Jeff Bezos is recently topping headlines with his success story of being the first person in modern history to accumulate a fortune over $200 billion. The businessman, globally known as the CEO of Amazon and the founder of Blue Origin, is already the world’s richest man, and while his net worth is catching global attention, let’s take an overview of the timeline of his life.
Early Life
Jeff Bezos was born on January 12th of 1964 in Albuquerque of New Mexico. His biological father, Ted Jorgenson, was one of Albuquerque’s top unicyclists while his mom, Jacklyn Bezos, married Ted in her teens.
At an early age, Jeff displayed remarkable mechanical talent. As a Toddler, Jeff Bezos was capable of dismantling his crib with a screwdriver while as a teen, he had developed an electric alarm to keep younger siblings out of his room.
Education
Jeff Bezos attended River Oaks Elementary School in Houston from fourth to sixth grade. The family eventually moved to Florida and Jeff was transferred to Miami Palmetto Senior High School where he excelled at his studies and realized his love for computers.
Bezos graduated as the school’s valedictorian, and a National Merit Scholar, securing his spot at Princeton University. He graduated with two Bachelor of Science degrees in computer science and electrical engineering from Princeton University.
Amazon
After Bezos decided that Seattle is the perfect place for his new business, he spent the time laying out a business plan on his laptop and calling up possible investors. Jeff Bezos managed to raise $1 million from his family and friends, enough to set up his business in the garage of his Seattle home.
Bezos initially incorporated the company as “Cadabra” on July 5, 1994, which after changing to a couple of names, finally decided on “Amazon”, after looking through the words that start with A in the dictionary. Bezos liked the resonance between one of the planet’s longest rivers and largest bookstore.
Today, Amazon is known as is an American multinational technology company based in Seattle, Washington. Amazon focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence.
Blue Origin
Bezos’s long-term plans and dreams have always been grand, and seemingly out of reach – and the success of Amazon served as a gateway for Jeff to finally realize his wild ambitions. Bezos’s mother keeps a copy of a speech he made while back in school where he declares his goal of establishing a fleet of habitable orbiting space stations, turning Earth into one big nature reserve. Blue Origin is proof that this ambition of his was not left abandoned.
In 2004, Bezos founded an aerospace company named Blue Origin, aimed at developing new technology for spaceflight, with the ultimate goal of establishing “an enduring human presence in outer space.” The company owns a 26-acre research campus just outside Seattle, and a private rocket launching facility in West Texas.
On November 24, 2015, Blue Origin made headlines when they successfully managed to send a rocket to suborbital space and land it safely onto a landing pad after take-off while they were testing their New Shepard space vehicle.
Previously it was Bill Gates who topped the list as the world’s richest man with a net worth of USD 114 billion. Jeff Bezos topped the list as the Amazon’s stock went up by nearly 80% during the coronavirus pandemic.
