Jeff Bezos

Jeffrey Preston Bezos, born January 12, 1964, is an American businessman best known for founding Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce and cloud computing company. He started Amazon in mid-1994 as an online bookstore, and today it offers many products and services, including video and audio streaming, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence.

Bezos was born in Albuquerque and raised in Houston and Miami. He graduated from Princeton University in 1986 and worked on Wall Street before starting Amazon. In 2000, he founded Blue Origin, an aerospace manufacturer focused on sub-orbital spaceflight. In 2015, Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle reached space and landed safely back on Earth. Bezos flew into space on Blue Origin NS-16 in 2021.

In 2013, Bezos purchased The Washington Post newspaper. He also manages many investments through his venture capital firm, Bezos Expeditions. In July 2021, Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon and became its executive chairman.

Early life and education

Jeff Bezos was born on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His mother, Jacklyn, was only 17 when he was born, and his father, Ted Jorgensen, was 19. When Jeff was little more than a year old, his parents divorced, and his mother later married Miguel "Mike" Bezos, a Cuban immigrant. Mike adopted Jeff, and the family moved to Houston, Texas.

Jeff went to school in Houston and later Miami, Florida, where he worked at McDonald's during high school. He was very good in school and was the top student in his class. After high school, he went to Princeton University, where he studied science and engineering and graduated with high honors.

Business career

Early career

After finishing college in 1986, Bezos was offered jobs at Intel, Bell Labs, and Andersen Consulting. He first worked at Fitel, a fintech telecommunications start-up, where he helped build a network for international trade. Later, he became head of development and director of customer service. He then worked in banking as a product manager at Bankers Trust from 1988 to 1990. From 1990 to 1994, he worked at D. E. Shaw & Co, a new hedge fund that focused on math models.

Amazon

Main article: Amazon

In spring 1994, Bezos read that web use was growing very fast and decided to start an online bookstore. He and his wife, MacKenzie Scott, left their jobs and founded Amazon in a garage in Bellevue, Washington on July 5, 1994. They wrote the business plan on a drive from New York City to Seattle. Bezos originally wanted to name the company Cadabra, but changed it to Amazon after the Amazon River because it started with the letter A, which would appear early in search results. He borrowed money from his parents to start the company and warned investors it might fail.

Amazon started as an online bookstore but planned to sell other products. Three years later, Bezos took the company public. In 1998, Amazon began selling music and videos, and later added many other consumer goods. Bezos used money from sales to buy smaller companies. Some of these, like pets.com and kozmo.com, failed after the dot-com bubble in 2000. Amazon faced money problems and had to borrow a lot, but it continued to grow. In 2002, Amazon launched Amazon Web Services, which collected data from weather and web use. After almost running out of money, Amazon closed some centers and reduced staff. By 2003, Amazon was profitable again.

In 2007, Bezos launched the Amazon Kindle, a device for reading books. In 2013, Amazon got a big contract with the Central Intelligence Agency. By 2016, Amazon became the largest online shop in the world. Bezos sold shares of Amazon stock several times to raise money for other projects, like Blue Origin. In 2018, Amazon reported its highest profit ever. Bezos expressed interest in expanding Amazon to India but faced criticism over business practices and worker wages. In 2021, Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon to focus on other projects.

In February 2021, Bezos announced he would step down as CEO of Amazon to become Executive Chairman. He handed over the CEO role to Andy Jassy. Bezos said this would give him more time to focus on other projects like the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and other interests. In December 2024, Bezos said he was spending most of his time on artificial intelligence work at Amazon.

Blue Origin

Main article: Blue Origin

In 2000, Bezos started Blue Origin, a company focused on space travel. He has always been interested in space and wanted to help make space travel safer and cheaper. In 2015, Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket flew into space and landed back successfully. In 2021, Bezos flew on New Shepard with a few others for a short trip into space.

The Washington Post

See also: The Washington Post

In 2013, Bezos bought The Washington Post for $250 million. He used a company called Nash Holdings to purchase it. He made changes to improve the paper’s online presence and mobile platforms. The paper became profitable again in 2016. However, there has been some concern about how Bezos’s ownership might affect the paper’s content.

Bezos Expeditions

Main article: Bezos Expeditions

Bezos uses Bezos Expeditions to make personal investments and support charitable projects. He was an early investor in Google, which became very valuable. He also invests in health research and supports projects like an innovation center in Seattle and the recovery of historic rocket engines from the ocean.

Altos Labs

Main article: Altos Labs

In 2021, Bezos co-founded Altos Labs, a company focused on aging research. The company aims to use cell reprogramming to develop treatments that could slow aging. Altos Labs has brought together top scientists and started with $3 billion in funding.

Project Prometheus

Main article: Project Prometheus (company)

In November 2025, Bezos co-founded Project Prometheus with a former Google executive. The company will focus on using artificial intelligence in engineering and making computers, spacecraft, and cars.

Public image

Journalist Nellie Bowles of The New York Times described Jeff Bezos as a brilliant but mysterious leader. During the 1990s, Bezos focused strongly on growing Amazon, sometimes without much attention to public charity or social welfare. Some critics felt his focus on customers was too narrow for its overall impact on humanity.

