The biography of Jeff Bezos - Founder of Amazon
Jeff Bezos: Founder of Amazon
Jeff Bezos
Early Life and Education
Jeffrey Preston Bezos was born on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His mother, Jacklyn Gise Jorgensen, was a teenager at the time of his birth, and his father, Ted Jorgensen, was a bike shop owner. After his parents divorced, his mother remarried Miguel Bezos, a Cuban immigrant, who adopted Jeff. The family moved to Houston, Texas, where Miguel worked as an engineer for Exxon.
Bezos showed an early interest in science and technology, converting his parents' garage into a laboratory and rigging electrical contraptions around his house. He attended River Oaks Elementary School in Houston and later Miami Palmetto High School in Florida. Bezos was a high achiever, becoming a National Merit Scholar and a Silver Knight Award winner. In 1986, he graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with degrees in electrical engineering and computer science.
Early Career
After Princeton, Bezos worked at several firms on Wall Street, including Fitel, Bankers Trust, and D.E. Shaw & Co. At D.E. Shaw, he quickly rose through the ranks to become the youngest senior vice president. It was here that he met his future wife, MacKenzie Tuttle, and began to develop the idea that would become Amazon.
Founding of Amazon
In 1994, inspired by the rapid growth of internet use, Bezos left his lucrative job at D.E. Shaw to start an online bookstore. He moved to Seattle, Washington, and set up shop in his garage. On July 5, 1994, he founded Cadabra, Inc., which he later renamed Amazon after the Amazon River, symbolizing a vast selection of books. He initially raised $300,000 from his parents and other small investors.
Amazon.com went live in July 1995 and quickly became known for its customer-centric approach and wide selection. Within its first month, Amazon had sold books in every U.S. state and 45 countries. By the end of 1996, sales had reached $15.7 million.
Expansion and Diversification
Bezos's vision extended far beyond books. He foresaw Amazon as "an everything store" and began diversifying its product offerings. In 1998, Amazon started selling music and videos, and later expanded into electronics, toys, and numerous other categories.
Under Bezos's leadership, Amazon introduced innovative services like Amazon Prime, which offered unlimited two-day shipping for a yearly fee, and Amazon Web Services (AWS), a cloud computing platform that became a major revenue source. Bezos also led Amazon into hardware with the Kindle e-reader and the Echo smart speaker.
Business Philosophy and Leadership Style
Bezos is known for his focus on long-term growth over short-term investment that generate more profit to his business.
The history of Jeff Bezos (USA) - Founder Amazon
Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos, born Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is an American entrepreneur, media proprietor, investor, and the founder of Amazon.com, Inc. Bezos is renowned for revolutionizing e-commerce and is one of the wealthiest individuals in the world.
Early Life and Education
Jeff's mother, Jacklyn Gise Jorgensen, was a teenager at the time of his birth. His biological father, Ted Jorgensen, was a unicyclist and circus performer. When Jeff was four, his mother remarried Miguel "Mike" Bezos, a Cuban immigrant who adopted Jeff and gave him his surname.
The Bezos family moved to Houston, Texas, where Mike worked as an engineer for Exxon. Jeff showed an early interest in science and technology, setting up an electrical alarm to keep his siblings out of his room. The family later moved to Miami, Florida, where Bezos attended Miami Palmetto Senior High School. He excelled academically, becoming the valedictorian and a National Merit Scholar.
Bezos attended Princeton University, initially intending to study physics but later switching to electrical engineering and computer science. He graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in 1986.
Early Career
After graduating from Princeton, Bezos worked on Wall Street in various roles, including at Fitel, Bankers Trust, and the hedge fund D. E. Shaw & Co. At D. E. Shaw, Bezos quickly rose through the ranks to become the youngest senior vice president at the firm. It was here that he met his future wife, MacKenzie Tuttle, and began formulating the idea of an online retail store.
Founding Amazon
In 1994, Bezos left D. E. Shaw to start his own company. He chose to focus on the internet, which he saw as a rapidly growing phenomenon. Bezos created a business plan for an online bookstore, deciding to establish the company in Seattle, Washington, due to its proximity to a large pool of technical talent and a major book distributor.
Bezos founded Amazon.com in his garage on July 5, 1994, with a few employees and initially sold books. The site went live in 1995, offering a catalog of over one million book titles. The company's motto was "Get Big Fast," emphasizing growth and market domination. Amazon went public in 1997, and despite skepticism from many analysts about its profitability potential, it expanded its product offerings to include electronics, apparel, and various other goods.
Amazon's Expansion and Innovations
Under Bezos's leadership, Amazon diversified into a broad array of services and sectors. In the early 2000s, Amazon Web Services (AWS) was launched, providing cloud computing and storage services that became a significant part of the company's revenue. The development of the Kindle e-reader in 2007 revolutionized the book industry, making e-books mainstream.
Amazon continued to innovate with initiatives like Amazon Prime, a subscription service offering free shipping and streaming of videos and music, and the creation of Alexa, a voice-activated virtual assistant.
Blue Origin and Other Ventures
Bezos's interests extended beyond e-commerce. In 2000, he founded Blue Origin, a private aerospace manufacturer and sub-orbital spaceflight services company. Blue Origin aims to make space travel more affordable and accessible, with long-term goals of colonizing space.
Bezos also acquired The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million, reviving the newspaper's fortunes through a digital transformation. His investment portfolio includes companies like Google (he was one of the early investors), Twitter, and various startups.
Personal Life and Philanthropy
In 1993, Bezos married MacKenzie Tuttle, with whom he has four children. The couple announced their divorce in January 2019, which was finalized later that year. As part of the settlement, MacKenzie received 25% of their Amazon stock, making her one of the wealthiest women in the world.
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