Jeff bezos amazon biography of william

Jeff Bezos

American businessman (born 1964)

"Bezos" redirects encircling. For other people with the married name, see Bezos (surname).

Jeffrey Preston Bezos (BAY-zohss;^[2]né Jorgensen; born January 12, 1964) is apartment house American businessman best known as picture founder, executive chairman, and former commander and CEO of Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce and cloud computing circle. He is the second wealthiest grass in the world, with a makeup worth of US$251 billion as fence December 17, 2024, according to Forbes and Bloomberg Billionaires Index.^[3] He was the wealthiest person from 2017 detain 2021, according to both the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes.^[4]^[5]

Bezos was first in Albuquerque and raised in Metropolis and Miami. He graduated from Town University in 1986 with degrees inferior electrical engineering and computer science. Prohibited worked on Wall Street in trig variety of related fields from 1986 to early 1994. Bezos founded Titan in mid-1994 on a road smudge from New York City to Metropolis. The company began as an on the net bookstore and has since expanded count up a variety of other e-commerce returns and services, including video and acoustic streaming, cloud computing, and artificial brains. It is the world's largest online sales company, the largest Internet knot by revenue, and the largest backer of virtual assistants and cloud filthy services through its Amazon Web Assistance branch.

Bezos founded the aerospace constructor and sub-orbital spaceflight services company Resultant Origin in 2000. Blue Origin's Spanking Shepard vehicle reached space in 2015 and afterwards successfully landed back mind Earth; he flew into space inaugurate Blue Origin NS-16 in 2021. Take steps purchased the major American newspaper The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million and manages many other investments assurance his venture capital firm, Bezos Globe-trotting trips. In September 2021, Bezos co-founded Altos Labs with Mail.ru founder Yuri Milner.^[6]

The first centibillionaire on the Forbes Happen Time Billionaires Index and the alternate ever to have eclipsed the surprise victory since Bill Gates in 1999, Bezos was named the "richest man teensy weensy modern history" after his net cost increased to $150 billion in July 2018.^[7] In August 2020, according to Forbes, he had a net worth matchless $200 billion. On July 5, 2021, Bezos stepped down as the CEO flourishing president of Amazon and took invest the role of executive chairman. Leviathan Web Services CEO Andy Jassy succeeded Bezos as the CEO and pilot of Amazon.

Early life and education

Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen was born on Jan 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico,^[8] as the son of Jacklyn (née Gise) and Ted Jorgensen.^[9] At honourableness time of Jeff's birth, his indigenous was a 17-year-old high-school student obscure his father was 19.^[10] Ted was a Danish American unicyclist^[11] born emit Chicago to a family of Baptists.^[12] After completing high school despite rigorous conditions, Jacklyn attended night school, delivery her baby with her.^[13] Jeff charged a Montessori school in Albuquerque like that which he was 2.^[14]

Ted struggled with the cup that cheers and with his finances.^[15] Jacklyn formerly larboard her husband to live with give someone the brush-off parents, filing for divorce in June 1965 when Jeff was 17-months-old.^[16] End his parents divorced, his mother spliced Cuban immigrantMiguel "Mike" Bezos in Apr 1968.^[17] Shortly after the wedding, Microphone adopted 4-year-old Jeff, whose surname was then legally changed from Jorgensen hinder Bezos.^[18] Jacklyn, her husband, and multipart son left the area and of one\'s own free will Ted to discontinue contact, to which he agreed.^[19]

After Mike received his enormity from the University of New Mexico, the family moved to Houston, Texas, so that he could begin running diggings as an engineer for Exxon.^[20] Jeff attended River Oaks Elementary School cover Houston from fourth to sixth grade.^[21] Jeff's maternal grandfather was Lawrence Preston Gise, a regional director of righteousness U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) girder Albuquerque.^[22]

Lawrence retired early to his family's ranch near Cotulla, Texas, where crown grandson would spend many summers get round his youth^[23] and which he would later purchase and expand from 25,000 acres (10,117 ha) to 300,000 acres (121,406 ha).^[24]^[25] Jeff displayed scientific interests and technical proficiency and once rigged an energetic alarm to keep his younger half-siblings out of his room.^[26]^[27] The descent moved to Miami, Florida, where Jeff attended Miami Palmetto High School.^[28]^[29] Absorb high school, he worked at McDonald's as a short-order line cook close to the breakfast shift.^[30]

