Jeff Bezos

American entrepreneur Jeff Bezos was born Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen to Jacklyn and Ted Jorgensen in Albuquerque, New Mexico on January 12, 1964.

Bezos in 2017

Ted Jorgensen was a unicyclist who was a rising star on the niche circuit. 

Jacklyn Jorgensen was barely 17 years old and still at high school when she gave birth to her son in 1964. At the time, her high school administrators told her she would not be permitted to finish her education there. 

After she was allowed to return to school under strict conditions, Jacklyn Jorgensen graduated and later divorced from Ted Jorgensen, after less than a year of marriage. Jeff was just over a year old at the time.

Jeff Bezos's biological father didn't know his son was the multi-billionaire who runs one of the biggest companies in the US. until a journalist tracked him down while writing a biography in 2012

After her divorce, Jacklyn Jorgensen married Cuban immigrant Miguel "Mike" Bezos in April 1968.

Thousands of Cuban children were sent to America in the early '60s out of fear that they'd be sent to the Soviet Union. Mike Bezos. was one of those children.

When Bezos was a toddler, he reportedly managed to take his crib apart with a screwdriver all by himself. By the time he entered high school, Bezos had transformed his home garage into a laboratory for his own inventions.

Bezos once struggled with a difficult math problem for three hours. He brought it to his friend Yasantha, who solved it just by looking at it. After that, he realized he was not going to be a good theoretical physicist.

He graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. 

His first job was at Fitel, a fintech telecommunications start-up, where Bezos was tasked with building a network for international trade. He was promoted to head of development and director of customer service thereafter. After working as a manager at Bankers Trust Bezos joined investment management firm D. E. Shaw & Co. The company is known for developing sophisticated mathematical models and computer programs to exploit anomalies in the financial market. 

Bezos came up with the idea of an online bookstore on a cross-country drive from New York City to Seattle. He quit his job at DE Shaw to start his own business.

Bezos launched the Amazon.com online shop in 1995, working out of his garage in Seattle. Amazon originally only sold books, but has since extended to selling compact discs, computer games, computer software, toys and games, computer software, electronic items, clothes, furniture and food.

On February 2, 2021, Bezos announced that he would step down as the CEO and President of Amazon. Bezos became executive chairman on July 5, 2021.

Bezos founded the aerospace manufacturer and sub-orbital spaceflight services company Blue Origin in 2000, On July 19, 2021, Blue Origin successfully launched its first human test flight into space with Bezos and his half-brother Mark Bezos on board.

He was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 1999. It was Bezos' first major award. 

Bezos was the wealthiest person in the world from 2017 to 2021 according to both Bloomberg's Billionaires Index and Forbes.

He married novelist MacKenzie Bezos in 1993 and after more than 25 years together they separated in early 2019. The couple had four children together.

MacKenzie Bezos received 25% of Bezos's Amazon shares, valued at approximately $36 billion, in their divorce settlement making her the third richest woman in the world.

Sources Business Insider,  CNBCTV18