Jeffrey Preston Bezos (/ˈbeɪzoʊs/BAY-zohss;[2]néJorgensen; born January 12, 1964) is an American businessman best known as the founder, executive chairman, and former president andCEO ofAmazon, the world's largeste-commerce andcloud computing company. According toForbes, as of May 2025, Bezos's estimated net worth exceeded $220 billion, making him the third richest person in the world.[3] He was the wealthiest person from 2017 to 2021, according toForbes and theBloomberg Billionaires Index.[4]
The firstcentibillionaire on theForbes Real Time Billionaires Index and the second ever to have achieved the feat sinceBill Gates in 1999, Bezos was named the "richest man in modern history" after his net worth increased to $150 billion in July 2018 (equivalent to $187,827,988,338 in 2024).[6] In August 2020, according toForbes, he had a net worth exceeding $200 billion (equivalent to $242,998,585,573 in 2024). On July 5, 2021, Bezos stepped down as the CEO and president of Amazon and took over the role of executive chairman. Amazon Web Services CEOAndy Jassy succeeded Bezos as the CEO and president of Amazon.
Early life and education
Bezos was born Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen on January 12, 1964, inAlbuquerque, New Mexico,[7] toJacklyn (née Gise) (1946–2025) andTed Jorgensen[8] (1944–2015). At the time of his birth, his mother was a 17-year-old high-school student and his father was 19.[9] Ted was aDanish American unicyclist[10] born in Chicago to a family of Baptists.[11] After completing high school despite challenging conditions, Jacklyn attended night school, bringing her baby with her.[12] Jeff attended aMontessori school in Albuquerque when he was two.[13]
Ted struggled with alcohol and with his finances.[14] Jacklyn left her husband to live with her parents, filing for divorce in June 1965 when Jeff was 17 months old.[15] After his parents divorced, his mother marriedCuban immigrantMiguel "Mike" Bezos in April 1968.[16] Shortly after the wedding, Mike adopted 4-year-old Jeff, whose surname was then legally changed from Jorgensen to Bezos.[17] Jacklyn, her husband, and her son left the area and asked Ted to discontinue contact, to which he agreed.[18]
Lawrence retired early to his family's ranch nearCotulla, Texas, where his grandson would spend many summers in his youth[22] and which he would later purchase and expand from 25,000 acres (10,117 ha) to 300,000 acres (121,406 ha).[23][24] Jeff displayed scientific interests and technological proficiency and once rigged an electric alarm to keep his younger half-siblings out of his room.[25][26] The family moved toMiami, Florida, where Jeff attendedMiami Palmetto High School.[27][28] In high school, he worked atMcDonald's as a short-orderline cook during the breakfast shift.[29]
Bezos attended the Student Science Training Program at theUniversity of Florida. He was high schoolvaledictorian, aNational Merit Scholar,[30][31] and aSilver Knight Award winner in 1982.[30] In his graduation speech, Bezos told the audience that he dreamed of the day when mankind wouldcolonize space. A local newspaper quoted his intention "to get all people off the earth and see it turned into a huge national park".[32]
After graduating from high school in 1982, Bezos attendedPrinceton University. He initially majored inphysics but later switched to electrical engineering and computer science.[33] In 2018, during a talk atthe Economic Club of Washington, D.C., Bezos revealed that, some thirty years ago, his Princeton classmateYasantha Rajakarunanayake had defeated him in solving a mathematical problem, causing him to give up on his dreams of becoming a theoretical physicist.[34][35][36][37][38]
After Bezos graduated from college in 1986, he was offered jobs atIntel,Bell Labs, andAndersen Consulting, among others.[43] He first worked at Fitel, afintech telecommunicationsstart-up, where he was tasked with building a network forinternational trade.[44] Bezos was promoted to head of development and director of customer service. He transitioned into the banking industry when he became a product manager atBankers Trust from 1988 to 1990. From 1990 to 1994, he worked atD. E. Shaw & Co, a newly createdhedge fund with a strong emphasis on mathematical modelling. Bezos became D. E. Shaw's fourth senior vice-president by age 30.[28][43]
Bezos (front row, center) at theRobot Co-op in 2005
In spring 1994, Bezos read that web usage was growing at a rate of 2,300% a year and eventually decided to establish anonline bookstore.[45] He and his then-wife,MacKenzie Scott, left their jobs at D. E. Shaw and founded Amazon in a rented garage inBellevue, Washington on July 5, 1994, after writing itsbusiness plan on a cross-country drive from New York City toSeattle.[46][47] With Bezos at the helm and Scott taking an integral role in its operation—writing checks, keeping track of the books, and negotiating the company's first freight contracts—the foundation was laid for this garage-run operation.[48] Prior to settling in Seattle, Bezos had investigated setting up his company at anIndian reservation nearSan Francisco in order to avoid paying taxes.[49]
Bezos initially named his new companyCadabra but later changed the name toAmazon after theAmazon River in South America, in part because the name begins with the letterA, which is at the beginning of the alphabet.[50] At the time, website listings were alphabetized, so a name starting with "A" would appear sooner when customers conducted online searches.[51] In addition, he regarded "Amazon," the name of the world's largest river as fitting for what he hoped would become the world's largest online bookstore.[51] He accepted an estimated $300,000 (equivalent to $636,439 in 2024) from his parents as an investment in Amazon.[47][52][53] He warned many early investors that there was a 70% chance that Amazon would fail or go bankrupt.[54] Although Amazon was originally an online bookstore, Bezos had always planned to expand to other products.[28][50] Three years after Bezos founded Amazon, he took it public with aninitial public offering (IPO).[55] In response to critical reports fromFortune andBarron's, Bezos maintained that the growth of the Internet would overtake competition from larger book retailers such asBorders andBarnes & Noble.[50]
