Jeff Bezos: The Man Who Built an Everything Store

Early Life and Princeton

Jeff Bezos was born on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His mother, Jacklyn, was 17 when she had him. At age 4, Jacklyn married Miguel Bezos, a Cuban immigrant who had arrived in the United States as a teenager. Jeff took his stepfather's surname, and Miguel's immigrant work ethic profoundly influenced him.

From an early age, Jeff was obsessively curious and mechanical — he converted his childhood bedroom into a laboratory and rigged an alarm to keep his siblings out. He graduated as valedictorian from Miami Palmetto Senior High School and earned a Bachelor of Science from Princeton University in electrical engineering and computer science summa cum laude.

From Wall Street to a Garage

After Princeton, Bezos worked at several technology companies on Wall Street, eventually becoming a Senior Vice President at hedge fund D.E. Shaw at age 30. In 1994, reading that the internet was growing at 2,300% per year, he left a lucrative career to start an online bookstore, driving cross-country with his wife MacKenzie while writing the business plan.

Amazon launched in 1995 from Bezos' Bellevue garage. In its first month it sold books to customers in all 50 US states and 45 countries.

Building the Everything Store

Amazon rapidly expanded from books to music, DVDs, electronics, and eventually — everything. The launch of Amazon Marketplace allowed third-party sellers; Amazon Prime (2005) created loyal recurring customers; Amazon Web Services (2006) became the world's dominant cloud platform, generating most of Amazon's profit. Amazon Kindle, Echo, Alexa, Ring, Whole Foods, MGM — Bezos' acquisition instincts built an empire with few parallels in business history.

Becoming the World's Richest Person

At multiple points between 2017 and 2021, Bezos held the title of world's richest person, with a net worth peaking above $200 billion. His divorce from MacKenzie Scott in 2019 — in which she received 4% of Amazon shares worth $35 billion — was the most expensive divorce in history. He stepped down as Amazon CEO in 2021, transitioning to Executive Chairman.

Blue Origin and Beyond

Bezos founded Blue Origin space company in 2000 — before SpaceX — with the goal of enabling millions of people to live and work in space. In July 2021 he flew on Blue Origin's first human spaceflight. He purchased The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million. His net worth in 2024 is approximately $190 billion.