During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was reported that Bezos's fortune had grown by $24 billion, citing a surge in demand from households on lockdown shopping on Amazon. [185] He was first included on the Forbes World's Billionaires list in 1999 with a registered net worth of $10.1billion. [307], In November 2022, Bezos granted a $100-million Courage and Civility Award to singer Dolly Parton in recognition of her charity work focused on improving children's literacy around the world. ", "Are you lazy or just incompetent? This increase outstripped the economic development (in GDP terms) of more than 96 countries around the world. 2023 CNBC LLC. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was a smart and enterprising kid, as Brad Stone writes in his 2013 book "The Everything Store." With a net worth of US$128 billion as of February 2023, Bezos is the third-wealthiest person in the world and was the wealthiest from 2017 to 2021 according to both Bloomberg's Billionaires Index and Forbes.[5][6]. Jeffrey Preston Bezos (/bezos/ BAY-zohss;[2] n Jorgensen; born January 12, 1964) is an American entrepreneur, media proprietor, investor, and commercial astronaut. The real question, as a league source has framed it for PFT, is whether Bezos has deliberately chosen not to get in, or whether he has been frozen out. [22] Shortly after the wedding, Mike adopted four-year-old Jeff whose surname was then legally changed from Jorgensen to Bezos. [148][149][150] Since 2017, he has been portrayed by Kyle Mooney and Steve Carell on Saturday Night Live, usually as an undercutting, domineering figure. That "[254] Bezos's family corporation Zefram LLC is named after Zefram Cochrane, a character from Star Trek. Mind-boggling", "If You Invested in Amazon at Its IPO, You Could Have Been a Millionaire", "The electricity metaphor for the web's future", "How Jeff Bezos was selected for, but never joined, the Defense Innovation Board", "Bezos Jeffrey P.: Insider Trading Transactions", "Amazon posts quarterly profit of $1.9billion, its highest ever", "Bezos is putting $1billion a year into rocket-maker Blue Origin by selling Amazon stock", "Billionaire Jeff Bezos Will Star in Amazon's Super Bowl Ad", "Amazon posts largest profit in its history on sales, tax boost", "After losing China, Jeff Bezos really wants to win in India", "Jeff Bezos Is $1.8 Billion Richer As Amazon's Market Cap Briefly Hits $1 Trillion", "Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day", "Forget Zuckerberg: Why Trump Is "Obsessed" with Breaking Bezos", "The World's Richest Man Just Lost $10.7 Billion as Trump Tweets About Amazon", "Why a Trump-Led Antitrust Case Against Amazon Is a Long Shot", "Congress demands Jeff Bezos explain Amazon's face recognition software", "Bernie Sanders introduces 'Stop BEZOS Act', "Bernie Sanders introduces 'Stop BEZOS' bill to tax Amazon for underpaying workers", "Bernie Sanders's BEZOS bill takes aim at how Amazon pays workers", "Bernie Sanders targets Amazon, Walmart with 100% tax", "What the Bernie Sanders Amazon welfare fight is really about", "Amazon to raise minimum wage to $15 for all U.S. workers", "Why Amazon really raised its minimum wage to $15", "Amazon.com Announces Financial Results and CEO Transition", "NBC News reports Jeff Bezos' intention to stand down as CEO of Amazon in the third quarter of 2021", "Former Blue Origin president Rob Meyerson leaves Jeff Bezos' space venture", "Buzz in West Texas is about Jeff Bezos space craft launch site", "Jeff Bezos Owns the Web in More Ways Than You Think", "Taking the long view: Jeff Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, owes much of his success to his ability to look beyond the short-term view of things", "Unplugged: Richard Branson's otherworldly space quest", "Three Billionaires Are Racing to Space. [197] By the time the Forbes list was calculated in March 2016, his net worth was registered at $45.2billion. As CBS Sports reported back in 2019, Bezos spent some time getting close with several owners back then and he had "strong support within the league" to become an owner at that point. Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and dissident was employed as a writer at the Washington Post, owned by Bezos. [129][130], In September 2021, Bezos co-founded Altos Labs with Mail.ru founder Yuri Milner. [191] After the financial crisis and succeeding economic recession, his net worth would decrease to $6.8billiona 17.7% drop. [157][158], Bezos used what he called a "regret-minimization framework" while he worked at D.E. Shaw and again during the early years of Amazon. [164] Starting in 1998, Bezos publishes an annual letter for Amazon shareholders wherein he frequently refers to five principles: focus on customers, not competitors; take risks for market leadership; facilitate staff morale; build a company culture; and empower people. [62][263] Trump has repeatedly attacked Bezos via Twitter, accused Bezos of avoiding corporate taxes, gaining undue political influence, and undermining his presidency by spreading "fake news". )", "America produced the largest number of billionaires in the world", "Jeff Bezos moves to top spot on Forbes' annual billionaires list", "Here's Why Jeff Bezos Is Not Truly The Richest Person in History", "Jeff Bezos Had a Record-Breaking One-Year Net Worth Jump", "Forbes Billionaires 2018: Meet The Richest People on the Planet", "Jeff Bezos world's first centibillionaire: Amazon boss' journey to beat Bill Gates to the top of Forbeslist", "Jeff Bezos Is Worth $112 Billion, Overtaking Bill Gates as the Richest Man in the World", "Bezos' Billions: The Wealth of a 'Centi-Billionaire', "Jeff Bezos Is Making an Insane $230,000 a Minute Right Now", "Here's How Much Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Would Be Worth if He Never Sold a Single Share", "Jeff Bezos is rich enough to buy many of the world's stock markets outright", "Is Jeff Bezos's Massive Wealth Becoming a Problem? In September 2016, Bezos received a $250,000 prize for winning the Heinlein Prize for Advances in Space Commercialization, which he donated to the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. [65] A year later, Bezos took on 130,000 new employees when he ramped up hiring at company distribution centers. [127][128] The engines are currently on display at the Seattle Museum of Flight. [30][31] The family moved to Miami, Florida, where Jeff attended Miami Palmetto High School. In March, the company made headlines when it announced Overtime Elite, a basketball league for 16-to-18-year-olds that allows them to earn at least $100,000 per year. "I don't want to drag anybody around," he said . [218], In 2019, Bezos's wealth was reduced by the divorce from his wife MacKenzie Bezos. [39], Bezos portrayed a Starfleet official in the 2016 movie Star Trek Beyond, and joined the cast and crew at a San Diego Comic-Con screening. He launched nine days after Richard Branson launched onboard The Virgin Galactic Unity 22 mission. [34], Bezos attended the Student Science Training Program at the University of Florida. In 2016, Bezos allowed select journalists to visit, tour, and photograph his facility. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and music industry star Drake are investing in Overtime as part of a new $80 million round of funding for the sport startup, which is [143] Additionally, Bezos reportedly pitted Amazon teams against each other, and once declined to give Amazon employees city bus passes in order to discourage them from leaving the office. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos attended the Sports Illustrated Super Bowl party. Here's who's eligible to attend and why Bezos says 'the child will be the customer. [259], According to public campaign finance records, Bezos supported the electoral campaigns of Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, two Democratic U.S. senators from Washington. [251][252] All survived; Bezos sustained only minor injuries and was discharged from a local hospital the same day. In March 2022, the NFL made a revolutionary move to deliver the Thursday Night Football media rights to Jeff Bezos streaming platform. His wealth surpassed $100billion for the first time on November 24, 2017, and he was formally designated the wealthiest person in the world by Forbes on March 6, 2018, with a net worth of $112billion. In February 2023, Bezos was presented with the, denotes retired vehicles, engines, products, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 19:21. Bezos rose to be the 5th richest person in the world hours before market close; he gained $7billion in one hour. [28][29] Jeff displayed scientific interests and technological proficiency and once rigged an electric alarm to keep his younger siblings out of his room. Whether it is his business life or fitness life, Jeff Bezos has always been the alpha of both. Born in Albuquerque and raised in Houston and Miami, Bezos graduated from Princeton University in 1986. [195][196] A year later, Bezos entered the top ten when he increased his net worth to a total of $50.3billion. [83] However, Sanders countered that the companies