Since he’s one of the richest men to ever live, very few people are unfamiliar with the name Jeff Bezos. However, there’s a lot more to know about Jeff Bezos aside from the fact that he’s rich. From building the largest internet company of all time to trying to colonize space, Mr. Bezeos might just be one of the most interesting men alive today.
With that said, here are 10 facts about Jeff Bezos.
1. From Jorgensen To Bezos
Mr. Bezos was originally born in Albuquerque, New Mexico as Jeffrey Jorgensen. His mother and biological father eventually divorced and his mother remarried a Cuban immigrant named Miguel Bezos. Miguel later adopted Jeff and legally changed his surname from Jorgensen to Bezos.
2. Why Amazon?
When he was first planing Amazon, Jeff was originally going to call it Cadabra. However, he later changed the name to Amazon, after the Amazon River. This decision was made because Google alphabetized search results at the time and Jeff wanted his company to appear early in the listings.
3. To the moon
Bezos is the CEO and founder of Blue Origins, a space exploration company. Although he did not found it until 2000, his aspirations to go to space were apparent from a young age. During his high school valedictorian speech, Jeff said that he dreamed of the day when mankind would colonize space.
4. Bezos as an employee
Although Jeff clearly had entrepreneurial aspirations, he spent most of his early life working various jobs. In high school, he worked as a short-order cook at McDonald’s on the breakfast shift. After graduating from Princeton, he worked for a telecommunications startup (Fitel), a banking company (Banker’s Trust), and a hedge fund (D.E. Shaw). He started Amazon after leaving D.E. Shaw.
5. The 11 cent purchase
Bezos is also very well known for being the owner of the Washington Post. He purchased this major news publication for $250 million in cash. Since Bezos’ wealth is currently estimated to be around $214 billion, this means that this purchase was the equivalent of spending 11 cents when you consider it relative to his wealth.
6. His net worth fluctuates by millions (if not billions) every day.
Jeff Bezos is one of the richest men in the world but this does not mean that he has billions in his personal bank account. Instead, his wealth is tied to his investments and the stock that he owns in Amazon. Since the share price of Amazon stock goes up and down each day, Jeff’s net worth is constantly changing. This means that on down days he has to watch his net worth decline by billions. However, on good days he has been known to make as much as $18 billion in a single day.
7. Bezos Expeditions
Although this sounds like some type of eco-tourism company, Bezos Expeditions is actually Bezos’ venture capital firm. In addition to his success as an entrepreneur, Bezos has shown some savvy as an investor. He invested $250,000 in Google in 1998 which resulted in about 3.3 million shares of stock. Today, these shares are worth approximately $9 billion.
8. The world’s most lucrative divorce
Bezos’ recently divorced his wife MacKenzie after 25 years of marriage. In the process, he was forced to pay a $38 billion settlement. His personal fortune is so massive, however, that Bezos still retained the title of the richest man in the world while also catapulting MacKenzie to one of the wealthiest women in the world.
9. Joining an exclusive club of wealthy
These days, being a billionaire once over just isn’t much to get excited about. This is because there is actually an exclusive club of 5 centi-billionaires (people who are worth over $100 billion). This list is comprised of Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates.
10. An expensive side hustle
Since the space industry is so new, it can be confusing to understand how these types of companies earn money. There are a few different ways that they can earn revenue and the main way is to win contracts from NASA or other government organizations. However, Blue Origin is financed almost entirely by Bezos, who spends about $1 billion per year to keep the company running.
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