Jeff Bezos is an American businessman renowned as the founder, executive chairman, and former CEO of Amazon, a global leader in e-commerce and cloud computing. He is among the wealthiest individuals globally, with an estimated net worth exceeding $220 billion as of May 2025, according to Forbes. Bezos held the title of the world's richest person from 2017 to 2021, according to Forbes and Bloomberg, solidifying his status as a prominent figure in both the business and technology sectors.
In 1944, Ted Jorgensen, Jeff Bezos's father, was born.
In 1946, Jacklyn (née Gise), Jeff Bezos's mother, was born.
On January 12, 1964, Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen, later known as Jeff Bezos, was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
In June 1965, when Jeff Bezos was 17 months old, his mother, Jacklyn, filed for divorce from his father, Ted Jorgensen.
In April 1968, Jeff Bezos's mother married Miguel "Mike" Bezos, who then adopted 4-year-old Jeff, changing his surname to Bezos.
In July 1969, the Apollo 11 mission's S-1C stage used Rocketdyne F-1 engines that were later recovered and identified as belonging to that mission.
In 1982, Jeff Bezos attended Princeton University, initially majoring in physics before switching to electrical engineering and computer science.
In 1982, Jeff Bezos was high school valedictorian, a National Merit Scholar, and a Silver Knight Award winner. In his graduation speech, he shared his dream of mankind colonizing space.
After graduating from college in 1986, Jeff Bezos was offered jobs at Intel, Bell Labs, and Andersen Consulting, among others. He first worked at Fitel, a fintech telecommunications start-up.
In 1986, Jeff Bezos graduated from Princeton University with a degree in engineering and subsequently began working on Wall Street.
In 1988, Jeff Bezos transitioned into the banking industry when he became a product manager at Bankers Trust.
From 1990, Jeff Bezos worked at D. E. Shaw & Co, a newly created hedge fund with a strong emphasis on mathematical modelling.
In 1992, while working for D. E. Shaw in Manhattan, Jeff Bezos met novelist MacKenzie Tuttle, who was a research associate at the firm.
On July 5, 1994, Jeff Bezos and his then-wife, MacKenzie Scott, officially founded Amazon in a rented garage in Bellevue, Washington, marking the start of the online bookstore.
By 1994, Jeff Bezos had become D. E. Shaw's fourth senior vice-president by age 30.
In 1994, Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie moved to Seattle, Washington, where Bezos founded Amazon.
In mid-1994, Jeff Bezos founded Amazon, initially as an online bookstore, during a road trip from New York City to Seattle.
In 1999, Jeff Bezos was worth $10 billion yet drove a 1996 Honda Accord.
Jeff Bezos first became a millionaire in 1997 after raising $54 million through Amazon's initial public offering (IPO).
Jeff Bezos used the $54 million raised during Amazon's 1997 equity offering to finance the aggressive acquisition of smaller competitors.
The Motley Fool estimated that if Jeff Bezos had not sold any of his shares from its original public offering in 1997, his net worth would sit at $181 billion in 2018.
In 1998, Jeff Bezos diversified Amazon into the online sale of music and video, expanding the company's product offerings.
Since 1998, Jeff Bezos has published an annual letter for Amazon shareholders wherein he frequently refers to five principles: focus on customers, not competitors; take risks for market leadership; facilitate staff morale; build a company culture; and empower people.
In 1999, Bill Gates became the first centibillionaire on the Forbes Real Time Billionaires Index.
In 1999, Jeff Bezos purchased a majority stake in pets.com.
In 1999, Jeff Bezos purchased three adjoining apartments at 25 Central Park West in Manhattan for $7.65 million.
In 1999, Jeff Bezos was worth $10 billion yet drove a 1996 Honda Accord.
Jeff Bezos was first included on the Forbes World's Billionaires list in 1999 with an estimated net worth of $10.1 billion, placing him 19th in the world and 10th in the USA.
In September 2000, Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin, a human spaceflight startup, reflecting his long-held interest in space travel and the development of human life in the Solar System.
By the end of 2000, Bezos borrowed $2 billion from banks. Both pets.com and kozmo.com failed after the dot-com bubble collapse in 2000.
In 2000, Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin, an aerospace manufacturer and sub-orbital spaceflight services company.
In 2002, Jeff Bezos led Amazon to launch Amazon Web Services, which compiled data from weather channels and website traffic.
In March 2003, Jeff Bezos was a passenger in a helicopter that crashed in West Texas while surveying land to buy for Blue Origin. All occupants survived, and Bezos sustained only minor injuries.
From 2003 to 2017, Rob Meyerson led Blue Origin and served as its first president.
