Jeff Bezos
American business magnate (born 1964) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jeff Bezos (born Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen; January 12, 1964) is an American businessman who founded Amazon. He also was Amazon's chairman, president, and chief executive officer (CEO). However, Bezos said in a blog post he would soon step down from this position and become Executive Chair of the Amazon Board.[1]
Jeff Bezos | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Bezos in 2017 | |
| Born | Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen January 12, 1964 |
| Alma mater | Princeton University (B.S.) |
| Occupation(s) | Chairman and CEO of Amazon.com, Inc. Astronaut |
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) |
| Spouse | |
| Awards | Time Person of the Year 1999 Washington CEO Person of The Year at the same time |
Early life, Education, and Career
Jeff Bezos was born on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He showed an early interest in technology and graduated from Princeton with degrees in electrical engineering and computer science. Before founding Amazon in 1994, he worked on Wall Street and later started an online bookstore, laying the foundation for his remarkable entrepreneurial journey.
On February 2, 2021, Bezos announced that he would step down as the CEO of Amazon, to be replaced by Andy Jassy. Bezos became executive chairman on July 5, 2021.[2]
On July 19, 2021 Blue Origin successfully conducts its first human test flight with Bezos going to space.[3][4]
Net worth
When markets opened on July 27, 2017, Bezos briefly became the world's richest person, surpassing Bill Gates with a net worth of just over $90 billion. He lost the title later in the day when Amazon's stock dropped, returning him to second place with a net worth just below $90 billion.[5] On October 27, 2017, Bezos again surpassed Gates on the Forbes list as the richest person in the world.[6]
In August 2020, Bezos became the first person in history to have a net worth of $200 billion, according to Forbes.[7]
In January 2021, Elon Musk became the world's richest person.[8] Since then, Bezos is now the world's second-richest person
Hacking claim
In February 2019, Bezos published a blog post alleging that National Enquirer publisher American Media, Inc. had attempted blackmail and extortion in connection with Bezos' alleged affair with Lauren Sánchez.[9]
Criticism
Bezos is known for creating an adversarial environment at Amazon, as well as insulting and verbally abusing his employees. As journalist Brad Stone revealed in his book The 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?"[10] 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.[10]
Throughout his early years of ownership of The Washington Post, Bezos was accused of having a potential conflict of interest with the paper.[11] Bezos and the newspaper's editorial board have dismissed accusations that he unfairly controlled the paper's content, and Bezos maintains that the paper is independent.[12][13] Bezos' treatment of employees at The Washington Post has also drawn scrutiny.[14] In 2018, more than 400 Washington Post employees wrote an open letter to Bezos criticizing his poor 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".[14] Around 750 employees at The Washington Post went on a brief strike in December 2023 in response to Bezos' plans to lay off staff.[15]
In 2024, Bezos blocked the Washington Post's editorial board from endorsing Kamala Harris in the presidential election. The move was criticized by former editor Marty 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-large Robert Kagan and columnist Michele Norris also resigned in the wake of the decision, and editor David 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 representing Post employees.[16][17][18][19] More than 250,000 people (about ten percent of the Post's subscribers) cancelled their subscriptions, and three members of the editorial board left the board.[20][21][22] Condemning the Post's decision, several columnists, including Will Bunch, Jonathan Last, Dan Froomkin, Donna Ladd and Sewell Chan, described it as an example of what historian Timothy Snyder calls anticipatory obedience.[23][24][25][26][27] Snyder, too, condemned the decision.[28]
In January 2025, editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes resigned from the Post after it refused to run a satirical cartoon critical of the relationship between American billionaires and President Donald Trump, sparking conversations about the paper's ownership under Bezos; Telnaes called the decision "dangerous for a free press".[29][30] In February 2025, Bezos announced that the opinion section of the Post will give voice only to opinions that support "personal liberties" and "free markets", and that divergent opinions will not be published by the Post.[31][32] David Shipley, The Post's opinion editor, resigned after trying to persuade Bezos to reconsider the new direction.[32] Within two days of the announcement, it was reported that over 75,000 digital subscribers had canceled their subscriptions.[33]
Due to his considerable influence on industry, politics, and media, Bezos has been described as an oligarch.[34][35][36]
References
Other websites
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