Jeff Bezos

REUTERS / KATHERINE TAYLOR - stock.adobe.com

Fun Facts About Jeff Bezos and Amazon

Jeff Bezos is an American business person. His most notable business venture is his founding of the online retail giant Amazon. Bezos is the CEO and chairman of Amazon.com. He also has several other projects and notable ventures.

Early Life

Early Work Background

  • After Bezos graduated from Princeton, he received job offers from various companies, including Bell Labs and Intel.
  • Bezos' first job was working for Fitel, which was a financial telecommunications start-up company. He started as an international trade network head. Then, he worked as customer service director and head of development.
  • Bezos worked for Bankers Trust between 1988 and 1990.
  • He worked at D.E. Shaw Co. as a financial analyst between 1990 and 1994, eventually becoming the senior vice president.

Amazon

  • Amazon originally began as an online bookstore, and Bezos started the company in his garage in Seattle in 1994.
  • The first book sold on Amazon.com was Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies, written by Douglas Hofstadte.
  • Bezos named his company Amazon after the Amazon River in South America. Originally, Bezos wanted to name his company "Cadabra."
  • Bezos' parents helped him start the company, and he invested $300,000 at first.
  • Amazon.com is still based in Seattle, Washington, and it is the biggest online retailer in the world. It is the second biggest employer in the United States, and it is the third most valuable public company on Earth. Jeff Bezos has a reputation for being a very tough employer.
  • Amazon succeeded in attracting more than 130 million shopping customers in the United States by 2016.
  • Amazon.com sells a wide variety of items, including automotive items, books, clothing, consumer electronics, jewelry, kitchen supplies, musical instruments, personal items, toys, and more.
  • Amazon products also include Amazon Prime and Amazon Fresh. Additional services include Alexa, Kindle, Music, and more.
  • Amazon reported its earnings from the fourth fiscal quarter of 2019 that included revenue of $87.4 billion.
  • Jeff Bezos owns 16 percent of Amazon's shares.

Other Business Ventures

  • In September, 2000, Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin, an aerospace manufacturer and human spaceflight company. The Washington-based company specializes in spaceflight technology development.
  • Jeff Bezos purchased the Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million. Since buying this newspaper, Bezos has reinvented it to be more digitally-oriented.
  • Bezos Expeditions is a venture capital firm that has invested in companies such as Google, Unity Biotechnology, Juno Therapeutics, and the Seattle Museum of History and Industry.

Recognitions

Resources