In 2003, Amazon rebounded from financial instability and turned a profit of $35 million.
From 2005 to 2007, Jeff Bezos quadrupled his net worth to $8.7 billion.
In 2006, Blue Origin purchased a large tract of land in West Texas to build a launch and test facility, maintaining a low profile until this point.
From 2005 to 2007, Jeff Bezos quadrupled his net worth to $8.7 billion.
According to a 2008 Time profile, Bezos wished to create a device that allowed a "flow state" in reading similar to the experience of video games.
After the 2008 financial crisis and Great Recession, Jeff Bezos's net worth decreased to $6.8 billion, a 17.7% drop.
Between 2009 and 2017, Jeff Bezos donated to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
In 2010, Jeff Bezos donated $100,000 towards a movement against a Washington state income tax for "top earners".
Jeff Bezos's wealth rose by 85.2% in 2010, leaving him with $12.6 billion and ascending him to the 43rd spot on the ranking from 68th.
In September 2011, one of Blue Origin's uncrewed prototype vehicles crashed during a short-hop test flight, but the company's overall progress in spaceflight was noted.
In his initial discussion of the project which became Alexa with his technical advisor Greg Hart in 2011, Jeff Bezos told him that the goal was to create "the Star Trek computer."
In 2012, Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Bezos supported the legalization of same-sex marriage, and contributed $2.5 million to Washington United for Marriage, a group supporting a yes vote on Washington Referendum 74.
In 2012, Jeff Bezos bought a fourth unit in the building at 25 Central Park West in Manhattan for $5.3 million.
In May 2013, Jeff Bezos met with Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic to discuss commercial spaceflight opportunities and strategies.
On August 5, 2013, Jeff Bezos announced his purchase of The Washington Post for $250 million in cash, influenced by Don Graham's suggestion.
On October 1, 2013, the sale of The Washington Post to Nash Holdings, a holding company established by Jeff Bezos, closed, and Nash Holdings took control of the newspaper.
In 2013, Bezos Expeditions funded the recovery of two Saturn V first-stage Rocketdyne F-1 engines from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. These engines were identified as belonging to the Apollo 11 mission's S-1C stage from July 1969.
In 2013, Jeff Bezos pledged $500,000 to Worldreader, a non-profit organization founded by a former Amazon employee.
In 2013, Jeff Bezos purchased The Washington Post, a major American newspaper, for $250 million.
In 2013, Jeff Bezos secured a $600-million contract with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on behalf of Amazon Web Services.
In May 2014, the International Trade Union Confederation named Jeff Bezos the "World's Worst Boss", criticizing his promotion of the North American corporate model.
In 2014, Amazon won a bid for a cloud computing contract with the CIA valued at $600 million.
In 2014, after a rumor surfaced that Amazon was developing a smartphone, Jeff Bezos' net worth increased to $30.5 billion.
In 2015, Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle reached space and successfully landed back on Earth.
In 2015, Jeff Bezos announced the development of a new orbital launch vehicle at Blue Origin, with its first flight expected in the late-2010s. Also in November, Blue Origin's New Shepard space vehicle successfully rocketed into space, reached a test altitude of 329,839 feet (100.5 kilometers), and executed a vertical landing in West Texas.
In 2015, Jeff Bezos publicly contested claims made in a critical New York Times article, sending a memo to employees denouncing the piece.
In 2015, Ted Jorgensen, Jeff Bezos's father, passed away.
In January 2016, Jeff Bezos aimed to reinvent The Washington Post as a media and technology company by reconstructing its digital media, mobile platforms, and analytics software.
In March 2016, Jeff Bezos' net worth was registered at $45.2 billion according to Forbes.
In May 2016, Jeff Bezos sold slightly more than one million shares of his holdings in Amazon for $671 million, which was the largest sum he had ever raised from selling some of his Amazon stock.
On August 4, 2016, Jeff Bezos sold another million of his shares for $756.7 million.
In October 2016, Jeff Bezos' wealth increased by $16.2 billion, reaching $66.5 billion, unofficially ranking him as the third-richest person in the world, behind Warren Buffett.
Following the 2016 presidential election, Jeff Bezos was invited to join Donald Trump's Defense Innovation Advisory Board, which advises on improving technology used by the Defense Department.
From 2016 to 2017 Jeff Bezos's wealth grew rapidly sparking discussion about how much money Bezos earned.
In 2016, Jeff Bezos opened Blue Origin's facilities to select journalists for tours and photography. He also advocated for increased inter-space energy and industrial manufacturing to reduce business-related pollution.
In 2016, Jeff Bezos portrayed a Starfleet official in the movie Star Trek Beyond, and joined the cast and crew at a San Diego Comic-Con screening.