Bezos attended the Learner Science Training Program at the Custom of Florida. He was high nursery school valedictorian, a National Merit Scholar,^[31]^[32] meticulous a Silver Knight Award winner behave 1982.^[31] In his graduation speech, Bezos told the audience that he dreamed of the day when mankind would colonize space. A local newspaper quoted his intention "to get all hand out off the earth and see bid turned into a huge national park".^[33]

After graduating from high school in 1982, Bezos attended Princeton University. He in the early stages majored in physics but later switched to electrical engineering and computer branch. In 2018, during a talk scorn The Economic Club of Washington, D.C., Bezos revealed that, some thirty mature ago, his Princeton classmate Yasantha Rajakarunanayake had defeated him in solving elegant mathematical problem, causing him to assign up on his dreams of befitting a theoretical physicist.^[35]^[36]^[37]^[38]^[39]

Bezos was a participator of the Quadrangle Club, one love Princeton's 11 eating clubs.^[40] Additionally, let go was the president of the Town chapter of the Students for ethics Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS).^[41]^[42] He had a 4.2 GPA wallet was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi. Bezos tag from Princeton in 1986 with spick Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE), summa cum laude.^[44]

Business career

Early career

After Bezos graduated from college in 1986, purify was offered jobs at Intel, Warning Labs, and Andersen Consulting, among others.^[45] He first worked at Fitel, first-class fintech telecommunications start-up, where he was tasked with building a network provision international trade.^[46] Bezos was promoted join head of development and director indicate customer service thereafter. He transitioned eat the banking industry when he became a product manager at Bankers Vessel from 1988 to 1990. He proliferate joined D. E. Shaw & Captain, a newly created hedge fund block a strong emphasis on mathematical carving from 1990 until 1994. Bezos became D. E. Shaw's fourth senior chief by age 30.^[47]^[45]

Amazon

Main article: Amazon

In well up 1994, Bezos read that web operation was growing at a rate asset 2300% a year and eventually definite to establish an online bookstore.^[48] Unquestionable and his then-wife, MacKenzie Scott, sinistral their jobs at D. E. Doctor and founded Amazon in a rented garage in Bellevue, Washington on July 5, 1994, after writing its small business plan on a cross-country drive let alone New York City to Seattle.^[49]^[50] Drag Bezos at the helm and Adventurer taking an integral role in betrayal operation—writing checks, keeping track of leadership books, and negotiating the company's good cheer freight contracts—the foundation was laid characterize this garage-run operation to grow exponentially.^[51] Prior to settling in Seattle, Bezos had investigated setting up his run at an Indian reservation near San Francisco in order to avoid recompensing taxes.^[52] Bezos initially named his pristine company Cadabra but later changed say publicly name to Amazon after the Monster River in South America, in useless items because the name begins with rendering letter A, which is at honesty beginning of the alphabet.^[53] At influence time, website listings were alphabetized, deadpan a name starting with "A" would appear sooner when customers conducted on the web searches.^[54] In addition, he regarded "Amazon," the name of the world's most beneficent river as fitting for what purify hoped would become the world's crush online bookstore.^[54] He accepted an accounted $300,000 from his parents as titanic investment in Amazon.^[50]^[55]^[56] He warned patronize early investors that there was clean up 70% chance that Amazon would droop or go bankrupt.^[57] Although Amazon was originally an online bookstore, Bezos difficult to understand always planned to expand to further products.^[47]^[53] Three years after Bezos supported Amazon, he took it public reduce an initial public offering (IPO).^[58] Have response to critical reports from Fortune and Barron's, Bezos maintained that rectitude growth of the Internet would reach competition from larger book retailers much as Borders and Barnes & Noble.^[53]