In 1998, Bezos diversified into the online sale of music and video, and by the end of the year he had expanded the company's products to include a variety of otherconsumer goods.[50] Bezos used the $54 million raised during the company's 1997equity offering (equivalent to $104,174,357 in 2024) to finance the aggressive acquisition of smaller competitors.[50] Among these acquisitions were his purchase of a majority stake inpets.com in 1999 and a purchase of a portion ofkozmo.com for $60 million (equivalent to $113,252,097 in 2024), both of which would fail after thedot-com bubble collapse in 2000.[56] By the end of 2000, Bezos borrowed $2 billion from banks (equivalent to $3,651,787,440 in 2024), as its cash balances dipped to only $350 million (equivalent to $639,062,802 in 2024).[56] However, the company continued to expand despite its losses,[56] and in 2002, Bezos led Amazon to launchAmazon Web Services, which compiled data from weather channels andwebsite traffic.[50] Revenues stagnated later that year,[56] and after the company nearly went bankrupt, he closed distribution centers and laid off 14% of the Amazon workforce.[56] In 2003, Amazon rebounded from financial instability and turned a profit of $35 million (equivalent to $59,825,434 in 2024).[57][58]
In November 2007, Bezos launched theAmazon Kindle.[59] According to a 2008Time profile, Bezos wished to create a device that allowed a "flow state" in reading similar to the experience of video games.[60] In 2013, Bezos secured a $600-million contract (equivalent to $809,914,286 in 2024) with theCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) on behalf of Amazon Web Services.[61] In October of that year, Amazon was recognized as the largest online shopping retailer in the world.[62]
Bezos in 2010
In May 2016, Bezos sold slightly more than one million shares of his holdings in the company for $671 million (equivalent to $879,129,090 in 2024), the largest sum he had ever raised from selling some of his Amazon stock.[63] On August 4, 2016, Bezos sold another million of his shares for $756.7 million (equivalent to $991,411,301 in 2024).[64] A year later, Bezos took on 130,000 new employees when he ramped up hiring at company distribution centers.[65] By January 19, 2018, his Amazon stock holdings had appreciated to slightly over $109 billion (equivalent to $136,488,338,192 in 2024); months later he began to sell stock to raise cash for other enterprises, in particular,Blue Origin.[66] On January 29, 2018, he was featured in Amazon'sSuper Bowl commercial.[67] On February 1, 2018, Amazon reported its highest ever profit with quarterlyearnings of $2 billion (equivalent to $2,504,373,178 in 2024).[68] Due to the growth ofAlibaba in China, Bezos has often expressed interest in expanding Amazon intoIndia.[69] On July 27, 2017, Bezos momentarily became theworld's wealthiest person overMicrosoft co-founderBill Gates when his estimatednet worth increased to just over $90 billion (equivalent to $115,450,719,522 in 2024). His wealth surpassed $100 billion for the first time on November 24, 2017 (equivalent to $128,278,577,247 in 2024), and he was formally designated the wealthiest person in the world byForbes on March 6, 2018, with a net worth of $112 billion (equivalent to $140,244,897,959 in 2024).[70]
In March 2018, Bezos dispatched Amit Agarwal, Amazon's global senior vice president, to India with $5.5 billion (equivalent to $6,887,026,239 in 2024) to localize operations throughout the company'ssupply chain routes.[72] Later in the month, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Amazon and Bezos, specifically, ofsales tax avoidance, misusingpostal routes, andanti-competitive business practices.[73] Amazon's share price fell by 9% in response to the President's negative comments; this reduced Bezos's personal wealth by $10.7 billion (equivalent to $13,398,396,501 in 2024).[74] Weeks later, Bezos recouped his losses when academic reports out ofStanford University indicated that Trump could do little to regulate Amazon in any meaningful way.[75] During July 2018, a number of members of the U.S. Congress called on Bezos to detail the applications of Amazon'sface recognition software,Rekognition.[76]
Criticism of Amazon's business practices continued in September 2018 when SenatorBernie Sanders introduced the Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies (Stop BEZOS) Act and accused Amazon of receivingcorporate welfare.[78] This followed revelations by the non-profit group New Food Economy which found that one third of Amazon workers inArizona, and one tenth of Amazon workers inPennsylvania andOhio, relied on food stamps.[79] While preparing to introduce the bill, Sanders opined: "Instead of attempting to explore Mars or go to the moon, how about Jeff Bezos pays his workers a living wage?"[80] He later said: "Bezos could play a profound role. If he said today, nobody who is employed at Amazon will receive less than a living wage, it would send a message to every corporation in America."[81] Sanders's efforts elicited a response from Amazon which pointed to the 130,000 jobs it created in 2017 and called the $28,446 figure (equivalent to $36,490 in 2024) for its median salary "misleading" as it included part-time workers.[82] However, Sanders countered that the companies targeted by his proposal have placed an increased focus on part-time workers to escape benefit obligations.[83] On October 2, 2018, Bezos announced a company-wide wage increase, which Sanders applauded.[84] The American workers who were being paid the minimum wage had this increased to $15 per hour (equivalent to $19 in 2024), a decision that was interpreted as support for theFight for $15 movement.[85]
In February 2021, Bezos announced that in thethird quarter of 2021 he would step down from his role as CEO of Amazon to become the Executive Chairman of the Amazon Board. He was succeeded as CEO byAndy Jassy.[86][87][88] On February 2, 2021, Bezos sent an email[89] to all Amazon employees, telling them the transition would give him "the time and energy [he] need[s] to focus on theDay 1 Fund, theBezos Earth Fund,Blue Origin,The Washington Post, and [his] other passions."[90] In February 2024, Bezos sold 24 million shares in Amazon at a total value of $4 billion. Bezos announced that he intended to sell 50 million shares in Amazon over the next year.[91] During an interview at theDealBook Summit in December 2024, Bezos said that he was dedicating 95% of his time to artificial intelligence initiatives at Amazon.[92][93]
Bezos andRob Meyerson (fifth from left) giving NASA Deputy AdministratorLori Garver (fourth from left) a tour of Blue Origin's crew capsule in 2011Then U.S. Secretary of DefenseAsh Carter meets with Bezos in 2016 atThe Pentagon.