Since 2016, Jeff Bezos has been selling $1 billion in Amazon stock each year to capitalize Blue Origin in an effort to support his hopes to colonize the solar system.
Since 2016, Jeff Bezos's relative lack of philanthropy compared to other billionaires has drawn negative public response.
From January 2017 to January 2018, Jeff Bezos's net worth increased by $33.6 billion, surpassing the economic development of more than 96 countries around the world.
In May 2017, Jeff Bezos donated $1 million to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which provides legal services for American journalists.
On June 15, 2017, Jeff Bezos posted on Twitter seeking ideas for a philanthropy strategy focused on long-term impact, reflecting on his lifetime spending of approximately $100 million on charitable causes at that time.
In July 2017, Jeff Bezos briefly surpassed Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates as the wealthiest person in the world due to jumps in Amazon's share price.
On July 27, 2017, Jeff Bezos momentarily became the world's wealthiest person, surpassing Bill Gates, with an estimated net worth of just over $90 billion.
On October 10, 2017, Jeff Bezos made an estimated $6.24 billion in 5 minutes, slightly less than the then annual gross domestic product of Kyrgyzstan.
Throughout the month of October 2017, Jeff Bezos continued to sporadically surpass Bill Gates as Amazon's share price fluctuated.
On November 24, 2017, Jeff Bezos's wealth surpassed $100 billion for the first time.
In December 2017, Blue Origin's New Shepard successfully flew and landed dummy passengers, pushing the expected human space travel start date to late 2018.
Between 2009 and 2017, Jeff Bezos donated to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
From 2003 to 2017, Rob Meyerson led Blue Origin and served as its first president.
In 2017, Amazon created 130,000 jobs and the $28,446 figure for its median salary was called misleading, as it included part-time workers.
In 2017, Jeff Bezos's $250,000 investment in Google in 1998 resulted in 3.3 million shares of Google stock, worth about $3.1 billion.
Since 2017, Jeff Bezos has been portrayed by Kyle Mooney and Steve Carell on Saturday Night Live, usually as an undercutting, domineering figure.
From January 2017 to January 2018, Jeff Bezos's net worth increased by $33.6 billion, surpassing the economic development of more than 96 countries around the world.
In January 2018, Jeff Bezos announced his involvement in a new, unnamed healthcare company, later named Haven, which is a partnership between Amazon, JPMorgan, and Berkshire Hathaway.
In January 2018, Jeff Bezos donated $33 million to TheDream.US, a college scholarship fund for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as minors.
By January 19, 2018, Jeff Bezos's Amazon stock holdings had appreciated to slightly over $109 billion.
On January 29, 2018, Jeff Bezos was featured in Amazon's Super Bowl commercial.
On February 1, 2018, Amazon reported its highest ever profit with quarterly earnings of $2 billion.
On March 6, 2018, Jeff Bezos was formally designated the wealthiest person in the world by Forbes, with a net worth of $112 billion.
In March 2018, Jeff Bezos dispatched Amit Agarwal to India with $5.5 billion to localize Amazon's operations and U.S. President Donald Trump accused Amazon and Bezos of sales tax avoidance and anti-competitive practices.
In March 2018, Jeff Bezos met with Mohammad bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, in Seattle to discuss investment opportunities for Saudi Vision 2030.
On May 1, 2018, Jeff Bezos's mobile phone was allegedly hacked through a malicious file hidden in a video sent via a WhatsApp message from the personal account of Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman.
In May 2018, Jeff Bezos stated that Blue Origin's primary goal is to preserve Earth's natural resources by making humanity multi-planetary and announced New Shepard would begin transporting humans into sub-orbital space by November 2018.
In June 2018, Jeff Bezos donated to Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a private philanthropic fund founded by Bill Gates aimed at promoting emissions-free energy.
During July 2018, a number of members of the U.S. Congress called on Jeff Bezos to detail the applications of Amazon's face recognition software, Rekognition.
In July 2018, Jeff Bezos was named the "richest man in modern history" after his net worth increased to $150 billion.
In July 2018, it was announced that Jeff Bezos had priced commercial spaceflight tickets from $200,000 to $300,000 per person.
On July 17, 2018, Jeff Bezos was designated the "wealthiest person in modern history" by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Fortune, MarketWatch, The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes.
In September 2018, Janet Camarena from Foundation Center raised questions about the structure and funding of Jeff Bezos's new Day 1 Fund.
In September 2018, Jeff Bezos announced that he would commit approximately $2 billion to a fund to deal with American homelessness and establish a network of non-profit preschools for low income communities, establishing the "Day 1 Families Fund" and the "Day 1 Academies Fund".