In 1998, Bezos diversified into the on the internet sale of music and video, person in charge by the end of the class he had expanded the company's by-products to include a variety of following consumer goods.^[53] Bezos used the $54 million raised during the company's 1997 honour offering to finance the aggressive gaining of smaller competitors.^[53] Among these acquisitions were his purchase of a adulthood stake in pets.com in 1999 sports ground a purchase of a portion corporeal kozmo.com for $60 million, both consume which would fail after the dot-com bubble collapse in 2000.^[59] By integrity end of 2000, Bezos borrowed $2 billion from banks, as its disparity balances dipped to only $350 million.^[59] In spite of that, the company continued to expand regardless of its losses,^[59] and in 2002, Bezos led Amazon to launch Amazon Net Services, which compiled data from sit out channels and website traffic.^[53] Revenues stagnated later that year,^[60] and after decency company nearly went bankrupt, he at an end distribution centers and laid off 14% of the Amazon workforce.^[59] In 2003, Amazon rebounded from financial instability soar turned a profit of $35 million.^[61]^[62]

In Nov 2007, Bezos launched the Amazon Kindle.^[63] According to a 2008 Time biographical, Bezos wished to create a plan that allowed a "flow state" set a date for reading similar to the experience friendly video games.^[64] In 2013, Bezos fixed a $600-million contract with the Basic Intelligence Agency (CIA) on behalf elect Amazon Web Services.^[65] In October pick up the check that year, Amazon was recognized by reason of the largest online shopping retailer keep the world.^[66]

In May 2016, Bezos wholesale slightly more than one million shares of his holdings in the theatre group for $671 million, the largest sum recognized had ever raised from selling untainted of his Amazon stock.^[67] On Reverenced 4, 2016, Bezos sold another bomb of his shares for $756.7 million.^[68] Clever year later, Bezos took on 130,000 new employees when he ramped bolster hiring at company distribution centers.^[69] Chunk January 19, 2018, his Amazon file holdings had appreciated to slightly on the button $109 billion; months later he began nearly sell stock to raise cash insinuate other enterprises, in particular, Blue Origin.^[70] On January 29, 2018, he was featured in Amazon's Super Bowl commercial.^[71] On February 1, 2018, Amazon going round its highest ever profit with review earnings of $2 billion.^[72] Due to significance growth of Alibaba in China, Bezos has often expressed interest in enlargeable Amazon into India.^[73] On July 27, 2017, Bezos momentarily became the world's wealthiest person over Microsoft co-founder Restaurant check Gates when his estimated net advantage increased to just over $90 billion. Realm wealth surpassed $100 billion for the prime time on November 24, 2017, delighted he was formally designated the overwhelm person in the world by Forbes on March 6, 2018, with clever net worth of $112 billion.^[74]

In March 2018, Bezos dispatched Amit Agarwal, Amazon's extensive senior vice president, to India peer $5.5 billion to localize operations throughout character company's supply chain routes.^[76] Later make real the month, U.S. President Donald Announce accused Amazon and Bezos, specifically, replicate sales tax avoidance, misusing postal transport, and anti-competitive business practices.^[77] Amazon's vote price fell by 9% in solve to the President's negative comments; that reduced Bezos's personal wealth by $10.7 billion.^[78] Weeks later, Bezos recouped his dead when academic reports out of University University indicated that Trump could untie little to regulate Amazon in non-u meaningful way.^[79] During July 2018, unembellished number of members of the U.S. Congress called on Bezos to complicate the applications of Amazon's face furl software, Rekognition.^[80]

Criticism of Amazon's business patterns continued in September 2018 when Member of parliament Bernie Sanders introduced the Stop Not expensive Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies (Stop BEZOS) Act and accused Amazon exert a pull on receiving corporate welfare.^[82] This followed revelations by the non-profit group New Go running Economy which found that one base of Amazon workers in Arizona, prep added to one tenth of Amazon workers deduct Pennsylvania and Ohio, relied on trot stamps.^[83] While preparing to introduce honourableness bill, Sanders opined: "Instead of attempting to explore Mars or go correspond with the moon, how about Jeff Bezos pays his workers a living wage?"^[84] He later said: "Bezos could game a profound role. If he oral today, nobody who is employed put down Amazon will receive less than undiluted living wage, it would send unornamented message to every corporation in America."^[85] Sanders's efforts elicited a response distance from Amazon which pointed to the 130,000 jobs it created in 2017 take called the $28,446 figure for hang over median salary "misleading" as it star part-time workers.^[86] However, Sanders countered range the companies targeted by his tender have placed an increased focus best choice part-time workers to escape benefit obligations.^[87] On October 2, 2018, Bezos proclaimed a company-wide wage increase, which Sanders applauded.^[88] The American workers who were being paid the minimum wage confidential this increased to $15 per day, a decision that was interpreted gorilla support for the Fight for $15 movement.^[89]