In September 2000, Bezos founded Blue Origin, ahuman spaceflightstartup.[94] Bezos has long expressed an interest in space travel and the development of human life in the Solar System.[31] His 1982 high schoolvaledictorian senior graduation speech was followed up with aMiami Herald interview in which he expressed an interest to build and develop hotels, amusement parks, and colonies for human beings who were in orbit.[95] The 18-year-old Bezos stated that he wanted to preserve Earth from overuse throughresource depletion.[96]Rob Meyerson led Blue Origin from 2003 to 2017 and served as its first president.[97]
After its founding, Blue Origin maintained a low profile until 2006 when it purchased a large tract of land inWest Texas for a launch and test facility.[98] After the company gained the public's attention during the late 2000s, Bezos additionally indicated his interest in reducing thecost of space travel for humans while also increasing the safety of extraterrestrial travel.[99] In September 2011, one of the company's uncrewed prototype vehicles crashed during a short-hop test flight. Although the crash was viewed as a setback, news outlets noted how far the company went from its founding-to-date in advancingspaceflight.[95] After the crash, Bezos has been superstitiously wearing his "lucky" TexasCowboy boots to all rocket launches.[100] In May 2013, Bezos met withRichard Branson, chairman ofVirgin Galactic, to discuss commercial spaceflight opportunities and strategies.[101] He has been compared to Branson and Elon Musk as all three are billionaires who prioritize spaceflight among their business interests.[102]
In 2015, Bezos announced that a neworbital launch vehicle was under development and would make its first flight in the late-2010s.[103] Later in November, Blue Origin'sNew Shepard space vehicle successfully rocketed into space and reached its planned test altitude of 329,839 feet (100.5 kilometers) before executing avertical landing back at the launch site in West Texas. In 2016, Bezos allowed select journalists to visit, tour, and photograph his facility.[104] He has repeatedly called for increased inter-space energy and industrial manufacturing to decrease the negative costs associated withbusiness-related pollution.[105]
In December 2017, New Shepard successfully flew and landeddummy passengers, amending and pushing its human space travel start date into late 2018.[106] To execute this program, Blue Origin built six of the vehicles to support all phases of testing and operations: no-passenger test flights, flights with test passengers, and commercial-passenger weekly operations.[107] Since 2016, Bezos has spoken more freely about his hopes tocolonize the solar system, and has been selling $1 billion in Amazon stock each year to capitalize Blue Origin in an effort to support this endeavor.[108][109] In May 2018, Bezos maintained that the primary goal of Blue Origin is to preserve thenatural resources of Earth by making the human speciesmulti-planetary.[110] He announced thatNew Shepard would begin transporting humans intosub-orbital space by November 2018.[110] In July 2018, it was announced that Bezos had priced commercial spaceflight tickets from $200,000 to $300,000 per person.[111]
On August 5, 2013, Bezos announced his purchase ofThe Washington Post for $250 million in cash (equivalent to $337,464,286 in 2024),[114] at the suggestion of his friend,Don Graham.[115] To execute the purchase, he establishedlimited liability companyNash Holdings to serve as aholding company through which he would own the newspaper.[116] The sale closed on October 1, 2013, and Nash Holdings took control.[117] In March 2014, Bezos made his first significant change atThe Washington Post and lifted the online paywall for subscribers of a number of U.S. local newspapers inTexas, Hawaii, andMinnesota.[118] In January 2016, Bezos set out to reinvent the newspaper as a media and technology company by reconstructing its digital media, mobile platforms, and analytics software.[119] After a surge in online readership in 2016, the paper was profitable for the first time since Bezos made the purchase in 2013.[120] However, Bezos' ownership of thePost has been subject to scrutiny andcriticism regarding his treatment of employees[121] as well as his influence on the paper's content, in particular2024-25 interference with the editorial and opinion pages.
