Who Is Jeff Bezos? Amazon Founder’s Net Worth, Girlfriend, Family & Career

Key Takeaways:

• Jeff Bezos had a net worth of $111.8 Billion as of 8 December 2022. 
• Bezos founded the online retail giant Amazon in 1994.
• Jeff Bezos is currently in a relationship with Lauren Sanchez (an Emmy-award-winning journalist). The duo went public with their relationship in 2019. 

In the corporate world, there is hardly anyone who hasn’t heard of Jeff Bezos. Amazon, the e-commerce company, was founded by Jeff Bezos. The company is listed with the ticker code AMZN on Nasdaq and has long been a favorite of retail and institutional investors.

Amazon’s share price has performed exceptionally over the last seven years but is down almost 48% year to date (YTD). Amazon is not the only company Jeff has invested in. In this article, we will learn in detail about this billionaire and his investments, including his investments in digital assets.

Who is Jeff Bezos?

Born on January 12, 1964, Jeffrey Preston Bezos, popularly known as Jeff Bezos, is an American entrepreneur and investor. According to Forbes, Jeff Bezos is the world’s fourth wealthiest person, with a net worth of $111.8 Billion as of 8 December 2022. Jeff Bezos founded the e-commerce company Amazon in 1994. According to Forbes, Jeff now owns a bit less than 10% of the company.

Bezos also owns The Washington Post and Blue Origin, an aerospace company developing rockets; he briefly flew to space in one in July 2021.

Early life of Jeff Bezos:

Jeff Bezos was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico (U.S.), and raised in Houston and Miami. He graduated from Princeton University in 1986 and holds a degree in electrical engineering and computer science. His mother, Jacklyn Bezos, gave birth to him when she was still a teenager. (As per media reports, Bezos, then Jacklyn Gise Jorgensen, was barely 17 years old and a junior in high school when she gave birth to her son in 1964). After less than a year of marriage, Jacklyn divorced Jeff Bezos’ biological father, Ted Jorgensen, and married Cuban immigrant Miguel “Mike” Bezos in April 1968. It was from this marriage that Jeff’s surname was legally changed from Jorgensen to Bezos.

Jeff started his first business while he was still in high school. When he was in School, Bezos started Dream Institute, an educational center for fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. In this educational camp, Bezos and his girlfriend used to charge $600 per person. Before starting the camp, the billionaire also worked at McDonald’s for a summer.

Less known facts about Jeff Bezos:

• Four years after founding Amazon in 1998, Bezos met Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to become one of the company’s earliest angel investors, putting in an estimated $250,000.
• Growing up, Jeff Bezos used to spend his summers working on his grandfather’s ranch repairing Caterpillar tractors.
• Jeff Bezos originally wanted to name Amazon “Cadabra.” However, he later changed his decision. Amazon was named after the world’s largest river as Jeff was building the largest bookstore in the world.

Notable Investments by the billionaire:

1. The Washington Post: In 2013, Bezos bought the newspaper company The Washington Post for $250 million. Immediately following the purchase, the company’s shares rose 5.5% in after-hours trading.
Under Bezos’, the once-struggling newspaper turned a profit in 2016, 2017, and 2018, say media reports.

2. Blue Origin: The billionaire also runs his own privately funded rocket ship company, Blue Origin.
Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin, a spaceflight startup company in the year 2000. Until 2006, the company bought a significant tract of land in West Texas to be used as a launch & test facility.
Blue Origin’s main focus is to preserve the natural resources on the planet Earth by making the human species multi-planetary. According to a company announcement in July 2018, Bezos had priced commercial spaceflight tickets from $200,000 to $300,000 per person.

3. Bezos Expeditions: The 58-year-old billionaire makes personal investments via Bezos Expeditions. In addition to his investment in Google, Jeff Bezos has also invested in the healthcare sector, including investments in Unity Biotechnology, GRAIL, Juno Therapeutics, and Zocdoc. He is also involved in philanthropic work in the form of direct donations and non-profit projects funded by Bezos Expeditions.

Personal Life

Jeff Bezos met MacKenzie Tuttle, an American novelist and philanthropist in 1992 while working for D. E. Shaw in Manhattan. The duo married a year later.
On January 9, 2019, the couple divorced after a long separation period. Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Tuttle (now former wife) are parents to four children, three sons & one daughter adopted from China.

Who is Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos’ Girlfriend?

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez (an Emmy-award-winning journalist) are currently dating each other. The duo went public with their relationship in 2019; the lovebirds haven’t been shy about stepping out together. Jeff Bezos stepped down as Amazon’s CEO in July last year to focus on his other passions. American business executive Andy Jassy, the Founder and CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS) is currently serving as the CEO of Amazon.

Has Jeff Bezos invested in cryptocurrencies?

Over the years, there have been rumors that Jeff owns both Bitcoin and Ethereum; however, Bezos confirmed none of them. There are speculations that Jeff Bezos’ cryptocurrency portfolio consists of Dogecoin, Bitcoin, and Ethereum. However, these are mere speculations, as nothing of this sort has been confirmed yet.