| Birth name | Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen |
| Birth | January 12, 1964, Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. |
| Age | 58 years |
| Education | Princeton University (BSE, EECS) |
| Wife | MacKenzie Scott (married in 1993; divorced in 2019) |
| Children | 4 |
| Partners | Lauren Sánchez (2019–present) |
| Net Worth | US$202.5 billion |
| Occupation | Executive Chairman of Amazon and the Founder of Blue Origin |
We are going to discuss in this article, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. So let’s go friends, know the details about him, and stay tuned with us till you know about Jeff Bezos.
How did Jeff Bezos start Amazon?
Jeff Bezos, an American entrepreneur, is the founder and CEO of Amazon and the owner of the Washington Post. He was born on January 12, 1964, in New Mexico, USA. his mother Jacqueline was only 17 when he was born and her father Ted left them when she was just 3. Then he uses the title of his honest father. In his early days, he invented an electric alarm to prevent his siblings from entering his house. Which has dedicated him to his goal. His honest father was the first person to trust and invest in him. He later became a millionaire with a profit of 2300 percent.
Jeff Bezos became one of the richest men in the world through his successful business ventures. On July 16, 1995, Jeff opened Amazon.com and named it after the South American river The Amazon. He chose this name after asking 300 friends to test his site beta. With 3 employees, he started making software in his garage, a few months before launch. Eventually, they expanded operations into a two-bedroom home equipped with three Sun micro stations. Previously, the name of the service was Amazon Video on Demand, and later, the name of the service was changed to Amazon Instant Video.
Jeffrey Preston Bezos: Birth, Family, Education
Jeffrey Preston Bezos was born as Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico to Jacklyn (née Gise) and Ted Jorgensen. At the time of his birth, his mother was only 17 years old and was a high school student while his father was a bike shop owner. In 1968, the couple got separated and his mother married Cuban immigrant Miguel “Mike” Bezos. Mike adopted four-year-old Jorgensen and the surname was then changed to Bezos.
The family moved to Texas where Bezos attended River Oaks Elementary School in Houston from fourth to sixth grade. Later on, the family moved to Miami, Florida where Bezos attended Miami Palmetto High School. During the breakfast shift, Bezos worked at McDonald’s short-order line cook. In the year 1986, he graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) in electrical engineering and computer science.
Jeffrey Preston Bezos: Personal Life
Jeff Bezos met novelist MacKenzie Tuttle in 1992 while working for D. E. Shaw in Manhattan. The duo married a year later. In 1994, the couple moved to Seattle, Washington, where Bezos founded Amazon. Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Tuttle (now ex-wife) are the parents of four children, three sons and one daughter adopted from China.
On 9 January 2019, the couple announced their intent to divorce after a long period of separation. Their divorce was finalized on 4 April 2019. Post-divorce, Jeff Bezos holds 75% of Amazon’s stock and the couple’s voting rights.
How much of Amazon does Jeff Bezos own?
Previously owning 16 percent of the company, the Amazon employee sold $8.8 billion worth of his Amazon stock after stepping back as Amazon CEO to become executive chairman in July 2021. Despite owning less than 10 percent of the company today, his net worth is estimated to be a whopping $171 billion, per Forbes.
Prior to leaving his position as CEO, Bezos went through a very public divorce with his now ex-wife MacKenzie Scott in 2019. After 25 years of marriage, MacKenzie received 4 percent of Amazon in the settlement valued at $38 billion. Since their split, MacKenzie went on to marry Seattle school teacher Dan Jewett in March 2021, while the Amazon founder has been dating girlfriend Lauren Sanchez since 2019.
What is Jeff Bezos doing now?
Now with more time on his hands, Bezos is of course philanthropic thanks to his Bezos Family Foundation, however, he’s still very much embroiled in the criticism wealthy corporations like his garner on the issue of corporate taxes.
In fact, President Joe Biden slammed organizations like his via Twitter as tensions around inflation rise. “You want to bring down inflation? Let’s make sure the wealthiest corporations pay their fair share,” President Biden tweeted on May 13, 2022, to which Bezos replied, “Raising corp taxes is fine to discuss. Taming inflation is critical to discuss. Mushing them together is just misdirection.”
Although Amazon did not pay federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017, Bezos does not think big business is responsible for inflation. Bezos added in response to the White House and Biden administration, “They know that inflation is most needed. But the unions are not causing inflation and neither are the rich.”