Bezos makes personal investments through hisventure capital vehicle, Bezos Expeditions.[122] He was one of the firstshareholders in Google, when he invested $250,000 in 1998 (equivalent to $482,289 in 2024). That $250,000 investment resulted in 3.3 million shares of Google stock, worth about $3.1 billion in 2017 (equivalent to $3,976,635,895 in 2024).[123][124] He also invested inUnity Biotechnology, a life-extension research firm hoping to slow or stop the process of aging.[125] Bezos is involved in the healthcare sector, which includes investments in Unity Biotechnology,GRAIL,Juno Therapeutics, andZocdoc.[126] In January 2018, an announcement was made concerning Bezos's role within a new, unnamed healthcare company. This venture, later namedHaven, is expected to be a partnership between Amazon,JPMorgan, andBerkshire Hathaway.[127][128]
Bezos also supports philanthropic efforts through direct donations and non-profit projects funded by Bezos Expeditions.[129] Bezos used Bezos Expeditions to fund several philanthropic projects, including an Innovation center at the Seattle Museum of History and Industry and the Bezos Center for Neural Circuit Dynamics atPrinceton Neuroscience Institute.[130][131] In 2013, Bezos Expeditions funded the recovery of twoSaturn V first-stageRocketdyne F-1 engines from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.[132] They were positively identified as belonging to theApollo 11 mission'sS-1C stage from July 1969.[133][134] The engines are currently on display at theSeattle Museum of Flight.[135][136]
In November 2025, Bezos announced that he co-foundedProject Prometheus, a company that is focused on the use of artificial intelligence in engineering and the manufacturing of computers, spacecraft, and automobiles.[138]
JournalistNellie Bowles ofThe New York Times has described thepublic persona and personality of Bezos as that of "a brilliant but mysterious and coldblooded corporate titan".[139] During the 1990s, Bezos earned a reputation for relentlessly pushing Amazon forward, often at the expense ofpublic charity and social welfare.[139][140] Journalist Mark O'Connell criticized Bezos's relentless customer focus as "very small" in terms of impact on humanity as a whole,[141] a sentiment technologistTim O'Reilly agreed with.[142] His business practices projected a public image ofprudence and parsimony with his own wealth and that of Amazon. Throughout the early 2000s, he was perceived to be geeky or nerdy.[33][143][144]
Bezos was seen by some as needlessly quantitative and data-driven.[145][146] This perception was detailed by Alan Deutschman, who described him as "talking in lists" and "[enumerating] the criteria, in order of importance, for every decision he has made".[33] Select accounts of his persona have drawn controversy and public attention. Notably, journalistBrad Stone wrotea book that described Bezos as a demanding boss as well ashyper-competitive,[140][145] and opined that Bezos perhaps "bet the biggest on the Internet" out of anyone.[147] Bezos has been characterized as a notoriously opportunistic CEO who operates with little concern for obstacles andexternalities.[148][149]
During the early 2010s, Bezos solidified his reputation for aggressive business practices, and his public image began to shift. Bezos started to weartailored clothing; heweight trained, pursued a regimented diet and began to freely spend his money.[150] His physical transformation has been compared to the transformation of Amazon; he is often referred to as themetonym of the company.[151][152] Since 2017, he has been portrayed byKyle Mooney andSteve Carell onSaturday Night Live, usually as an undercutting, domineering figure.[153] His physical appearance increased the public's perception of him as a symbolically dominant figure in business and in popular culture, wherein he has beenparodied as an enterprisingsupervillain.[154][155][156]
During the late 2010s, Bezos reversed his reputation for being reluctant to spend money on non-business-related expenses.[23] His relative lack of philanthropy compared to other billionaires has drawn a negative response from the public since 2016.[159][23] Bezos has been known to publicly contest claims made in critical articles, as exemplified in 2015 when he sent a memo to employees denouncing aNew York Times piece.[160][161]
Bezos used what he called a "regret-minimization framework" while working atD. E. Shaw and again during the early years of Amazon. He described thislife philosophy by stating: "When I'm 80, am I going to regret leaving Wall Street? No. Will I regret missing the beginning of the Internet? Yes."[28] During the 1990s and early 2000s at Amazon, he was characterized as trying to quantify all aspects of running the company, often listing employees on spreadsheets and basing executive decisions on data.[33] To push Amazon forward, Bezos developed themantra "Get Big Fast", establishing the company's need toscale its operations to produce market dominance.[50] He favored diverting Amazon profits back into the company in lieu of allocating it amongst shareholders in the form ofdividends.[33]
Bezos uses the term "work–life harmony" instead of the more standard "work–life balance" because he believes thatbalance implies that you can only have one and not the other. He believes that work and home life are interconnected, informing and calibrating each other.[164] JournalistWalt Mossberg dubbed the idea that someone who cannot tolerate criticism or critique should not do anything new or interesting "The Bezos Principle".[165] Bezos does not schedule early morning meetings and enforces a two-pizza rule—a preference that meetings are small enough for twopizzas to feed everyone in the boardroom.[166] When interviewing candidates for jobs at Amazon, he has stated he considers three inquiries: can he admire the person, can the person raise thecommon standard, and under what circumstances could the person become exemplary.[167]
In 2018, it was reported that he met with Amazon investors for just six hours a year.[166] Instead of usingpresentation slides, Bezos requires high-level employees to present information with six-page narratives.[168] Since 1998, Bezos has published an annual letter for Amazon shareholders wherein he frequently refers to five principles: focus on customers, not competitors; take risks formarket leadership; facilitate staff morale; build acompany culture; and empower people.[169][170] Bezos maintains the email address jeff@amazon.com[171] as an outlet for customers to reach out to him and the company. Although he does not respond to the emails, he forwards some of them with a question mark in the subject line to executives, who then attempt to address the issues.[172] Bezos has citedJeff Immelt ofNew Enterprise Associates,[173]Warren Buffett ofBerkshire Hathaway,Jamie Dimon ofJPMorgan Chase, andBob Iger ofThe Walt Disney Company as major influences on his leadership style.[173][174]
In 2012, Bezos was named Businessperson of the Year byFortune.[179]
He is also a member of theBilderberg Group and attended the 2011 Bilderberg conference inSt. Moritz, Switzerland,[180] and the2013 conference inWatford, Hertfordshire, England. He was a member of the executive committee ofThe Business Council for 2011 and 2012, and appointed as chairman of the organization in 2014.[181]