Bezos was known for being very careful with money, both his own and Amazon’s. In the early 2000s, many saw him as very focused on numbers and facts. Over time, his public image changed. He began to spend more on himself and was seen as a powerful symbol of Amazon’s success. Since 2017, he has been portrayed in comedy shows as a very strong and sometimes harsh business leader. Some groups have criticized his business practices and said he did not spend enough on causes outside of business. Bezos has also defended himself publicly against criticism from news articles.

Leadership style

Bezos believes in always acting like it's the first day of a new business, never letting things become too comfortable. He focuses on growing quickly and putting profits back into the company instead of sharing them with shareholders. He thinks work and personal life should support each other. Bezos has specific rules for meetings, like keeping them small enough to feed everyone with two pizzas. He looks for people he admires who can improve the company and become great leaders. He has been influenced by leaders from other big companies.

Recognition

In 1999, Jeff Bezos was named Person of the Year by Time. He received many other honors over the years. In 2008, he was chosen as one of America’s best leaders by U.S. News & World Report, and he was given an honorary science and technology degree from Carnegie Mellon University.

Bezos received many awards for his work with technology and space exploration. He was given an Innovation Award in 2011 for helping create the Amazon Kindle. In 2016, he won a big prize for advances in space business and gave the money to students interested in space. In 2018, he was honored by the Explorers Club for his work with Blue Origin and also received an award from Germany for his business and community work. In 2023, he was given a special French honor called the Légion d'honneur.

Wealth

Jeff Bezos became very wealthy when Amazon started selling things online. In 1997, he made his first million dollars when Amazon began selling to people all over the world. By 1999, he was rich enough to be on a list of the richest people in the world.

Bezos's wealth went up and down over the years. Sometimes he made more money, and sometimes he lost some. But overall, his wealth grew a lot, especially after Amazon became very successful.

In 2017, Bezos became one of the richest people in the world. His wealth kept growing, and by 2025, he was one of the top five richest people globally.

Criticism

Jeff Bezos has faced criticism for his management style at Amazon and The Washington Post. Reports say he created a tough work environment and sometimes spoke harshly to his employees. There were also concerns about how he managed teams at Amazon.

At The Washington Post, some people felt that Bezos did not treat employees well, asking for better pay and benefits. In 2024, Bezos decided not to let the newspaper support a certain candidate in an election, which caused many people, including writers and editors, to disagree strongly. Some left the newspaper because they were unhappy with this choice. Many readers also stopped their subscriptions because of this decision. Because of his large influence in business and media, some people have called Bezos an important and powerful figure in these areas.

Personal life

See also: Family of Jeff Bezos

In 1992, Jeff Bezos met his future wife, MacKenzie, while they both worked in Manhattan. They married in 1993 and moved to Seattle, Washington in 1994, where Jeff started Amazon. They have four children together.

Jeff was once in a helicopter accident in West Texas, but everyone on board was safe. He also had a small role in a movie called Star Trek Beyond, where he spoke just one line: "Speak Normally."

In 2019, Jeff and MacKenzie announced they were divorcing after being married for 25 years. Their divorce was finished in April 2019, and MacKenzie received a large share of their Amazon stocks. Jeff and Lauren Sánchez got married in Venice in June 2025.

Politics

Jeff Bezos has supported many political leaders and causes. He has given money to help elect people like Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, who are senators from Washington state. He also supported efforts to allow people to get married no matter who they love.

In 2019, Bezos gave a lot of money to help a group trying to stop a new tax in Washington state. He also gave money to support both political parties through Amazon’s special fund for helping elect leaders.

Bezos has also been involved in big business deals with the government. In 2014, Amazon got a big contract to help the CIA with their computer systems. Later, there was talk about a huge deal with the Pentagon, but it went to another company instead.

Donald Trump

After the 2016 election, Bezos was asked to join a group helping improve technology for the Defense Department. Even though Donald Trump often criticized Bezos, Bezos congratulated Trump after his reelection in 2024. Bezos and Trump met several times, and Amazon even gave money to help with Trump’s inauguration events.

Saudi hacking claim

In 2019, there were claims that someone from Saudi Arabia tried to access Bezos’s phone. This happened around the same time that a writer for the Washington Post, which Bezos owns, was sadly killed in Turkey. Investigations suggested that a message might have been used to try to get into Bezos’s phone, but Saudi Arabia denied these claims.

Philanthropy

Jeff Bezos has supported many important causes over the years. He has given money to help fight cancer, support education, and care for the environment. In 2018, he promised to give about $2 billion to help people who don’t have homes and to build schools for children from families with low incomes.

Bezos also gave money to help immigrants who came to the United States as children, to support clean energy, and to help veterans get into politics. In 2020, he gave $10 billion to fight climate change and helped food banks during the COVID-19 pandemic. He created Bezos Academy, a network of free preschools for children from families with low incomes. He has also given awards and money to people who work hard to help others, like lawyers, chefs, and singers.