L PROFILE

Jeff Bezos

Chairman And Founder, Amazon

$197.2B

Real Time Net Worth
as of 04/16/25

#2 in the world today

From the Editor

Jeff Bezos founded e-commerce giant Amazon in 1994 out of his Seattle garage.
Bezos stepped down as CEO to become executive chairman in 2021. He owns a bit less than 10% of the company.
He and his wife MacKenzie divorced in 2019 after 25 years of marriage and he transferred a quarter of his then-16% Amazon stake to her.
In 2020, Bezos committed to donate $10 billion to climate causes by 2030 through his Bezos Earth Fund; he has granted $2 billion so far.
He owns The Washington Post and Blue Origin, an aerospace company developing rockets; he briefly flew to space in July 2021.
Bezos said in a November 2022 interview with CNN that he intended to give away the majority of his wealth in his lifetime, without disclosing specific details.

Personal Stats

Age 61

Source of Wealth Amazon, Self Made

Self-Made Score 8

Philanthropy Score 2

Residence Miami, Florida

Citizenship United States

Marital Status Engaged

Education Bachelor of Arts/Science, Princeton University

Children 4

Milestones

1964 Jeffrey Bezos is born in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

1986 Graduates from Princeton University. Takes job at Bankers Trust.

1994 Founds Amazon.com to sell books online.

1997 Lists Amazon in an initial public offering at $18 per share.

1999 Named Time magazine's Person of the Year.

2003 Survives a helicopter accident in southwest Texas.

2007 Introduces the Kindle electronic book reader.

2010 E-book sales surpass traditional book sales on Amazon.com.

2013 Purchases the Washington Post newspaper for $250 million.

2017 Becomes the richest person on earth.

2019 Bezos and MacKenzie Scott announce they are divorcing.

2021 Joins Blue Origin's first crewed mission into space.

2023 His $500 million superyacht Koru begins sea trials.

One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out. - Jeff Bezos

Did you know? Jeff Bezos almost named Amazon "Cadabra" before settling on the current name, which he later realized sounded too similar to "cadaver".