Jeff Bezos Success Story

Bezos had foreseen the future of Cloud Computing way back before anyone else. AWS (Amazon Web Services) is minting in multi-billion dollars.

Bezos’ spaceflight company Blue Origin successfully launched its first rocket “New Shepard” recently.  The Company aims at developing a ‘reusable’ vehicle with a seating capacity of six passengers for space travel. 

Childhood

Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen (Bezos) was born on January 12, 1964 in Albuquerque, New Mexico to Ted and Jacklyn Jorgensen. Bezos’ mother left his father and married a Cuban immigrant, Mike Bezos and moved to Houston, Texas. Jeffrey studied at the River Oaks Elementary School, Houston and later at the Miami Palmetto Senior High School, when the family shifted to Miami. Jeff enrolled in the Student Science Training Programme at the University of Florida.

He was accorded the ‘Silver Knight Award’ for his brilliant performance. He excelled in academics, becoming a National Merit Scholar and a high-school valedictorian. He graduated summa cum laude in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University. His interest and aptitude for science and technology was apparent from a very young age. Jeff was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi ‘honour’ societies at Princeton. He was the President of the ‘Chapter of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space’. 

Early Career

Jeff Bezos worked in the field of computer science on Wall Street. He developed an international trade network for the company, Fitel.  Jeff was employed with Bankers’ Trust. His rise in the business world was meteoric. Jeff was the youngest senior Vice-President at D E Shaw, an investment company. Four years down the line in 1994, he shifted base to Seattle and launched Amazon.com, a virtual bookstore. Amazon.com is currently the largest retailer on the World Wide Web.

Heights

What started as a small venture in Bezos’ garage is now a symbol of internet sale. He may rightly be called a pioneer in e-commerce. Amazon.com, which derives its name from the South American river, Amazon, was launched in 1995. The site became an instant hit! The company was made public in just two years of being started. Bezos expanded his business and several other products were added to Amazon.com through retail joint ventures. Growing from strength-to-strength, Amazon.com launched ‘The Kindle’. It is a digital book with multiple features. Amazon enjoys an unchallenged position among other similar e-commerce sites.  

AWS is now the envy of all tech giant companies. Bezos’ visionary abilities to take big risk have fetched him an enviable position today. Amazon Web Services (AWS) will remain unchallenged in near future.

Bezos established the ‘Blue Origin’, a human space-flight start-up company in 2000. The objective of Blue Origin was to facilitate ‘space travel’, cost reduction and prioritise the safety factor.  

Bezos made global headlines when he procured The Washington Post and other publications associated with The Washington Post Co in 2013. A year later, he removed the online pay wall for subscribers of some local US newspapers.   

Bezos was in the news when he announced a new experimental project, “Amazon Prime Air”. The project would develop ‘drones’- remote controlled machines that would perform an assortment of human tasks.

Bezos and his company, Amazon.com is committed to climate change initiatives and research.  The Company features charitable schemes on ‘disaster relief fundraising’ on its home page. Its features, “Wish List” and “Amazon Smile” facilitate non-profit donations. Amazon.com helps to sustain writers.  

Bezos is an active member of the Bilderberg Group. He was a part of the Executive Committee of The Business Council for 2011 and 2012.

Personal Life

Bezos is married to MacKenzie Bezos. They had met when he was employed with D E Shaw. The couple is blessed with four children; three sons and a daughter they adopted from China.

Recognition

Bezos was declared “Person of the Year 1999” by Times. He was chosen as one of “America’s Best Leaders 2008” by the US News & World Report. Bezos was bestowed an honorary doctorate in Science and Technology from the Carnegie Mellon University in the same year. He shared the “Innovation Award” with Gregg Zehr for the Amazon Kindle, awarded to him by The Economist in 2011. Bezos was affirmed the title, “Business-person of the Year 2012”. With his net worth of $59.4 billion, he is ranked as the ‘fifth’ wealthiest person in the world. He was declared the ‘Second Best CEO in the World’ by the Harvard Business Review.

Success Secrets of Jeff Bezos