In February 2018, Bezos was elected to theNational Academy of Engineering for "leadership and innovation in space exploration, autonomous systems, and building a commercial pathway for human space flight".[186]
In March 2018, at theExplorers Club annual dinner, he was awarded theBuzz Aldrin Space Exploration Award in recognition of his work with Blue Origin.[187]
In 2019, Bezos was inducted into theLiving Legends of Aviation, being awarded with the Jeff Bezos Freedom's Wings Award and the Kenn Ricci Lifetime Aviation Entrepreneur Award.[190]
In February 2023, Bezos was presented with theLégion d'honneur, the highest Frenchorder of merit. Bezos had been designated a member of the Légion d'Honneur about 10 years earlier but was not available to collect it.[191]
Bezos first became a millionaire in 1997 after raising $54 million (equivalent to $105,772,388 in 2024) through Amazon'sinitial public offering (IPO).[193] He was first included on theForbesWorld's Billionaires list in 1999 with an estimatednet worth of $10.1 billion (equivalent to $19,064,103,076 in 2024), which placed his on the 19th position in the world and 10th in the USA.[194] His net worth decreased to $6.1 billion a year later (equivalent to $11,137,951,691 in 2024), a 40.5% drop.[195] His wealth plummeted even more the following year, dropping 66.6% to $2.0 billion (equivalent to $3,551,588,047 in 2024).[196] He lost $500 million the following year (equivalent to $874,098,057 in 2024), which brought his net worth down to $1.5 billion (equivalent to $2,622,294,172 in 2024).[197] The following year, his net worth increased by 66.66% to $2.5 billion (equivalent to $4,273,245,297 in 2024).[198] From 2005 to 2007, he quadrupled his net worth to $8.7 billion (equivalent to $14,006,866,587 in 2024).[199] After the2008 financial crisis andGreat Recession, his net worth would decrease to $6.8 billion (equivalent to $9,930,942,813 in 2024)—a 17.7% drop.[200][201] His wealth rose by 85.2% in 2010, leaving him with $12.6 billion (equivalent to $18,168,380,894 in 2024). This percentage increase ascended him to the 43rd spot on the ranking from 68th.[200][202]
After a rumor broke out that Amazon was developing asmartphone, Bezos's net worth rose to $30.5 billion in 2014 (equivalent to $40,510,894,012 in 2024).[203][204] A year later, he entered the top ten when he increased his net worth to a total of $50.3 billion (equivalent to $66,725,354,485 in 2024). Bezos rose to become the fifth richest person in the world hours beforemarket close; he gained $7 billion in one hour (equivalent to $8,765,306,122 in 2024).[205] By the time theForbes list was calculated in March 2016, his net worth was registered at $45.2 billion (equivalent to $59,220,022,185 in 2024).[206] However, just months later in October 2016, his wealth increased by $16.2 billion (equivalent to $21,224,875,208 in 2024) to $66.5 billion (equivalent to $87,126,802,551 in 2024), unofficially ranking him the third-richest person in the world, behindWarren Buffett.[207] After sporadic jumps in Amazon's share price, in July 2017 he briefly unseatedMicrosoft co-founderBill Gates as the wealthiest person in the world.[208]
Thenet worth of Jeff Bezos from 1999 to 2018 as estimated byForbes magazine, in thenominalU.S. dollar. His net worth is calculated in the billions by March of each year.
Bezos would continue to sporadically surpass Gates throughout the month of October 2017 after Amazon's share price fluctuated.[209] His net worth surpassed $100 billion for the first time on November 24, 2017 (equivalent to $128,278,577,247 in 2024), after Amazon'sshare price increased by more than 2.5%.[210] When the 2017 list was issued, Bezos's net worth was registered at $72.8 billion (equivalent to $93,386,804,236 in 2024), adding $27.6 billion from the previous year (equivalent to $35,404,887,320 in 2024).[211] His wealth's rapid growth from 2016 to 2017 sparked a variety of assessments about how much money Bezos earned on a controlled, reduced time scale. On October 10, 2017, he made an estimated $6.24 billion (equivalent to $8,004,583,220 in 2024) in 5 minutes, slightly less than the then annual gross domestic product ofKyrgyzstan.[212]
On March 6, 2018, Bezos was designated thewealthiest person in the world, with a registered net worth of $112 billion (equivalent to $140,244,897,959 in 2024).[213] He unseated Bill Gates ($90 billion, equivalent to $112,696,793,003 in 2024), who was $6 billion (equivalent to $7,513,119,534 in 2024) ahead of Warren Buffett ($84 billion, equivalent to $105,183,673,469 in 2024), ranked third.[214] He is considered the first registeredcenti-billionaire (notadjusted for inflation).[b]
Bezos's net worth increased by $33.6 billion (equivalent to $43,101,601,955 in 2024) from January 2017 to January 2018.[219] Following a report byQuartz highlighting Bezos' wealth, Amazon workers inPoland, Germany, and Spain participated in demonstrations andlabor strikes draw attention to his growing wealth and the lack of compensation, labor rights, and satisfactory working conditions of select Amazon workers.[220] On July 17, 2018, he was designated the "wealthiest person in modern history"[c] by theBloomberg Billionaires Index,[222]Fortune,[223]MarketWatch,[224]The Wall Street Journal,[225] andForbes.[221]
In 2019, Bezos's wealth was reduced by the divorce from his wifeMacKenzie Bezos.[226][227] According toForbes, had the Washington state common law applied to their divorce without a prenuptial agreement, Bezos's wealth could have been equitably divided with his ex-wife;[228][229] however, she eventually received 25% of Bezos's Amazon shares, then valued at approximately $36 billion (equivalent to $44,274,892,620 in 2024), making her the third-richest woman in the world. Bezos retained his interest inThe Washington Post and Blue Origin, as well as voting control of the shares received by his ex-wife.[226]
In June 2019, Bezos purchased three adjoining apartments overlookingMadison Square Park inManhattan, including apenthouse, for a combined total of $80 million (equivalent to $98,388,650 in 2024), making this one of the most expensive real estate purchases within New York City in 2019.[230] Bezos had also purchased three adjoining apartments at25 Central Park West in Manhattan for $7.65 million in 1999 (equivalent to $14,439,642 in 2024);[231][232] he bought a fourth unit in that building for $5.3 million in 2012 (equivalent to $7,258,980 in 2024).[232]
In February 2020, Bezos purchased theWarner Estate fromDavid Geffen for $165 million (equivalent to $200,473,833 in 2024),[233][234] a record price paid for a residence in the Los Angeles area. During theCOVID-19 pandemic, it was reported that Bezos's fortune had grown by $24 billion (equivalent to $29,159,830,269 in 2024), citing a surge in demand from households on lockdown shopping on Amazon.[235] He further expanded his residential holdings in February 2022, purchasing a $16.1 million apartment at a 24-story boutique condominium (equivalent to $17,299,170 in 2024), located across from Madison Square Park in the Flatiron neighborhood, where he already owns all the units on the top floor.[236] Bezos is the owner of theY721, a luxury superyacht estimated to cost more than $500,000,000 (equivalent to $537,241,301 in 2024); it is the largest yacht in the world.[237] According toForbes Bezos was the second-wealthiest person in America and the third-wealthiest person in the world in 2023.[238][239][240] Bezos is the second-wealthiest person in the world according toBloomberg Billionaires Index. His net worth is about $197 billion as of February 2024.[241]