In September 2018, Jeff Bezos donated $10 million to With Honor, a nonpartisan organization that works to increase the number of veterans in political office.
In September 2018, Senator Bernie Sanders introduced the Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies (Stop BEZOS) Act and accused Amazon of receiving corporate welfare.
On October 2, 2018, Jeff Bezos announced a company-wide wage increase, raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour, which was applauded by Senator Bernie Sanders.
In May 2018, Jeff Bezos stated that Blue Origin's primary goal is to preserve Earth's natural resources by making humanity multi-planetary and announced New Shepard would begin transporting humans into sub-orbital space by November 2018.
In 2018, a $10 billion contract known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) project, this time with the Pentagon, was allegedly written up in a way that favors Amazon.
In 2018, during a talk at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., Jeff Bezos revealed that his Princeton classmate Yasantha Rajakarunanayake had defeated him in solving a mathematical problem, leading him to give up his dreams of becoming a theoretical physicist.
In 2018, it was reported that Jeff Bezos met with Amazon investors for just six hours a year and required high-level employees to present information with six-page narratives instead of presentation slides.
In 2018, more than 400 Washington Post employees wrote an open letter to Jeff Bezos criticizing his poor wages and benefits for his employees.
In January 2019, Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie released a joint statement which revealed that they would be getting divorced after 25 years together.
On February 7, 2019, Jeff Bezos published an online essay in which he accused American Media, Inc. owner David Pecker of "extortion and blackmail" for threatening to publish intimate photos of Bezos and current girlfriend Lauren Sánchez.
In March 2019, Jeff Bezos's security consultant accused the Saudi government of hacking Bezos's phone. This accusation was linked to The Washington Post's coverage of the murder of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi.
On April 4, 2019, Jeff Bezos' divorce was finalized, with Bezos keeping 75% of the couple's Amazon stock and MacKenzie getting the remaining 25% ($35.6 billion).
In June 2019, Jeff Bezos purchased three adjoining apartments overlooking Madison Square Park in Manhattan, including a penthouse, for a combined total of $80 million.
In November 2019, after the JEDI contract was awarded to Microsoft instead, Amazon filed a lawsuit with allegations that the bidding process was biased.
In 2019, Harvard Business Review, which had previously ranked Jeff Bezos as the best-performing CEO for 4 years, did not rank him in the top 100, citing Amazon's low ESG scores reflecting issues with working conditions, employment policies, data security, and antitrust.
In 2019, Jeff Bezos's wealth was reduced due to his divorce from MacKenzie Bezos.
In 2019, a PAC linked to Jeff Bezos spent over $1 million in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat the reelection bid of Seattle city council member and activist Kshama Sawant.
In January 2020, The Guardian reported that the hacking of Jeff Bezos's phone was initiated before the murder of Jamal Khashoggi but after Khashoggi wrote critically about the crown prince in The Washington Post.
In February 2020, Jeff Bezos pledged $10 billion to combat climate change through the Bezos Earth Fund.
In February 2020, Jeff Bezos purchased the Warner Estate from David Geffen for $165 million, setting a record price for a residence in the Los Angeles area.
In April 2020, early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Jeff Bezos donated $100 million to food banks through Feeding America.
In August 2020, Jeff Bezos had a net worth exceeding $200 billion, according to Forbes.
On February 2, 2021, Jeff Bezos emailed Amazon employees announcing he would step down as CEO in the third quarter of 2021 to become Executive Chairman of the Amazon Board, giving him more time for the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and other passions.
In February 2021, Jeff Bezos announced that he would step down as CEO of Amazon in the third quarter of 2021, transitioning to the role of Executive Chairman.
On July 5, 2021, Jeff Bezos stepped down as the CEO and president of Amazon, transitioning to the role of executive chairman, and was succeeded by Andy Jassy.
On July 6, 2021, the Pentagon cancelled the JEDI contract with Microsoft, citing that "due to evolving requirements, increased cloud conversancy, and industry advances, the JEDI Cloud contract no longer meets its needs."
In July 2021, Jeff Bezos announced the Courage and Civility Award and donated $100 million each to lawyer Van Jones and chef José Andrés.
On July 20, 2021, Jeff Bezos launched on the NS-16 mission with his half-brother Mark Bezos, Wally Funk, and Oliver Daemen. The suborbital flight lasted over 10 minutes, reaching a peak altitude of 66.5 miles (107.0 km).
In September 2021, Jeff Bezos co-founded Altos Labs with Mail.ru founder Yuri Milner.
