Jeff Bezos is one of the most known success stories of American entrepreneurial world. Many people also know Bezos as the world’s richest man. According to Forbes and the Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index his net worth as of June this year exceeds more than $200 billion. He is among the various inspirational figures to many aspiring entrepreneurs right now.
The CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, recently quit, causing a lot of buzz. Furthermore, the billionaire has been in the headlines for another reason that is equally as remarkable as his accomplishment. Jeff Bezos launched his self-founded business Blue Origin’s first spacecraft, New Shepard, into orbit. On June 20, 2021, Jeff Bezos, his brother, and Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old Dutch physics student, went over 100 kilometres (or roughly 328,000 feet) in the Karman line. It’s safe to say they flew close to the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere and the beginning of space (a suborbital flight).
Who is Jeff Bezos?
Jeff Bezos is the founder and Executive Chairman of Amazon which is the title he recently took after stepping down from the post of CEO. Apart from that he also previously served as the Chairman and President of Amazon. He is also the founder of Blue Origin, an aerospace manufacturer and suborbital spaceflight services company.
Jeff Bezos was born to Theodore Jorgensen and Jacklyn on January 12 1964 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Born as Jeffrey Preston Jorgesen, Jeff got his last name Bezos from his stepfather Miguel Bezos (a Cuban immigrant) who adopted him when he was four years old after he got married to Jeff’s mom.
Bezos’ interest in science and technology dates back to his childhood. He was one of the top students in his class, with exceptional technological skills. He was also the high school valedictorian (a title of academic success in America and several other countries, usually a topper). His interest in space and space exploration could be seen as early as high school. Jeff Bezos reportedly stated in his high school graduation speech that he wished for the day when humanity would colonise space. During his academic career, he also received scholarships and other honours.
Jeff Bezos went to Princeton University, one of the ivy league universities in the US. He was a member of various clubs and honorary societies such as the Phi Beta Kappa and Tau beta Pi. He was also the president of the Princeton Chapter of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. In 1986 Bezos graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in Electrical engineering and Computer Science with a 4.2 GPA.
How Jeff Bezos Became the World’s Richest Man?
Before Jeff Bezos started his Entrepreneurial career he worked with a financial telecommunications start-up called Fitel. He was initially also offered jobs at various companies among which some were Bell Labs, Intel and Andersen Consulting. At Fitel Jezz was tasked with developing a global trading network. Following that, Bezos was promoted to head of development and then director of customer service.
When he became a product manager at Bankers Trust, he shifted into the banking industry. From 1988 through 1990, he worked there. In 1990, Bezos joined D.E. Shaw & Co, a newly formed hedge fund with a strong emphasis on mathematical modelling, and stayed until 1994. At the age of 30, Bezos was renamed D.E. Shaw’s fourth senior vice-president.
It Was around 1993 when Bezos decided to leave his job at D.E. Shaw and start an online bookstore. Finally on July 5 1994 he founded Amazon from his garage. He wrote his business plan for amazon on a cross country trip from New York to Seattle. Bezos named his new company Cadabra at first, but then changed it to Amazon in honour of the Amazon River in South America and also because ‘Amazon’ starts with the first letter of the English alphabet A.
A name starting with A meant that it would appear sooner on the directories and search lists making it more reachable. Jeff Bezos took Amazon’s first IPO (Initial Public Offering) just after three years of founding the company. His company did great with online book selling with the help of the booming internet. In 1998 Bezos expanded his line to selling music and videos online. By the end of the same year Amazon was now selling a diversified range of goods.
Expanding his business Jeff Bezos in 2002 launched Amazon Web Services but his rapid spendings led to the company nearly going bankrupt. Amazon made a strong comeback in 2003 with the launch of Amazon Kindle (a device especially designed for e-readers). Amazon has been on the rise ever since with its expansion of goods & services.
As Amazon was doing quite well in 2002 Jeff Bezos went on to launch another company named Blue Origin. It is a company which offers suborbital space flight to humans. The company manufactures aerospace vehicles along with developing technologies such as rocket-powered vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) vehicles. Originally launched as a startup the company’s first vehicle took its first flight on July 20th 2021. Though originally stated to be a company for suborbital space flights, Bezos in 2019 announced that Blue Origin plans for a moon lander known as Blue moon which will apparently be ready by 2024.
Secrets to Success: Business Lessons You Can Learn from Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos
With a net wealth of about 20,920 crores USD, Bezos has rarely deviated from those beliefs, earning him the title of World’s Richest Person. He’s ventured in a variety of fields since then, including health care and space exploration.From his garage, he started his company as an online bookstore and grew it into an empire. What is his formula for success? Let’s take a look at some of the ways Bezos has shared his thoughts on how he built his business empire.
Think Big With a Vision
Think Big is something that Jeff Bezos really believes in. Even before he started down this path, he had a vision board with all of the concepts and companies he has now. He’s been fascinated by space travel since he was a boy, and look at what he’s accomplished with his company Blue Ocean now. Similarly, Amazon began as an online bookstore, but Jeff has always envisioned the company expanding. Whatever he begins, he already has an idea of what he intends to do with it in the future.
Be a Learn-It-All Rather Than Know-It-All
When it comes to running a business, Jeff Bezos believes that having a “beginner’s mind” is essential. When you put a gathering of specialists together, it’s easy for everyone to believe they know everything. So rather than becoming a know-it-all, be ready to learn whatever comes your way and from anybody. You’re not constrained by old or irrelevant constraints this way; instead, you’re on the lookout for fresh and inventive solutions. This beginner’s approach will allow you to completely reconsider everything. Apart from that, by being willing to learn and accept new ideas, you begin to expand your own knowledge base and become more talented in a variety of areas.