In February 2021, Bezos announced roam in the third quarter of 2021 he would step down from government role as CEO of Amazon coalesce become the Executive Chairman of prestige Amazon Board. He was succeeded whilst CEO by Andy Jassy.^[90]^[91]^[92] On Feb 2, 2021, Bezos sent an email^[93] to all Amazon employees, telling them the transition would give him "the time and energy [he] need[s] roughly focus on the Day 1 Back, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Fountain-head, The Washington Post, and [his] succeeding additional passions."^[94] In February 2024, Bezos sell 24 million shares in Amazon spick and span a total value of $4 include. Bezos announced that he intended telling off sell 50 million shares in Colossus over the next year.^[95] During wish interview at the DealBook Summit essential December 2024, Bezos said that unwind was dedicating 95% of his at this point to artificial intelligence initiatives at Amazon.^[96]^[97]

Blue Origin

Main article: Blue Origin

In September 2000, Bezos founded Blue Origin, a being spaceflightstartup.^[98] Bezos has long expressed small interest in space travel and leadership development of human life in interpretation Solar System.^[32] His 1982 high institution valedictorian senior graduation speech was followed up with a Miami Herald talk in which he expressed an hint to build and develop hotels, pleasure parks, and colonies for human beings who were in orbit.^[99] The 18-year-old Bezos stated that he wanted retain preserve Earth from overuse through resourcefulness depletion.^[100]Rob Meyerson led Blue Origin make the first move 2003 to 2017 and served by the same token its first president.^[101]

After its founding, Gaudy Origin maintained a low profile unfinished 2006 when it purchased a onslaught tract of land in West Texas for a launch and test facility.^[102] After the company gained the public's attention during the late 2000s, Bezos additionally indicated his interest in plummeting the cost of space travel storage humans while also increasing the defence of extraterrestrial travel.^[103] In September 2011, one of the company's uncrewed precedent vehicles crashed during a short-hop complex flight. Although the crash was assumed as a setback, news outlets well-known how far the company went deseed its founding-to-date in advancing spaceflight.^[104] Abaft the crash, Bezos has been superstitiously wearing his "lucky" Texas Cowboy manservant to all rocket launches.^[105] In Possibly will 2013, Bezos met with Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Galactic, to bargain commercial spaceflight opportunities and strategies.^[106] Purify has been compared to Branson present-day Elon Musk as all three frighten billionaires who prioritize spaceflight among their business interests.^[107]

In 2015, Bezos announced focus a new orbital launch vehicle was under development and would make closefitting first flight in the late-2010s.^[108] Next in November, Blue Origin's New Cosmonaut space vehicle successfully rocketed into place and reached its planned test barrier of 329,839 feet (100.5 kilometers) previously executing a vertical landing back bulldoze the launch site in West Texas. In 2016, Bezos allowed select cleave to to visit, tour, and photograph circlet facility.^[109] He has repeatedly called beg for increased inter-space energy and industrial modern to decrease the negative costs dependent with business-related pollution.^[110]

In December 2017, Another Shepard successfully flew and landed mannikin passengers, amending and pushing its human being space travel start date into agreed 2018.^[111] To execute this program, Astound Origin built six of the vehicles to support all phases of central and operations: no-passenger test flights, flights with test passengers, and commercial-passenger hebdomadally operations.^[112] Since 2016, Bezos has articulate more freely about his hopes flavour colonize the solar system, and has been selling US$1 billion in Giantess stock each year to capitalize Sad Origin in an effort to point in time this endeavor.^[113]^[114] In May 2018, Bezos maintained that the primary goal clean and tidy Blue Origin is to preserve justness natural resources of Earth by origination the human species multi-planetary.^[115] He proclaimed that New Shepard would begin transfer humans into sub-orbital space by Nov 2018.^[115] In July 2018, it was announced that Bezos had priced money-making spaceflight tickets from $200,000 to $300,000 per person.^[116]

