In 2018, there were 2208 billionaires in the world and at the top of the list is Jeff Bezos who had a net worth of $137.1 billion. As the first man to have a fortune that crossed the $150 billion mark, Bezos is an entrepreneur and investor who is the mastermind behind the world’s largest e-commerce platform, Amazon.
In early 2019, the billionaire and his wife announced that they were heading for a divorce, which meant he could see his fortunes drop significantly, which could in turn affect his position as the richest man in the world.
the biography
The entrepreneur was born Jeffrey PrestonJorgensen in Albuquerque, New Mexico on January 12, 1964, to 17-year-old Jacklyn Gise Jorgensen, who was still a high school student, and Ted Jorgensen, a bicycle shop owner.
Before he was 4 years old, Jeff Bezos’ parents’ marriage came to an abrupt end in divorce and his mother remarried to Miguel “Mike” Bezos, an immigrant from Cuba in 1968. Miguel adopted young Jeffery and his name was changed to Bezos.
Raised in Texas where his father was an Exxon engineer, Bezos attended River Oaks Elementary School and after his family moved to Florida he attended Miami Palmetto High School and then the University of Florida. He also went to Princeton University from where he earned degrees in electrical engineering and computer science.
When he was still in high school, Jeff worked as a cook at McDonald’s and then at Fitel after graduating from Princeton. His first job with the financial telecommunications start-up was building an international trade network but he was soon named director of development and director of customer service. He then worked with Bankers Trust as Product Manager and then DE Shaw & Co where through hard work he became its fourth Senior Vice President before the age of 30.
His journey to becoming a billionaire began in 1994 when he quit his job to found the online bookstore, Amazon in his garage. His first investment in the business was $300,000, which he got from his parents. As soon as he started, he made it clear to early investors that there was up to a 70% risk that the company could fail and fail. Nevertheless, three years later, it went public.
By 1998 the company had expanded to sell music and video online, and from there there was no stopping Bezos or Amazon. Jeff Bezos went on to found human spaceflight company Blue Origin in 2000, and in 2013 bought The Washington Post for $250 million in cash. He continued to invest in various other things which all came together to make him the richest man in the world ever.
Jeff Bezos Net Worth, Salary, Cars and Homes
As the richest man in the world, Forbes has the net worth of Jeff Bezos at $137.1 billion in 2019. With many investments, he owns up to 16% of Amazon and is still the owner of his aerospace company, Blue Origin, and The Washington Post. It was revealed that his salary in 2017 was $81,840, but given that he owns 80 million shares of the e-commerce giant, his salary is the last thing he will worry about.
For a man of his status, your first guess is that he has one of the greatest cars in the world. Surprisingly, that’s not true. He is said to own a low-digit Honda Accord that he prefers to drive himself. While the 1996 Honda worth $2,000 remains his favorite, he has some good cars in his garage but more importantly, he has a private jet that is valued at around $75 million.
When it comes to houses, Jeff Bezos owns quite a few of them. In 2018, he bought the former Textile Museum in DC for $23 million with plans to make it his home. Besides this property which has 11 bedrooms, 25 bathrooms and 5 living rooms, he also has a $24.45 million home in Beverly Hills, $12.95 million four apartments in Manhattan, as well as homes in New York City. and Medina.
Facts about wife, children and family
In 1993 Jeff Bezos married MacKenzieBezos who had previously worked with him when he was with DE Shaw. When Jeff was to start Amazon, MacKenzie was right next to him; in fact, she was the one who negotiated the company’s first transportation contract. As they continued to work on their business together, they also built their family which became complete with the addition of their four children – three sons and a daughter.
After 25 years of marriage and building an enviable empire together, Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos shockingly announced in a joint statement on Twitter on January 9, 2019, that they were heading for a divorce. Here are some quick facts about their family:
- The couple got engaged after three months of first meeting in 1992.
- While they have three sons together, Jeff and his wife adopted their daughter from China.
- The family was very involved in philanthropic activities in which it sunk into billions of dollars