Jeff Bezos Net Worth: The Richest Person in the World

Amazon’s self-made billionaire Jeff Bezos is the world’s richest man. According to the Forbes Billionaires’ List, Jeff Bezos net worth is currently $114.2 billion. The Amazon.com chief executive officer’s wealth is equal to that of 2 million average Americans, a staggering fact to wrap your head around. In fact, just in 2017, Jeff Bezos net worth escalated to $39.2 billion.

The Early Life of Jeff Bezos

In 1964, Jacklyn Gise Jorgensen gave birth to Jeff in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jacklyn was a teenage mother. She married Ted Jorgensen, Jeff’s biological father after a few months after his birth. When his mother remarried when he was four years of age, he changed his last name to Bezos after his stepfather, Cuban immigrant Mike Bezos. Young Jeff was uncommonly intelligent and showed an early interest in how things worked. His supportive parents allowed him to turn the garage into a laboratory. He was also an avid Star Trek fan. While he was in high school, now in Miami, he started his first business endeavor, a summer camp for fourth to sixth graders.

He went to Princeton University and majored in computer science and electrical engineering. After graduating summa cum laude in 1986 from the Ivy League university, he started working on Wall Street and quickly worked his way up to become the youngest senior vice-president of the firm D.E. Shaw. It was also in D.E. Shaw where he met his wife Mackenzie.

Jeff Bezos Net Worth: His Journey to the Top

After being promoted to senior vice-president at D.E. Shaw in 1990, Bezos did a risky move in 1994.  He quit his job just after four years and decided to enter the world of e-commerce, which, at that time, was in its infancy.  He established Amazon.com, which started out as an online bookstore, deciding to tap a potentially huge market. During that time, it had fierce competition and resistance from traditional booksellers.  It has since grown to be the internet’s most successful and most lucrative companies, perhaps much more than he has ever anticipated. Amazon went public in 1997, and since then, its IPO has multiplied almost 500 times. Amazon’s current market capitalization is $690 billion.  It has a global presence, employing more than 500,000 people around the world.

The Washington Post and Amazon Studios

In 2013, Bezos paid $250 million to purchase The Washington Post. He also acquired all the other publications associated with Washington Post Company, making him the sole owner when the sale was completed. This move made headlines around the world because The Post had been Washington’s leading newspaper, virtually an American institution, and an influential force in U.S. politics.  It also ended the Graham family’s four-generation reign over the company. Around that time, Jeff Bezos net worth had risen to $25.2 billion, and he ranked #19 on that year’s Billionaires List. At the time of the purchase Bezos released a statement to The Post’s loyal employees, saying that while it is unchartered territory for him, the values of the company and the paper will not change.  However, he had mentioned that there will be changes as they acknowledge how the internet is transforming the news business. Bezos also delved into the entertainment arena in 2013 when it produced original content through Amazon Studios.  The company hit it big in 2014 with such critically-acclaimed shows like Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle.

Philanthropic Endeavors

Bezos’ philanthropic efforts are not yet as sizeable or noteworthy compared to the Gates’, who have established a foundation in their name and have given away millions of dollars’ worth of assets.  However, he and his wife MacKenzie are both associated with some local organizations in their hometown of Seattle. The Bezos Family Foundation has generously shared in charitable causes: scholarship funds, immunotherapy cancer research, and to undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S.as minors.

Jeff Bezos net worth is not yet in proportion to the amount of money that he has given away to charity. Of course, giving your money away is a personal choice, but in Bezos’ case, the world is watching because of the example set by other billionaires such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, who have both pledged to give most of their wealth away. Both Gates and Buffett have been very vocal about how their riches and prosperity have been unreasonably rewarding for the billionaires.

Current State of Amazon stocks

On March 29, 2018, news reports were abuzz with U.S. President Donald Trump’s tweets, going after Amazon.  Interestingly, the tweet came a few weeks after the announcement of Jeff Bezos net worth. According to President Trump, he’s had his eye on Amazon even before he was elected president because it has put thousands of retailers out of business. Trump also tweeted that Amazon is directly competing with the U.S. Postal Service. The Commander-in-Chief had also previously attacked Amazon because of its sister company the Washington Post, who often painted Trump and his administration in a negative light. With that tweet alone, Jeff Bezos net worth plummeted to a few billion dollars, although that did not dislodge him from the top of the Billionaires List. The stock price of Amazon has plummeted to as much as .30% during the last week of March to early April 2018.

Jeff Bezos net worth is greater than the GDP of more than 125 nations around the world. This is in spite of the fact that Amazon stocks went down a couple of notches because of President Trump’s allegations.  However, millions of consumers around the world will not likely turn their back on the internet retail giant just because the U.S. President is not a big fan. In fact, many experts are saying that consumer perception will not change a bit, especially for Amazon.com, which is the top brand in the U.S. when it comes to positive buzz among American consumers.