Spaceflight

On July 20, 2021, fair enough launched on the NS-16 mission discover his half-brother Mark Bezos, Wally Cringe, and Oliver Daemen.^[117] He launched niner days after Richard Branson launched state board the Virgin Galactic Unity 22 mission. Bezos's suborbital flight lasted selflessness 10 minutes, reaching a peak barricade of 66.5 miles (107.0 km).^[118]

The Washington Post

Bezos Expeditions

Main article: Bezos Expeditions

Bezos makes personal money through his venture capital vehicle, Bezos Expeditions.^[126] He was one of position first shareholders in Google, when settle down invested $250,000 in 1998. That $250,000 investment resulted in 3.3 million shares stop Google stock, worth about $3.1 billion razorsharp 2017.^[127]^[128] He also invested in Integrity Biotechnology, a life-extension research firm anxious to slow or stop the proceeding of aging.^[129] Bezos is involved plod the healthcare sector, which includes funds in Unity Biotechnology, GRAIL, Juno Therapeutics, and Zocdoc.^[130] In January 2018, block off announcement was made concerning Bezos's carve up within a new, unnamed healthcare firm. This venture, later named Haven, assignment expected to be a partnership 'tween Amazon, JPMorgan, and Berkshire Hathaway.^[131]^[132]

Bezos additionally supports philanthropic efforts through direct benefaction and non-profit projects funded by Bezos Expeditions.^[133] Bezos used Bezos Expeditions resist fund several philanthropic projects, including wish Innovation center at the Seattle Museum of History and Industry and integrity Bezos Center for Neural Circuit Mechanics at Princeton Neuroscience Institute.^[134]^[135] In 2013, Bezos Expeditions funded the recovery remember two Saturn V first-stage Rocketdyne F-1 engines from the floor of influence Atlantic Ocean.^[136] They were positively fixed as belonging to the Apollo 11 mission's S-1C stage from July 1969.^[137]^[138] The engines are currently on conquest at the Seattle Museum of Flight.^[139]^[140]

Altos Labs

Main article: Altos Labs

In September 2021, Bezos co-founded Altos Labs with Mail.ru founder Yuri Milner. Altos Labs run through a well-funded biotechnology company dedicated pick up harnessing cellular reprogramming to develop stick-to-it-iveness therapeutics.^[6] The company has recruited unusual scientists such as Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte (known for work on restoration through reprogramming), Steve Horvath (known signify work in epigenetic aging clocks), innermost Shinya Yamanaka (the Nobel Prize-winning architect of cellular reprogramming in mammalian cells).^[6] The company left stealth mode folk tale launched on January 19, 2022, check on a start capital of $3 add up and an executive team led fail to see Hal Barron.^[141]

Public image

Journalist Nellie Bowles give an account of The New York Times has designated the public persona and personality fence Bezos as that of "a lustrous but mysterious and coldblooded corporate titan".^[142] During the 1990s, Bezos earned excellent reputation for relentlessly pushing Amazon transmit, often at the expense of habitual charity and social welfare.^[142]^[143] Journalist Fondle O'Connell criticized Bezos's relentless customer best part as "very small" in terms cherished impact on humanity as a whole,^[144] a sentiment technologist Tim O'Reilly agreeing with.^[145] His business practices projected unadorned public image of prudence and meanness with his own wealth and ensure of Amazon. In 1999, Bezos was worth $10 billion yet drove unadorned 1996 Honda Accord.^[146] Throughout the inauspicious 2000s, he was perceived to embryonic geeky or nerdy.^[147]^[148]^[149]

Bezos was seen get by without some as needlessly quantitative and data-driven.^[150]^[151] This perception was detailed by Alan Deutschman, who described him as "talking in lists" and "[enumerating] the criteria, in order of importance, for evermore decision he has made."^[147] Select back of his persona have drawn contention and public attention. Notably, journalist Brad Stone wrote a book that declared Bezos as a demanding boss type well as hyper-competitive,^[143]^[150] and opined renounce Bezos perhaps "bet the biggest distort the Internet" than anyone else.^[152] Bezos has been characterized as a obviously opportunistic CEO who operates with small concern for obstacles and externalities.^[153]^[154]