Be Realistic With Expectations
Most people are usually confident in their product and idea when they first start a business, but business is a significant risk. So, when it comes to setting your expectations, don’t be overly optimistic. Keep it real. Consider your market and how well your product fits into it, and set your expectations accordingly. If you don’t expect much, you’ll be less disappointed if you don’t succeed, which means you’ll get back up faster even if you do. If you set your sights too high, you may end up in the bottomless pit of disappointment.
Be Stubborn but Flexible
Good entrepreneurs, according to Bezos, must be both stubborn and flexible. “We are stubborn on vision. We are flexible on details.” Bezos says, alluding to Amazon.
The first component is to stick to the vision, and the second half is to be flexible with the techniques. “If you’re not stubborn, you’ll give up on experiments too soon,” Bezos adds. “You’ll pound your head against the wall if you’re not flexible, and you won’t see a new answer to an issue you’re trying to solve.”
Two Pizza Rule – Always Stick to Two Pizzas
One of Jeff Bezos’ most famous comments is “the two pizza rule,” which states that groups should be small enough to serve with just two pizzas. This does not exclude the hiring of thousands of staff, but it does apply when it comes to company innovation. The majority of CEOs will tell you that experimentation is essential to their business’s success. “At Amazon, experimentation and willingness to invent has always been a part of the culture. It’s not secondary or something that “has to be done because everyone else does it.” said Jeff Bezos in a magazine interview. When it comes to experimentation and innovation, he says it’s ideal to keep your team as small as possible, and the desire to try something new should occur naturally rather than be forced.
How Did Jeff Bezos Become So Successful?
The success of Jeff Bezos can be attributed to his mindset, perseverance, and vision. He had a vision to accomplish something significant, and he took methodical measures toward that goal. Bezos had a well-paid position at D.E. Shaw, but something else had piqued his interest, prompting him to leave: the rise of the internet. The Internet was growing at a rate of 2,300% each year in 1994. Soon after, he sketched out his concept for Amazon, and the future CEO began developing a list of 20 product categories that might be sold online. Most of Bezos’ meetings were held at the local Barnes & Noble, where he had put $10,000 of his own money into Amazon, which he created with his wife and two programmers.Within the first month Amazon showed amazing success, it sold books around the world (in 45 countries) and every state of the United States.
The next stage was to enlist the help of investors. The majority of Amazon’s early investors were people close to Jeff Bezos, his family, and friends. He was able to raise $1 million in initial money from angel investors, the majority of whom were his parents, who contributed a considerable portion of their life savings.
Bezos attempted to secure funds during Amazon’s first year by anticipating $74 million in sales by 2000, a figure that was significantly lower than the reality: $1.64 billion in revenue in 1999 alone. The first 20 investors in Amazon each put up $50,000 for a 1% interest in the company. Given that the investors held their entire stakes and were never diluted by subsequent investors, each investment is now worth roughly $16.71 billion, or nearly 334,200 times its original value. As Jeff Bezos began to expand his product and service offerings, Amazon grew to be a big success.Half of his success can be due to his unrivalled business acumen, particularly in the area of investing. In 1998, he became an early investor in Google, but he hasn’t divulged the amount of his initial investment. He did, however, invest $250,000 in Google’s IPO in 2004, which is now worth billions.
Jeff Bezos’ wealth also adds because of his investment in real estate. His own real estate portfolio comprises properties on the East and West coasts. Bezos owns two multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills mansions and a 10,000-square-foot apartment in Manhattan’s Century Tower for just under $10 million. Century Tower property values have reportedly risen even higher as a result of Bezos’ presence in New York, with space selling for $2,000 to $3,000 per square foot.
He also has a lakefront home in Washington state, where he paid $28 million to expand the living area to about 30,000 square feet. His 165,000-acre Corn Ranch in Texas which originally belonged to his Grandparents was purchased as the headquarters for his company, Blue Origin, and served as a test site for the vertical-landing manned suborbital New Shepard rocket. Apart from these Bezos’ real estate assets also include Amazon headquarters in Seattle.Bezos paid $250 million to acquire The Washington Post in August 2013. In a few years, its readership and traffic grew, and in October 2015, it surpassed The New York Times for the first time in terms of unique web visitors in the United States. In addition to this Bezos also has investments in various tech startups of his interest and various other industries such as Media & entertainment, Travel, Architecture etc
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FAQ’S
American Business magnate the founder and Executive Chairman of Amazon Jeff Bezos is the world’s richest man right now. Jeff Bezos is also the CEO of Blue Origin, an Aerospace Vehicle Manufacturing company which also offers suborbital space flight.
Top 10 richest people in the world in 2021 as per forbes are
- Jeff Bezos
- Elon Musk
- Bernard Arnault and Family
- Bill Gates
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Warren Buffet
- Larry Ellison
- Larry Page
- Sergey Brin
- Mukesh Ambani
Jeff Bezos owns 11.1% stake at Amazon, he is the CEO of Blue Origin at the same time he owns stake at various other companies such as Google, He owns The Washington Post on top of various investments ventures.
According to Forbes and the Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index his net worth as of June this year exceeds more than $200 billion.