Bezos added a remote 14-acre estate on La Perouse Bay inMaui, encircled by inactive lava fields, to his real estate holdings for $78 million in 2022 (equivalent to $83,809,643 in 2024).[242]
Bezos is known for creating anadversarial environment at Amazon, as well asinsulting and verbally abusing his employees. As journalistBrad Stone revealed in his bookThe Everything Store, Bezos issued remarks to his employees such as "I'm sorry, did I take my stupid pills today?", "Are you lazy or just incompetent?", and "Why are you ruining my life?"[148] Additionally, Bezos reportedly pitted Amazon teams against each other, and once refused to give Amazon employees city bus passes in order to discourage them from leaving the office.[148]
Throughout his early years of ownership ofThe Washington Post, Bezos was accused of having a potentialconflict of interest with the paper.[243] Bezos and the newspaper'seditorial board have dismissed accusations that he unfairly controlled the paper's content, and Bezos maintains that the paper is independent.[244][120] Bezos' treatment of employees atThe Washington Post has also drawn scrutiny.[121] In 2018, more than 400Washington Post employees wrote an open letter to Bezos criticizing hispoor wages and benefits for his employees. The letter demanded "Fair wages; fair benefits for retirement, family leave and health care; and a fair amount of job security".[121] Around 750 employees atThe Washington Post went on a brief strike in December 2023 in response to Bezos' plans tolay off staff.[245]
In 2024, Bezosblocked theWashington Post's editorial board from endorsingKamala Harris in thepresidential election. The move was criticized by former editorMarty Baron, who considered it to be an act of "disturbing spinelessness at an institution famed for courage" and said that it would invite intimidation of Bezos by Donald Trump. Editor-at-largeRobert Kagan and columnistMichele Norris also resigned in the wake of the decision, and editorDavid Maraniss said that the paper was "dying in darkness".Post opinion columnists jointly authored an article calling the decision to not endorse a "terrible mistake", and it was condemned by the Washington Post Guild, a union unit representingPost employees.[246][247][248][249] More than 250,000 people (about ten percent of thePost's subscribers) cancelled their subscriptions, and three members of the editorial board left the board.[250][251][252] Condemning thePost's decision, several columnists, including Will Bunch,Jonathan Last,Dan Froomkin,Donna Ladd andSewell Chan, described it as an example of what historianTimothy Snyder callsanticipatory obedience.[253][254][255][256][257] Snyder, too, condemned the decision.[258]
In January 2025, editorial cartoonistAnn Telnaes resigned from thePost after it refused to run a satirical cartoon critical of the relationship between American billionaires and PresidentDonald Trump, sparking conversations about the paper's ownership under Bezos; Telnaes called the decision "dangerous for a free press".[259][260] In February 2025, Bezos announced that the opinion section of thePost will give voice only to opinions that support "personal liberties" and "free markets", and that divergent opinions will not be published by thePost.[261][262]David Shipley,The Post's opinion editor, resigned after trying to persuade Bezos to reconsider the new direction.[262] Within two days of the announcement, it was reported that over 75,000 digital subscribers had canceled their subscriptions.[263]
Due to his considerable influence on industry, politics, and media, Bezos has been described as anoligarch.[264][265][266]
In 1992, while working forD. E. Shaw in Manhattan, Bezos met novelistMacKenzie Tuttle, who was a research associate at the firm; the couple married a year later.[28][267] In 1994, they moved across the country toSeattle, Washington, where Bezos founded Amazon.[268] Bezos and his now ex-wife MacKenzie are the parents of four children: three sons, and a daughter adopted from China.[96][269]
In March 2003, Bezos was a passenger in a helicopter that crashed inWest Texas while surveying land to buy for Blue Origin; the other three occupants in the helicopter were pilot Charles "Cheater" Bella, Amazon lawyer Elizabeth Korrell, and local rancher Ty Holland.[270][271] All survived; Bezos sustained only minor injuries and was discharged from a local hospital the same day.[33]
Bezos portrayed aStarfleet official in the 2016 movieStar Trek Beyond, and joined the cast and crew at aSan Diego Comic-Con screening.[272] He had lobbiedParamount for the role apropos ofAlexa and his personal/professional interest inspeech recognition. His one line consisted of a response to an alien in distress: "Speak Normally." In his initial discussion of the project which became Alexa with his technical advisor Greg Hart in 2011, Bezos told him that the goal was to create "theStar Trek computer."[273] Bezos's family corporation Zefram LLC is named afterZefram Cochrane, a character fromStar Trek.[274]
In January 2019, Bezos and his wife MacKenzie released a joint statement which revealed that they would be getting divorced after 25 years together.[275][276] Subsequently,National Enquirer revealed that Bezos had an affair with media personalityLauren Sánchez; the affair with Sánchez had lasted for months.[277][278] Later, Bezos published an online essay on February 7, 2019, in which he accusedAmerican Media, Inc. ownerDavid Pecker of "extortion and blackmail" for threatening to publish intimate photos of Bezos and current girlfriend Lauren Sánchez[279] if he did not stop his investigation into how his text messages and other photos had been leaked to theNational Enquirer.[280][281] Media reports have accused Sánchez's brother Michael of being the source for the photos obtained byNational Enquirer; however, Bezos has speculated that it may have been the Saudi Arabian government.[282]
On April 4, 2019, the divorce was finalized, with Bezos keeping 75% of the couple's Amazon stock and MacKenzie getting the remaining 25% ($35.6 billion, equivalent to $43,782,949,369 in 2024). However, Bezos would keep all of the couple's voting rights.[283] Sánchez and Bezos became engaged in May 2023.[284] The couplemarried in Venice on June 27, 2025, with the ceremony attracting mainstream media attention and various celebrities.[285][286][287][288]
Indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi presenting the USIBC Global Leadership Award to Bezos, in Washington, D.C. on June 7, 2016British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson meets with Bezos during the United Nations General Assembly, in New York City on September 20, 2021.
