There is scarcely a good on this planet that you couldn’t find for sale and shipped to almost anywhere in the world on the online marketplace, Amazon. Where Walmart once reined supreme in the realm of commerce, Amazon has quickly supplanted them as the world’s largest retailer. At its helm is CEO and founder Jeff Bezos whose ambition has only begun to manifest itself. From his humble beginnings to building one of the most powerful companies on the planet, Jeff Bezos’s journey is a modern blueprint for entrepreneurial success (and a little bit of interstellar ambition).
A Quick Background on Jeff Bezos
Jeffrey Preston Bezos was born January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His mother, Jacklyn, was a teenager at the time, and his biological father left early in his life. Jeff was later adopted by Miguel Bezos, a Cuban immigrant who gave Jeff his now-famous last name. Always intellectually curious, Bezos showed an early love for science and technology. He graduated valedictorian of his high school and later attended Princeton University, majoring in electrical engineering and computer science – already a bit ahead of the curve.
Little known to many is that before founding Amazon, Bezos worked on Wall Street, including stints at Fitel, Bankers Trust, and the hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Co., where he rose quickly through the ranks. But, by the mid-90s, the internet caught his eye – and that’s when everything changed.
The Birth of Amazon: From Garage to Global Giant
In 1994, Bezos famously quit his stable Wall Street job to start an online bookstore. The idea? Capitalize on the rapid growth of the internet.
Armed with a detailed business plan and a garage in Bellevue, Washington, Bezos launched Amazon.com in July 1995. Originally just selling books, Amazon quickly became synonymous with online shopping.
Here’s the magic: Bezos’s vision was never just books. From day one, he saw Amazon as a platform for selling everything.
Fast-forward a few years:
- Amazon expanded into music, electronics, toys, and clothing.
- It survived the dot-com crash of the early 2000s when many online companies folded.
- It launched groundbreaking services like Amazon Prime, AWS (Amazon Web Services), and Kindle.
- Today, Amazon is involved in cloud computing, entertainment, logistics, and artificial intelligence.
Fun Fact: In 1997, Amazon’s IPO price was just $18 per share. By 2021, shares peaked over $3,700. Talk about an investment glow-up.
Bezos’s ability to reinvest profits (often infuriating short-term investors) and think long-term made him one of the richest men in modern history.
Beyond Amazon: Other Investments and Ventures
Jeff Bezos didn’t put all his eggs in the Amazon shopping cart. His wealth also comes from smart side ventures:
1. Blue Origin
Founded in 2000, Blue Origin is Bezos’s private aerospace company, with the mission to make space travel affordable and accessible. Their motto? “Gradatim Ferociter” – Latin for “Step by Step, Ferociously.”
Bezos has personally poured billions into Blue Origin, and in July 2021, he even went to space aboard the New Shepard rocket – living the dream (and flexing a bit on his billionaire peers). In 2025 he sponsored a flight on his rocked filled with an all-female crew and passengers including popstar Katie Perry, journalist Gayle King, and his fiancé, Lauren Sanchez.
2. The Washington Post
In 2013, Bezos decided that he would not just a figure in the news, he’d write it himself; consequently the billionaire bought The Washington Post for $250 million. Though the paper at that time was under significant financial stress, Bezos defended his ownership of the flailing newspaper to critics and investors alike. Some speculated that he was more interested in his ability to control media narratives as opposed to seeing it as merely another profit-driven venture. Under his ownership, the Post revamped its digital strategy and became profitable again – a rare feat for modern newspapers. However, that profitability was short-lived as the paper quickly began losing money again.
The last time The Washington Post made a profit was in 2016, reporting losses of over $100 million dollars in 2024 alone and giving credence that Bezos’ real goal was to control the news landscape and his own image in the media. Whispers of stories and cartoons being squashed that may have displeased Bezos only further this narrative. During the 2024 election Bezos also drew criticism for making the unilateral decision of withholding the presidential endorsement of The Washington Post editorial board for the first time since 1976. Many on the editorial board suspected this was to avoid an endorsement of presidential candidate Kamala Harris in favor of helping the former president Donald Trump, though Bezos claimed it was to return the newspaper to a degree of impartiality. In 2025 it was announced that The Washington Post would fire 4% of its workforce as it continued to try to become profitable again.
3. Bezos Expeditions
Through his personal investment company, Bezos Expeditions, he has invested in startups like:
- Airbnb
- Uber
- Unity Biotechnology
In addition, he’s funded explorations like recovering Apollo 11 engines from the ocean floor. Going from the literally the highest heights to the lowest depths possible. Because when you have Bezos money, why not?
Jeff Bezos’s Divorce: The Costliest in History
In 2019, Jeff and MacKenzie Scott announced their divorce after 25 years of marriage. As part of the settlement, MacKenzie received 25% of their Amazon stock, worth around $36 billion at the time.
Despite the massive payout, Bezos remained the richest person in the world for a while after the divorce. (When your fortune is that big, even a $36 billion haircut doesn’t leave you bald.) After the divorce he was still worth an approximate $151.7 billion dollars; a number he has managed to balloon another $50 billion to $203.6 billion dollars in the half decade since the split. Notably, he is one of the world’s billionaires to not sign onto Warren Buffet’s ‘Giving Pledge’ where the ultrawealthy vow to donate the majority of their money to charity before their death. This sets him apart from fellow billionaires who have signed the pledge like Bill Gates, Sam Altman, Bill Ackman, and even Elon Musk. Meanwhile, ex-wife MacKenzie has gone on to become one of the world’s most prolific philanthropists, giving away billions in charitable donations.
His Relationship with Lauren Sánchez
Shortly after the divorce announcement, Bezos’s relationship with Lauren Sanchez, a former news anchor and helicopter pilot, became public. The media had a field day – especially as speculation that their relationship began before the divorce continued to mount.
Their relationship has continued to blossom, and recently, Bezos proposed to Sánchez. In true Bezos fashion, he even declared his attention to send her out into space aboard Blue Origin. (Talk about an out-of-this-world engagement gift.)
In 2025, Sánchez is lead an all-women space mission aboard Blue Origin, marking another major milestone for the company.
Bezos’s Space Ambitions: Eyes on the Final Frontier
Space isn’t just a passion project for Bezos; it’s a core part of his vision for humanity’s future.
He believes Earth should be zoned for residential and light industry, with heavy manufacturing and energy production moved to space colonies.
Bezos famously said:
“We need to go to space to save Earth.”
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket has already completed several successful missions, and the company is working on the New Glenn, a heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle.
In a twist of cosmic rivalry, Bezos is competing with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic to lead the new space race. Unlike the space race of the Cold War where the US government and NASA competed against the Soviet Union and their space agency to get us to the moon, it looks like the newest space race will be between billionaires, not nations.
How Jeff Bezos Built His Fortune
So, how did Jeff Bezos make his money?
- Visionary entrepreneurship: Betting on the internet’s future before most people even knew what it was.
- Relentless reinvestment: Always choosing growth over short-term profits.
- Smart diversification: Investing in media, space, biotech, and startups.
- Calculated risk-taking: Quitting a high-paying job to start a company in an unproven field.
Today, Bezos’s net worth is estimated at around $200 billion, even after his divorce settlement and despite stepping down as Amazon CEO in 2021 to focus more on Blue Origin.
From selling books, manipulating media, to flying to space, Jeff Bezos’s journey proves that no story is truly linear and you never know where you may end up in life. Who knows you may just end up changing the planet, or even trying to leave it (Just don’t expect Amazon Prime delivery to space anytime soon. Two-day delivery might be a stretch!).