Glenn is Blue Origin’s next project, and it is a large, reusable rocket designed to take people, supplies, and satellites to orbit. The New Glenn is designed to be able to land itself, and it is expected to launch for the first time in 2021.

Blue Origin is also working on a rocket engine called BE-4, which is designed to power the New Glenn. Blue Origin has also started working on New Armstrong, which is a large rocket designed to take people and supplies to the Moon.

Bezos’ investment in Blue Origin earned him the nickname “newspaper boy billionaire” and made him the first person to become a billionaire from the commercial space industry. 

The Washington Post

In 2013, Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post for $250 million. As an owner of the Post, Bezos has said the newspaper’s mission is “very consistent with our mission at Amazon.”

That is, to be “customers first,” and to “make sure we invent on behalf of our customers.” The Washington Post’s mission is “to publish great stories and leave a lasting legacy.” Bezos has used his publishing resources to investigate the Trump administration.

The Post’s coverage of the 2016 presidential election was widely praised and credited with helping to inform voters about the candidates in the race. The paper’s investigative reporting has also taken aim at Trump’s business practices and charitable foundation. 

Bezos Expeditions

Bezos Expeditions is an investment company started by Jeff Bezos in 2000. The company, which is based in Seattle, Washington, has several investments in companies such as Airbnb, Uber, and Chinese online retail giant Alibaba.

Bezos Expeditions invests in new technologies in a wide range of areas, such as health, Internet services, and artificial intelligence. The firm has a $100 million venture fund and a $42 million private equity fund. 

Altos Labs

Bezos co-founded Altos Labs in September 2021 with Yuri Milner. Altos Labs, a biotechnology firm aiming to develop longevity treatments using cellular reprogramming, was co-founded by Barron and Milner.

In addition to prominent scientists like Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte (known for his work on rejuvenation through reprogramming) and Shinya Yamanaka (the Nobel Prize-winning creator of mammalian cellular reprogramming), the company has recruited scientists such as Steven Horvath (known for his work on epigenetic ageing clocks).

The company left stealth mode and released on January 19, 2022 with $3 billion in start capital and a team led by Hal Barron. 

Public image

Over the years, Bezos has developed a strong public image. In 2011, Time magazine named him Person of the Year. The magazine credited Bezos with creating a new way of shopping, where people can find and purchase almost anything online. In 1999, he was named Businessperson of the Year by Forbes magazine.

Bezos is also a philanthropist who donates to charitable causes and funds education programs, including scholarships for immigrants.

He also donates to scientific causes and funds research into the prevention and treatment of diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes. In 2018, Bezos, along with Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, signed a pledge to donate at least half of their wealth to charity. 

Leadership style

According to an article in the Harvard Business Review, Bezos’ leadership style can be summed up as “Get big fast.” This “can-do, impatient approach” is characterized by bold decisions, a willingness to try new things, and a high tolerance for risk.

Bezos encourages his employees to “think big” and to “unbox themselves” to achieve their goals. His leadership style is also characterized by his focus on long-term goals, such as “to build a company that lasts 100 years.” 

Award & Recognition

In 2012, Bezos was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Princeton University.

In 2013, he received an award from the Association of Business Editors and Writers for “extraordinary influence on business journalism.”

Bezos was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2017.

In 2018, Bezos was awarded the Philanthropist of the Year Award by the Economic Colloquium for his contribution to the field of philanthropy

Wealth

Throughout his career, Bezos’ focus on investing in technology companies has made him one of the world’s richest people. His current net worth is $135 billion, which is the highest in history, easily surpassing Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ net worth of $96.9 billion.

Bezos’ wealth has increased by $32 billion this year, and some analysts predict that he could become the wealthiest person in the world by the end of the year. Given his wealth, Bezos has been able to donate significant sums of money to charitable causes.

He and his wife, MacKenzie, donated $33 million to fund scholarships for undocumented immigrants. The couple has also donated $10 million to a scholarship fund for Dreamers and $33 million to fund a scholarship fund for young entrepreneurs. He has also donated to organizations like the Red Cross, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Foundation for Child Victims of Trafficking and others.

Personal life

Bezos has been married to his wife, MacKenzie, since 1993. The couple has four children and resides in Washington, D.C. Bezos’ father, Ted Jorgensen, was an engineer and his mother, Jacklyn Gise, was a waitress. His parents divorced when he was four years old, and he and his sister, Kimberly, were raised by their mother.

Bezos was a child prodigy and graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with a computer science degree. In his junior year, he was hired by the financial services company, D.E. Shaw & Co.

Politics

Despite his massive wealth, Bezos has stayed out of the political spotlight. He has donated money to former President Barack Obama and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. He has also donated to other Democratic and Republican candidates.

Saudi hacking claim

The relationship between Bezos and Saudi Arabia has been strained since The Washington Post published an article that stated that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, or MBS, and members of his entourage had discussed ways to silence journalists critical of the government.

Bezos owns The Washington Post newspaper, and after the article was published, he claimed that the newspaper was hacked by people working on behalf of the government in Saudi Arabia. After the Post published an article revealing that the paper had been the victim of a cyberattack, MBS was said to have aggressively confronted Bezos at a gathering of businessmen and political leaders in the desert.

MBS has since tried to refute allegations that he or the Saudi government were involved in the cyberattack against The Washington Post.

Philanthropy

Jeff Bezos’ philanthropic efforts have earned him numerous honors and recognition. He received the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2015 and was named Person of the Year by Time magazine in 2016 because of his efforts to build a philanthropic organization called the Bezos Family Foundation, which he started with his wife.

The organization focuses on early education and funding for organizations that support the development of preschools. In addition to being a major donor to the education sector, Bezos has also made substantial gifts to charity in the health sector.

Bezos has donated $42 million to fund the construction of a new children’s hospital in Seattle. The hospital will be named after him.

Frequently Asked Questions-FAQs About Jeff Bezos