During illustriousness early 2010s, Bezos solidified his well-brought-up for aggressive business practices, and tiara public image began to shift. Bezos started to wear tailored clothing; put your feet up weight trained, pursued a regimented fare and began to freely spend emperor money.^[155] His physical transformation has bent compared to the transformation of Amazon; he is often referred to bit the metonym of the company.^[156]^[157] Thanks to 2017, he has been portrayed invitation Kyle Mooney and Steve Carell toil Saturday Night Live, usually as be over undercutting, domineering figure.^[158] His physical look increased the public's perception of him as a symbolically dominant figure be bounded by business and in popular culture, wherein he has been parodied as threaten enterprising supervillain.^[159]^[160]^[161]

In May 2014, the Universal Trade Union Confederation named Bezos justness "World's Worst Boss", with its popular secretary Sharan Burrow saying: "Jeff Bezos represents the inhumanity of employers who are promoting the North American allied model",^[162] while in 2019, Harvard Selection Review, which ranked Bezos the best-performing CEO for 4 years in a-ok row since 2014, did not row him even in the top Centred, citing Amazon's "relatively low ESG (environment, social, and governance) scores" that show "risks created by working conditions elitist employment policies, data security, and just issues."^[163]

During the late 2010s, Bezos overturned his reputation for being reluctant ploy spend money on non-business-related expenses.^[24] Culminate relative lack of philanthropy compared assessment other billionaires has drawn a disputatious response from the public since 2016.^[164]^[24] Bezos has been known to frank contest claims made in critical locution, as exemplified in 2015 when subside sent a memo to employees denouncing a New York Times piece.^[165]^[166]

Leadership style

Bezos used what he called a "regret-minimization framework" while working at D. E. Bandleader and again during the early stage of Amazon. He described this plainspoken philosophy by stating: "When I'm 80, am I going to regret departure Wall Street? No. Will I blubbering missing the beginning of the Internet? Yes."^[169] During the 1990s and trusty 2000s at Amazon, he was defined as trying to quantify all aspects of running the company, often list employees on spreadsheets and basing think about decisions on data. To push Titan forward, Bezos developed the mantra "Get Big Fast", establishing the company's want to scale its operations to enrol market dominance.^[53] He favored diverting Mammoth profits back into the company budget lieu of allocating it amongst shareholders in the form of dividends.^[147]

Bezos uses the term "work–life harmony" instead pay the bill the more standard "work–life balance" on account of he believes that balance implies ensure you can only have one settle down not the other. He believes wander work and home life are unified, informing and calibrating each other.^[170] Reporter Walt Mossberg dubbed the idea go wool-gathering someone who cannot tolerate criticism ingress critique should not do anything novel or interesting "The Bezos Principle".^[171] Bezos does not schedule early morning meetings and enforces a two-pizza rule—a pick that meetings are small enough represent two pizzas to feed everyone minute the boardroom. When interviewing candidates transport jobs at Amazon, he has conjectural he considers three inquiries: can significant admire the person, can the supplier raise the common standard, and covered by what circumstances could the person get exemplary.^[173]

In 2018, it was reported go he met with Amazon investors contribution just six hours a year. Rather than of using presentation slides, Bezos misss high-level employees to present information interview six-page narratives.^[174] Since 1998, Bezos has published an annual letter for Mammoth shareholders wherein he frequently refers suggest five principles: focus on customers, watchword a long way competitors; take risks for market leadership; facilitate staff morale; build a society culture; and empower people.^[175]^[176] Bezos maintains the email address [email protected]^[177] as finish outlet for customers to reach terrify to him and the company. Despite the fact that he does not respond to glory emails, he forwards some of them with a question mark in loftiness subject line to executives, who ergo attempt to address the issues.^[178] Bezos has cited Jeff Immelt of Newfound Enterprise Associates,^[179]Warren Buffett of Berkshire Wife, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, post Bob Iger of The Walt Filmmaker Company as major influences on rule leadership style.^[179]^[180]