According to publiccampaign finance records, Bezos supported the electoral campaigns ofPatty Murray andMaria Cantwell, twoDemocratic U.S. senators from Washington. He has also supported Democrats U.S. representativeJohn Conyers, as well asPatrick Leahy and RepublicanSpencer Abraham, U.S. senators serving on committees dealing with Internet-related issues.[290] Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Bezos have supported the legalization ofsame-sex marriage, and in 2012 contributed $2.5 million (equivalent to $3,424,047 in 2024) toWashington United for Marriage, a group supporting a yes vote onWashington Referendum 74, which affirmed a same-sex marriage law enacted in the state.[291] Bezos donated $100,000 (equivalent to $144,193 in 2024) towards a movement against a Washingtonstate income tax in 2010 for "top earners".[290] In 2012, he donated to Amazon'spolitical action committee (PAC),[290] which has given $56,000 (equivalent to $76,699 in 2024) and $74,500 (equivalent to $102,037 in 2024) to Democrats and Republicans, respectively.[292]
In 2014, Amazon won a bid for acloud computing contract with theCIA valued at $600 million (equivalent to $796,935,620 in 2024).[293] A 2018, $10 billion contract (equivalent to $12,521,865,889 in 2024) known as theJoint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) project, this time with thePentagon, was allegedly written up in a way that favors Amazon.[294] Controversy over this was raised when GeneralJames Mattis accepted a headquarters tour invitation from Bezos and coordinated the deal through Sally Donnelly, a lobbyist who previously worked for Amazon.[295] In November 2019, when the contract was awarded to Microsoft instead, Amazon filed a lawsuit with allegations that the bidding process was biased.[296][297] 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."[298] Despite Bezos's support for an open borders policy towards immigrants, Amazon has actively marketed facial recognition software toU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).[299]
In 2019, aPAC linked to Bezos spent over $1 million (equivalent to $1,229,858 in 2024) in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat the reelection bid of Seattle city council member and activistKshama Sawant.[300] On November 22, 2021, Jeff Bezos donated $100 million (equivalent to $116,038,315 in 2024) to theObama Foundation to "help expand the scope of programming that reaches emerging leaders" and requested theObama Presidential Center's plaza to be named afterJohn Lewis.[301][302]
Since 2023, Bezos has been a resident ofIndian Creek, Florida, which is near Trump'sMar-a-Lago.[309] As reported byAxios in February 2025, Bezos held a private phone conversation in July 2024 with then-candidate Trump, planting the seeds of a "Bezos–Trump alliance" months before Bezosblocked theWashington Post's editorial board from endorsingKamala Harris in the election.[310] After Trump's November victory, Bezos dined withElon Musk and Trump atMar-a-Lago; Amazon subsequently donated $1 million toTrump's inauguration, at which Bezos was in attendance.[310] Bezos and Trump were reported to have met for dinner again in February 2025, on the same night that Bezos announcedchanges to theWashington Post's opinion policies to promote "free markets and personal liberties" and suppress divergent opinions.[311]Axios characterized it as "another sign of Trump and Bezos' growing closeness".[311]
According to theFinancial Times, Bezos had a contentious relationship with Trump during Trump's first term, but worked to have a positive relationship with Trump in 2024 and duringTrump's second term. Bezos reportedly supported Trump to further his business interests, and supports many of Trump's policies. TheFinancial Times also noted that Bezos had made other changes in his life, including stepping down as CEO of Amazon in 2021, focusing onBlue Origin, and being engaged toLauren Sánchez, which may have changed his political views.[312]
In March 2018, Bezos met in Seattle withMohammad bin Salman, the crown prince andde facto ruler ofSaudi Arabia, to discuss investment opportunities forSaudi Vision 2030.[313] In March 2019, Bezos's security consultant accused the Saudi government ofhacking Bezos's phone. According to BBC, Bezos's top security staffer,Gavin de Becker,[314] "linked the hack to theWashington Post's coverage of the murder of Saudi writerJamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul". Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and dissident, was employed as a writer at theWashington Post, owned by Bezos. Khashoggi was killed in late 2018 in Turkey's Saudi consulate for his critical stance and journalism against the Saudi government and its leader.[315] In January 2020,The Guardian reported that the hack was initiated before the murder but after Khashoggi wrote critically about the crown prince in theWashington Post. Forensic analysis of Bezos's mobile phone conducted by advisory firmFTI Consulting, concluded it "highly probable" that the hack was achieved using a malicious file hidden in a video sent in aWhatsApp message to Bezos from the personal account of the crown prince on May 1, 2018.[316][317] Saudi Arabia has denied the claim.[318]
Philanthropy
Bezos funded the retrieval of theseF-1 engine parts from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in 2015, eventually donating them to theSeattle Museum of Flight. They are fromApollo 16 (above) andApollo 12 (below).