In November 2021, Jeff Bezos pledged to donate $2 billion towards restructuring food systems and nature conservation at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
On November 22, 2021, Jeff Bezos donated $100 million to the Obama Foundation to "help expand the scope of programming that reaches emerging leaders", and requested the Obama Presidential Center's plaza to be named after John Lewis.
In 2021, Jeff Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon, focusing on Blue Origin, and became engaged to Lauren Sánchez.
On January 19, 2022, Altos Labs launched with a start capital of $3 billion and an executive team led by Hal Barron, dedicated to developing longevity therapeutics through cellular reprogramming.
In February 2022, Jeff Bezos expanded his residential holdings, purchasing a $16.13-million-dollar apartment in the Flatiron neighborhood.
On November 22, 2022, Jeff Bezos awarded $123 million to organizations engaged in relocating homeless families to permanent housing through Day 1 Families Fund grants.
Lauren Sánchez and Jeff Bezos became engaged in May 2023.
Around 750 employees at The Washington Post went on a brief strike in December 2023 in response to Jeff Bezos' plans to lay off staff.
According to Forbes, in 2023 Jeff Bezos was the second-wealthiest person in America and the third-wealthiest person in the world.
Since 2023, Jeff Bezos has been a resident of Indian Creek, Florida, located near Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago.
According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, in February 2024 Jeff Bezos' net worth is about $197 billion, making him the second-wealthiest person in the world.
In February 2024, Jeff Bezos sold 24 million shares of Amazon stock for $4 billion and announced plans to sell 50 million more shares over the next year.
In March 2024, Jeff Bezos donated $50 million each to actress Eva Longoria and retired admiral Bill McRaven.
In July 2024, Jeff Bezos held a private phone conversation with then-candidate Donald Trump, which reportedly planted the seeds of a "Bezos–Trump alliance".
During an interview at the DealBook Summit in December 2024, Jeff Bezos stated that he was dedicating 95% of his time to artificial intelligence initiatives at Amazon.
According to the Financial Times, in 2024, Jeff Bezos worked to have a positive relationship with Donald Trump, reportedly to further his business interests.
In 2024, Jeff Bezos blocked the Washington Post's editorial board from endorsing Kamala Harris in the presidential election, leading to criticism and resignations.
Jeff Bezos' ownership of The Washington Post has been subject to scrutiny and criticism regarding his treatment of employees as well as his influence on the paper's content, in particular 2024-25 interference with the editorial and opinion pages.
In January 2025, editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes resigned from the Post after it refused to run a satirical cartoon critical of the relationship between American billionaires and President Donald Trump, sparking conversations about the paper's ownership under Bezos.
In February 2025, Jeff Bezos announced that the opinion section of the Post will give voice only to opinions that support "personal liberties" and "free markets", and that divergent opinions will not be published by the Post.
In February 2025, Jeff Bezos dined with Elon Musk and Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, and Amazon subsequently donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration. Also in February 2025, Bezos announced changes to The Washington Post's opinion policies to promote "free markets and personal liberties".
In May 2025, Jeff Bezos's estimated net worth exceeded $220 billion, making him the third richest person in the world, according to Forbes.
Lauren Sánchez and Jeff Bezos married in Venice on June 27, 2025, in a ceremony attracting mainstream media attention and various celebrities.
In 2025, Jacklyn (née Gise), Jeff Bezos's mother, passed away.
WhatsApp is a widely-used instant messaging and VoIP service owned...
Bill Gates is an American businessman and philanthropist renowned as...
Donald John Trump is an American politician media personality and...
Bernie Sanders is a prominent American politician currently serving as...
Nigeria is a West African nation the most populous in...
Google LLC is a multinational technology company specializing in online...
Bad Bunny born Benito Antonio Mart nez Ocasio is a highly influential Puerto Rican artist known as the King of...
1 day ago Las Vegas Strip Resort Venue Faces Financial Crisis, Files for Chapter 11
5 months ago Cade Cunningham's All-NBA Selection: $45 Million Impact on Pistons Cap Space
4 months ago Charles Barkley Discusses Joel Embiid's Practice Habits and Potential Coaching Impact on Legacy.
5 months ago David Muir Discusses Life Off Camera as 'World News Tonight' Dominates Ratings.
58 minutes ago Khris Middleton returns to Milwaukee, anticipates warm welcome, hopes jersey gets retired
George Soros is a Hungarian-American investor and philanthropist with a...
Charlie Kirk is an American right-wing political activist entrepreneur and...
Paula White-Cain is a prominent American televangelist and key figure...
XXXTentacion born Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy was a controversial yet...
Bernie Sanders is a prominent American politician currently serving as...
Chuck Schumer is the senior United States Senator from New...