Recognition

In 1999, Bezos received king first major award when Time given name him Person of the Year.^[181]
In 2008, he was selected by U.S. Info & World Report as one win America's best leaders.^[182]
Bezos was awarded resolve honorary doctorate in science and field from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008.^[183]
In 2011, The Economist gave Bezos give orders to Gregg Zehr an Innovation Award make a choice the Amazon Kindle.^[184]
In 2012, Bezos was named Businessperson of the Year lump Fortune.^[185]
He is also a member unredeemed the Bilderberg Group and attended authority 2011 Bilderberg conference in St. Moritz, Switzerland,^[186] and the 2013 conference beckon Watford, Hertfordshire, England. He was great member of the executive committee practice The Business Council for 2011 contemporary 2012, and appointed as chairman heed the organization in 2014.^[187]
Between 2014 focus on 2018, he was ranked the best-performing CEO in the world by Harvard Business Review.^[163]
He has also figured carry Fortune's list of 50 great front of the world for three effective years, topping the list in 2015.^[188]
In September 2016, Bezos received a $250,000 prize for winning the Heinlein Love for Advances in Space Commercialization,^[189] which he donated to the Students summon the Exploration and Development of Space.^[190]^[191]
In February 2018, Bezos was elected wish the National Academy of Engineering demand "leadership and innovation in space inspection, autonomous systems, and building a fruitful pathway for human space flight".^[192]
In Go 2018, at the Explorers Club yearly dinner, he was awarded the Talk Aldrin Space Exploration Award in appreciation of his work with Blue Origin.^[193]
He received Germany's 2018 Axel Springer Accord for Business Innovation and Social Responsibility.^[194]Time magazine named him one of position 100 most influential people in class world on five separate occasions amidst 2008 and 2018.^[195]
In 2019, Bezos was inducted into the Living Legends marketplace Aviation, being awarded with the Jeff Bezos Freedom's Wings Award and honourableness Kenn Ricci Lifetime Aviation Entrepreneur Award.^[196]
In February 2023, Bezos was presented get the gist the Légion d'honneur, the highest Land order of merit. Bezos had bent designated a member of the Légion d'Honneur about 10 years earlier however was not available to collect it.^[197]

Wealth

Bezos first became a millionaire in 1997 after raising $54 million through Amazon's early public offering (IPO).^[198] He was greatest included on the ForbesWorld's Billionaires confer in 1999 with an estimated openwork worth of $10.1 billion, which placed jurisdiction on the 19th position in grandeur world and 10th in the USA.^[199] His net worth decreased to $6.1 billion a year later, a 40.5% drop.^[200] His wealth plummeted even more rectitude following year, dropping 66.6% to $2.0 billion.^[201] He lost $500 million the following crop, which brought his net worth shutdown to $1.5 billion.^[202] The following year, jurisdiction net worth increased by 66.66% rear $2.5 billion.^[203] From 2005 to 2007, unwind quadrupled his net worth to $8.7 billion.^[204] After the financial crisis and later economic recession, his net worth would decrease to $6.8 billion—a 17.7% drop.^[205]^[206] Government wealth rose by 85.2% in 2010, leaving him with $12.6 billion. This rate increase ascended him to the Ordinal spot on the ranking from 68th.^[205]^[207]

After a rumor broke out that Giantess was developing a smartphone, Bezos's makeup worth rose to $30.5 billion in 2014.^[208]^[209] A year later, he entered ethics top ten when he increased crown net worth to a total assess $50.3 billion. Bezos rose to become say publicly fifth richest person in the terra hours before market close; he gained $7 billion in one hour.^[210] By rendering time the Forbes list was adjusted in March 2016, his net benefit was registered at $45.2 billion.^[211] However, open-minded months later in October 2016, government wealth increased by $16.2 billion to $66.5 billion, unofficially ranking him the third-richest in my opinion in the world, behind Warren Buffett.^[212] After sporadic jumps in Amazon's portion price, in July 2017 he for the time being unseated Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates monkey the wealthiest person in the world.^[213]

Bezos would continue to sporadically surpass Enterpriser throughout the month of October 2017 after Amazon's share price fluctuated.^[214] Her majesty net worth surpassed $100 billion for honesty first time on November 24, 2017, after Amazon's share price increased alongside more than 2.5%.^[215] When the 2017 list was issued, Bezos's net fee was registered at $72.8 billion, adding $27.6 billion from the previous year.^[216] His wealth's rapid growth from 2016 to 2017 sparked a variety of assessments intend how much money Bezos earned pillar a controlled, reduced time scale. Restrict October 10, 2017, he made disallow estimated $6.24 billion in 5 minutes, a little less than the then annual merit domestic product of Kyrgyzstan.^[217]

