Who is Jeff Bezos?
January 1964 Birthday
Jeffrey Preston Bezos was born to Jacklyn Gise and Ted Jorgensen in Albuquerque.
Bezos’ mother was a teenager when she gave birth to Bezos and married his father.
March 1965 Ethnicity
Bezos' father was of Danish descent as his great-grandfather immigrated to Chicago in
the 1900s. His mother’s ancestors were settlers who lived in Texas
and had acquired a 25,000-acre ranch near Cotulla over the generations.
April 1968 Family
Post completing high school despite challenging conditions, Jacklyn attended
night school while bringing Jeffrey along as a baby. After marriage with Ted Jorgensen ended,
she married Miguel Bezos, a Cuban immigrant who studied at the University of Albuquerque.
August 1968 Upbringing
After marriage, Miguel Bezos legally adopted Jeff. The family then moved to Houston, Texas,
where Miguel became an engineer for Exxon. Jeff attended River Oaks Elementary School,
Houston, from fourth to sixth grade.
March 1975 Early Schooling
Bezos's family moved to Miami, Florida. He attended Miami Palmetto Senior High School.
He also attended the Student Science Training Program
at the University of Florida and received a Silver Knight Award in 1982.
January 1976 Passion & Entrepreneurship
While in high school, he started his first business venture,
the Dream Institute, an educational summer camp for fourth, fifth and sixth graders.
He graduated as a high school valedictorian.
March 1982 University and Programming
Bezos entered Princeton University, where he studied computers.
He took several summer jobs as a Programmer/Analyst,
first in Norway, and the following year, he improved an IBM Program in California.
May 1986 Graduation
Bezos graduated summa cum laude, with a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He
served as the President of Princeton’s Students for the Exploration and Development of Space.
January 1987 Starting Career
After graduation, Bezos worked for several firms at Wall Street.
In 1990, he joined D. E. Shaw & Co, New York. He became the youngest Vice President there.
His career in finance was extremely lucrative, but he decided to quit after four years.
April 1992 Marriage
Bezos met novelist MacKenzie Tuttle while working at D.E. Shaw & Co., who was a research associate
at the firm. The couple married a year later. Bezos and his now ex-wife MacKenzie are the
parents of four children: three sons, and one daughter adopted from China.
July 1994 Amazon.com
Bezos established Amazon first as an online bookstore from his garage,
after writing its business plan on a cross-country drive from New York City to Seattle.
Market analysts were initially skeptical about its success vis-a-vis the traditional stores,
but he soon outpaced his competitors. The company went public in 1997.
January 1998 Expanding Business
With time, Amazon started to diversify its portfolio from books to CDs and videos and, in
2002, to clothes. Amazon formed A9, a commercial search engine focusing on e-commerce websites.
He also launched an online sporting goods store that offered up to 3,000 different brands.
March 1999 Becoming Billionaire
Bezos was first included on the Forbes World's Billionaires list
in 1999 with a registered net worth of $10.1 billion.
As of 2021, he is currently the second richest man on Earth, with a net worth of nearly $205 billion.
September 2000 A Dream to Space
Bezos founded Blue Origin, an aerospace company that is developing technologies to offer space
travel to customers. In his graduation speech, Bezos told the audience he dreamed of the day
when mankind would colonize space, marking Blue Origin a step forward towards the dream.
November 2007 Revolutionizing Reading and Media
Amazon introduced a handheld electronic reading device,
the Kindle, which uses E-Ink to render text with adjustable font size to enhance ease of reading.
He launched Amazon Studios apart from Amazon Local, LivingSocial and Amazon Web Services,
to present the television programs through Amazon Prime Video.
December 2012 Best in Business
National Retail Federation named Amazon as the top retailer of the year and was
awarded the Gold Medal Award, given to an individual who has served the industry
with distinction. Amazon.com currently is the largest online marketplace in the world.
August 2013 Marking New Legacy
Bezos purchased The Washington Post and other publications affiliated with The Washington Post
Co., for $250 million cash marking the end of the four generations of reign by the Graham family.
November 2014 AI to Real Life
Amazon developed Virtual Assistant Technology called Alexa, capable of voice interaction,
controlling devices, and performing virtual tasks, making to-do lists and so on. Bezos’
motivation for this speech recognition technology was "the Star Trek computer."
January 2017 Philanthropy
Bezos has been an active contributor to society, from providing scholarships to students,
dealing with American homelessness, and supporting same-sex marriage. Bezos
pledged $10 billion to combat climate change through the Bezos Earth Fund.
December 2021 Road Ahead
Bezos is currently the executive chairman of the Amazon group. Along with advancements in
technology and customer experience ranging from home robots to cashless stores,
Bezos is also focusing on battling Climate Change and nature conservation.
Jeff Bezos firmly says, "Work Hard, Have Fun & Make History."
After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion,
and I’m proud of that choice.
Tomorrow, in a very real sense,
your life -- the life you author from scratch on your own -- begins.
How will you use your gifts? What choices will you make?
Will inertia be your guide, or will you follow your passions?
Will you follow dogma, or will you be original?
Will you choose a life of ease, or a life of service and adventure?
Will you wilt under criticism, or will you follow your convictions?
Will you bluff it out when you’re wrong, or will you apologize?
Will you guard your heart against rejection, or will you act when you fall in love?
Will you play it safe, or will you be a little bit swashbuckling?
When it’s tough, will you give up, or will you be relentless?
Will you be a cynic, or will you be a builder?
Will you be clever at the expense of others, or will you be kind?
I will hazard a prediction. When you are 80 years old, and in a quiet moment
of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story,
the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you
have made. In the end, we are our choices. Build yourself a great story. Thank you and good luck!