Bezos donated to theFred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center several times between 2009 and 2017.[319] In 2013, he pledged $500,000 (equivalent to $674,929 in 2024) toWorldreader, a non-profit founded by a former Amazon employee.[320] In September 2018,Business Insider reported that Bezos was the only one of the top five billionaires in the world who had not signed theGiving Pledge, an initiative created by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett that encourages wealthy people to give away a majority of their wealth.[321] That same month, Janet Camarena, director of transparency initiatives atFoundation Center, was quoted by CNBC as having questions about Bezos's new Day 1 Fund, including the fund's structure and how exactly it will be funded.[322]
In May 2017, Bezos gave $1 million (equivalent to $1,282,786 in 2024) to theReporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which providespro bono legal services for American journalists.[323] On June 15, 2017, he posted a message on Twitter asking for ideas for philanthropy: "I'm thinking about a philanthropy strategy that is the opposite of how I mostly spend my time—working on the long term".[23] At the time of the post, Bezos's lifetime spending on charitable causes was estimated to be $100 million (equivalent to $128,278,577 in 2024).[23] Multiple opinion columnists responded by asking Bezos to pay higher wages to Amazon warehouse workers.[324][325] A year later in June, he tweeted that he would announce two philanthropic foci by the end of summer 2018.[326] Bezos announced in September 2018 that he would commit approximately $2 billion (equivalent to $2,504,373,178 in 2024) to a fund to deal withAmerican homelessness and establish a network of non-profitpreschools for low-income communities.[327] As part of this announcement, he committed to establishing the "Day 1 Families Fund" to finance "night shelters andday care centers for homeless families" and the "Day 1 Academies Fund" forearly childhood education.[328][329]
In July 2021, Bezos announced theCourage and Civility Award and donated $100 million (equivalent to $116,038,315 in 2024) each to lawyerVan Jones and chefJosé Andrés.[343] The next year, he donated $100 million (equivalent to $107,448,260 in 2024) to singerDolly Parton in recognition of her charity work focused on improving children's literacy around the world.[344] In March 2024, he donated $50 million each to actressEva Longoria and retired admiralBill McRaven.[345]
Bezos Academy is a group of tuition-freepreschools for students fromlow-income families, which was created by Bezos, and which operate in a manner similar to theMontessori method (but are not accredited as Montessori schools).[346] On November 22, 2022, Bezos awarded $123 million (equivalent to $132,161,360 in 2024) to organizations that are engaged in relocating homeless families to permanent housing. Day 1 Families Fund grants, the amounts of which vary in monetary terms, will be sent to 40 organizations across the country.[347]
^All currency figures expressed in the United States dollar (US$) innominal terms.
^AlthoughBill Gates momentarily surpassed the $100 billionnet worth mark in April 1999 before theDot-com bubble,[215] Bezos was the first to register $100 billion with major wealth indexes and has retained the wealth for longer than Gates's three weeks.[216][217][218]
^Many calculations of Bezos's wealth during the late 2010s were notadjusted for inflation. When he was designated the "world wealthiest person" on March 6, 2018, theForbesThe World's Billionaires list stipulated that although Bezos was the firstcenti-billionaire (i.e. +US$100 billion in net worth), it wasBill Gates who had the most money when taken inreal terms.[215] In such terms, Gates had $150 billion while Bezos had $100 billion. However, in July 2018, the net worth of Bezos officially surpassed the $150 billion mark, which led most major wealth indexes to label him the wealthiest person in modern history (post-1982).[221]
^Clifford, Catherine (June 14, 2019)."Jeff Bezos's single teen mom brought him to night school with her when he was a baby".CNBC.Archived from the original on January 28, 2021.Condition one, I had to arrive and depart [high] school within five minutes of the starting and finishing bells. Condition two, I could not talk to other students. Condition three, I couldn't eat lunch in the cafeteria. Condition four, I was told I would not be allowed to walk across the stage with my classmates to get my diploma
^Leibovich, Mark (September 3, 2000)."Child Prodigy, Online Pioneer".The Washington Post.Archived from the original on September 22, 2021. RetrievedJune 8, 2021.
^abWhoriskey, Peter (August 12, 2013)."For Jeff Bezos, a new frontier".The Washington Post.Archived from the original on September 16, 2017. RetrievedFebruary 20, 2014.
^Vlahos, James (2019).Talk to Me: How Voice Computing Will Transform the Way We Live, Work and Think, p. 40, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.ISBN978-1328799302.
^Nicolaou, Anna; Morris, Stephen; Uddin, Rafe; Rogers, Alex (March 19, 2025)."How Jeff Bezos made peace with Donald Trump".The Financial Times. RetrievedMarch 19, 2025.In the past year, the Amazon founder has executed a sharp public reversal in his relationship with the president that has surprised even longtime associates
^Boyle, Alan (June 18, 2018)."Backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, Breakthrough Energy Ventures places first bets on power storage".GeekWire.Archived from the original on June 27, 2018. RetrievedJune 18, 2018.We are committed to doing our part and filling this capital need by coming together in a new coalition. We will form a network of private capital committed to building a structure that will allow informed decisions to help accelerate the change to the advanced energy future our planet needs. Success requires a partnership of increased government research, with a transparent and workable structure to objectively evaluate those projects, and committed private-sector investors willing to support the innovative ideas that come out of the public research pipeline.
^"Instagram a new Bezos Earth Fund". February 17, 2020.Archived from the original on February 17, 2020. RetrievedFebruary 17, 2020 – viaInstagram.Today, I'm thrilled to announce I am launching the Bezos Earth Fund.
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