Last Updated on February 15, 2024 by Ben
Jeff Bezos is an American businessman, entrepreneur, philanthropist, media mogul, and citizen astronaut. He came up with the idea for retail giant Amazon and was its CEO for many years.
Forbes’ list of the wealthiest people in the world from April said that Bezos was worth $114 billion.
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But because business is constantly changing, in less than a week, his net worth had gone up by $10 billion.
Jeff Bezos Wealth Over the Years
Bezos has been a millionaire since 1999 when Amazon went public. From 2017 to 2020, when he passed, Bill Gates was the wealthiest person in the world.
Bezos was the wealthiest person on the list until early January 2021, when Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk passed him—from then on, Bezos and Musk sometimes switched places. But as of April 4, 2023, Bezos was the third wealthiest person on Earth, and Musk was the second richest person.
Forbes says that the wealthiest people on the list are Bernard Arnault and his family from France, and they own several high-end shopping brands and have a net worth of $211 billion.
At its highest point, Bezos’s wealth was worth $200 billion.
Jeff Bezos Early Life and Career
On January 12, 1964, Bezos was born in Albuquerque. His parents were Jacklyn and Ted Jorgensen. When he was a child, his parents split, and his mother married Miguel Bezos. Miguel took the boy in and gave him the last name Bezos. Jeff was raised in Houston and was very interested in science as a child. His family moved to Miami right before he started high school. He did very well in school and was the top student in his class.
While he was at Princeton University, he fell in love with computer science. In 1986, he got a B.S. in electrical engineering and computer science.
After graduating, he could have chosen from many great jobs, but he decided to work for Fitel, a company that makes financial technology. He switched to banking and worked at the D.E. Shaw & Co. hedge fund. He was the senior vice president when he left the company four years later.
At D.E. Shaw & Co., Bezos got the idea to move his next business venture, an online shop he called Amazon, to the Internet. He also met MacKenzie Tuttle, who wanted to be a writer there. They got married in 1993 and have four kids together. They got a divorce in 2019, and the split was said to be friendly.
Amazon Makes Bezos a Billionaire
On July 16, 1995, Amazon, based in Seattle, opened its online store and started selling books. Bezos helped pack the orders and take the boxes to the post office so they could be sent out.
After starting as a bookstore, Amazon grew to give customers a wide range of products and services worldwide. This helped the company quickly reach $100 billion in annual sales. Today, the company’s market value is just over $1 trillion, almost 34% less than in April 2022.
Forbes says that Bezos owns less than 10% of all Amazon shares. When he and his wife split up, she got a quarter of his 16% share in Amazon. Forbes said he gave more than $400 million worth of stock to charitable organizations in 2022.
Bezos made incredible money using Amazon to shake up almost every consumer business.
Jeff Bezos Other Business Ventures
In 2000, Bezos started Blue Origin, a business focusing on getting people into space.
When Bezos bought The Washington Post for $250 million in 2013, he became one of the most influential people in the news business.
CNBC said that in March 2017, Bezos paid $580 million for the online store Souq.com, which was based in Dubai. This gave him a chance to grow Amazon into the Middle East.
Bezos also bought Whole Foods for $13.7 billion in 2017. This allowed Amazon to improve its food delivery business, Amazon Fresh.
Bezos also has significant investments in companies other than his own. He likes to put his money into projects that could give him a significant return. Forbes says that when he met Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998, he put about $250,000 into the company Alphabet now owns. Yahoo says he has invested in more than 95 companies and new businesses, like Airbnb, Workday, and Uber.
Jeff Bezos Retires as Amazon CEO
Jeff Bezos quit as CEO of Amazon, the company he started, which made him a famous person worldwide, on July 5, 2021. He picked that day because it was unique to him. After all, it was the company’s 27th anniversary of its founding in 1994. He is in charge of running the company.
Jeff Bezos has been spending his time since he stopped being Amazon’s CEO, sending rockets into space. Some of these rockets have held him and other famous people. William Shatner, the famous Captain Kirk, and “Good Morning America” host Michael Strahan were sent into space by his company, Blue Origin.
Jeff Bezos Steps up His Charitable Giving
Jeff Bezos has sometimes been seen as the most giving billionaire because he has given less money to charity than others, like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. Bezos has also chosen not to participate in The Giving Pledge, and his Ex-wife MacKenzie Scott signed up for the project, in which the wealthiest people in the world promise to give away half of their money while they are alive or after they die. Gates and Buffett have signed the Giving Pledge, and about 235 other people and couples.
But in 2020, Jeff Bezos gave $10 billion to start the Bezos Earth Fund, a charity that helps non-profits fight climate change, and this was the most significant single gift to charity that year. Bezos also gave $100 million to the COVID-19 Response Fund for Feeding America.
In an interview with CNN last November, he said that he planned to give away most of his money during his life, but he didn’t say how.
Jeff Bezos Real Estate Portfolio
In 1998, MacKenzie and Jeff Bezos bought a large home in the Seattle area of Medina. It comprised two homes that took up almost 29,000 square feet together. In 2010, Bezos bought the land next door, which had five acres and a 24,000-square-foot house. The property is considered Bezos’ main home now that he is no longer married.
In 2004, Bezos added a ranch in Texas to his portfolio. Architectural Digest says that the house is where Blue Origin runs its business, near Van Horn.
Bezos has a lot of land in Beverly Hills, California. In 2020, he paid $165 million for a historic house that used to belong to David Geffen.
Some of the buildings in his portfolio are in Manhattan. In 2019 and 2020, Bezos bought four more flats in Manhattan and already owned two. One of the newer purchases is a 10,000-square-foot apartment with a view of Madison Square Park.
He also owns at least two homes in Washington, D.C., which he bought for $23 million and $5 million in 2016 and 2020, respectively.
Architectural Digest said that in 2021, Bezos paid $78 million for a 14-acre property in Hawaii. This brought the total value of his real estate holdings to at least $578 million.
Jeff Bezos Luxury Toys
Bezos has many properties and owns private jets, including two Gulfstream aircraft, for his trip needs. In 2015, his limited liability business, Poplar Glen, paid $5.5 million for a hangar at Seattle’s Boeing Field to store his jets.
Boat International said that Bezos got his 500 million dollar boat, built in the Netherlands, this month. It is 417 feet long and will cost $25 million annually to keep up. Elite Traveler said this is the giant sailing boat in the world. The yacht is called “Koru,” which is a Maori word that means “new beginnings,” according to the Daily Mail.
Pros and Cons of Jeff Bezos Net Worth
Pros
- Bezos can purchase luxurious items and properties such as jets and yachts.
- He has a lot of money and resources, allowing him to fund philanthropic ventures.
Cons
- Some may see his wealth as excessive or even irresponsible.
- People may question the ethics of his business decisions, particularly concerning Amazon’s tax practices.
- His wealth and privilege may contribute to a widening of socioeconomic inequality.
Final Thought – Jeff Bezos Net Worth
enabled him to lead projects with great potential for good in the world, such as Blue Origin and The Day 1 Fund. On the other hand, his fortune has raised concerns about its implications for economic inequality. It remains to be seen how his wealth will be used. Nonetheless, Bezos has significantly impacted the business world and beyond.