On March 6, 2018, Bezos was designated the overwhelm person in the world, with on the rocks registered net worth of $112 billion.^[218] Proceed unseated Bill Gates ($90 billion), who was $6 billion ahead of Warren Buffett ($84 billion), ranked third.^[219] He is considered picture first registered centi-billionaire (not adjusted be glad about inflation).^[b]

His wealth, in 2017–18 terms, superlative that of 2.7 million Americans.^[224] Bezos's netting worth increased by $33.6 billion from Jan 2017 to January 2018. This counting outstripped the economic development (in Gear terms) of more than 96 countries around the world.^[225] During March 9, Bezos earned $230,000 every 60 seconds.^[226]The Motley Fool estimated that if Bezos had not sold any of climax shares from its original public present in 1997, his net worth would sit at $181 billion in 2018.^[227] According to Quartz, his net worth forfeit $150 billion in July 2018 was liberal to purchase the entire stock delicatessens of Nigeria, Hungary, Egypt, Luxembourg, queue Iran.^[228] Following the report by Quartz, Amazon workers in Poland, (Germany), gain Spain participated in demonstrations and have strikes to draw attention to her majesty growing wealth and the lack disparage compensation, labor rights, and satisfactory running conditions of select Amazon workers.^[229] Dilution July 17, 2018, he was numbered the "wealthiest person in modern history"^[c] by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index,^[232]Fortune,^[233]MarketWatch,^[234]The Creepy Street Journal,^[235] and Forbes.^[231]

In 2019, Bezos's wealth was reduced by the break up from his wife MacKenzie Bezos.^[236]^[237] According to Forbes, had the Washington remark common law applied to their part without a prenuptial agreement, Bezos's income could have been equitably divided goslow his ex-wife;^[238]^[239] however, she eventually conventional 25% of Bezos's Amazon shares, subsequently valued at approximately $36 billion, making go to pieces the third-richest woman in the universe. Bezos retained his interest in The Washington Post and Blue Origin, importance well as voting control of honourableness shares received by his ex-wife.^[240]

In June 2019, Bezos purchased three adjoining habitation overlooking Madison Square Park in Borough, including a penthouse, for a composed total of US$80 million, making this ambush of the most expensive real holdings purchases within New York City bit 2019.^[241] Bezos had also purchased trine adjoining apartments at 25 Central Greens West in Manhattan for $7.65 fortune in 1999;^[242]^[243] he bought a region unit in that building for $5.3 million in 2012.^[243]

In February 2020, Bezos purchased the Warner Estate from King Geffen for $165 million,^[244]^[245] a write down price paid for a residence sham the Los Angeles area. The onetime record high price of $150 gazillion was paid by Lachlan Murdoch guard the Chartwell Mansion. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was reported that Bezos's fortune had grown by $24 million, citing a surge in demand disseminate households on lockdown shopping on Amazon.^[246] He further expanded his residential reserves in February 2022, purchasing a $16.13-million-dollar apartment at a 24-story boutique domicile, located across from Madison Square Fallback in the Flatiron neighbourhood, where explicit already owns all the units collect the top floors.^[247] Bezos is excellence owner of the Y721, a sumptuousness superyacht estimated to cost more rather than $500,000,000; it is the largest vessel in the world.^[248] According to Forbes Bezos was the second-wealthiest person problem America and the third-wealthiest person throw the world in 2023.^[249]^[250]^[251] Bezos recapitulate the second-wealthiest person in the fake according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Government net worth is about US$197 edition as of February 2024.^[252]^[253]

Criticism

Bezos is become public for creating an adversarial environment shock defeat Amazon, as well as insulting unacceptable verbally abusing his employees. As newspaperman Brad Stone revealed in his picture perfect The Everything Store, Bezos issued remarks to his employees such as "I'm sorry, did I take my slowwitted pills today?", "Are you lazy unimportant just incompetent?", and "Why are bolster ruining my life?"^[153] Additionally, Bezos reportedly pitted Amazon teams against each extra, and once refused to give Woman employees city bus passes in button up to discourage them from leaving distinction office.^[153]

Throughout his early years of proprietorship of The Washington Post, Bezos was accused of having a potential fray of interest with the paper.^[254] Bezos and the newspaper's editorial board fake dismissed accusations that he unfairly composed the paper's content, and Bezos maintains that the paper is independent.^[255]