targeted by his proposal have placed an increased focus on part-time workers to escape benefit obligations. [21] After his parents divorced, his mother married Cuban immigrant Miguel "Mike" Bezos in April 1968. [79] This followed revelations by the non-profit group New Food Economy which found that one third of Amazon workers in Arizona, and one tenth of Amazon workers in Pennsylvania and Ohio, relied on food stamps. Will I regret missing the beginning of the Internet? [187] His wealth plummeted even more the following year, dropping 66.6% to $2.0billion. Khashoggi was killed in late 2018, in Turkey's Saudi consulate for his critical stance and journalism against the Saudi government and its leader. When he studied at Stanford, he joined a variety of sports teams, including in-line skating, skiing, gymnastics, and trapeze. Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000, just six years after he started Amazon, with the goal of making spaceflight more affordable and more accessible. [105][106] In May 2018, Bezos maintained that the primary goal of Blue Origin is to preserve the natural resources of Earth by making the human species multi-planetary. Changing His Eating Habits Turned Out To Be The Biggest Change. [145] His physical transformation has been compared to the transformation of Amazon; he is often referred to as the metonym of the company. [51] In late 2002, rapid spending from Amazon caused it financial distress when revenues stagnated. Entrepreneur and world-renowned e-commerce pioneer Jeff Bezos is something of a household name these days. He once spent three [39] To push Amazon forward, Bezos developed the mantra "Get Big Fast", establishing the company's need to scale its operations to produce market dominance. He then joined D. E. Shaw & Co, a newly created hedge fund with a strong emphasis on mathematical modelling in 1990 until 1994. WebAmerican entrepreneur Jeff Bezos played a key role in the growth of e-commerce as the founder and chief executive officer of Amazon.com, Inc., an online retailer, Web services provider, and manufacturer of electronic book readers. What would you do if your favorite TV show was CANCELED?! [116] He was one of the first shareholders in Google, when he invested $250,000 in 1998. Overtime raised $80 million in a Series C with investors including Bezos Expeditions, Drake and NBA stars including Devin Booker, Trae Young and Klay Thompson. [51] In 2000, Bezos borrowed $2 billion from banks, as its cash balances dipped to only $350million. [91] The 18-year-old Bezos stated that he wanted to preserve Earth from overuse through resource depletion. The company also and sells apparel with its logos and branding. Yes. [107] He announced that New Shepard would begin transporting humans into sub-orbital space by November 2018. [20] Jeff attended a Montessori school in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when he was two years old. [120] In January 2018, an announcement was made concerning Bezos's role within a new, unnamed healthcare company. ", "Bezos Not Concerned About Competition, Possible ULA Sale", "Jeff Bezos lifts curtain on Blue Origin rocket factory, lays out grand plan for space travel that spans hundreds of years", "Jeff Bezos says he wants to fly into space 'as soon as possible', "Later, Vader! [11] On July 5, 2021, Bezos stepped down as the CEO and President of Amazon and transferred to the role of executive chairman; Andy Jassy, the chief of Amazon's cloud computing division,[12][13] succeeded Bezos as the CEO and President of Amazon. [291] Bezos announced in September 2018 that he would commit approximately $2billion to a fund to deal with American homelessness and establish a network of non-profit preschools for low income communities. [7], The company left stealth mode and launched on January 19, 2022, with a start capital of $3 billion and an executive team led by Hal Barron. As CBS Sports reported back in 2019, Bezos spent some time getting close with several owners back then and he had "strong support within the league" to become an owner at that point. [28] At the time of the post, Bezos's lifetime spending on charitable causes was estimated to be $100million. [274], In 2019, a political action committee linked to Bezos spent over $1million in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat the reelection bid of Seattle city council member and activist Kshama Sawant. Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) October 1, 2021 Since New Worlds launch on Tuesday , it has managed to reach a concurrent player count of over 800,000 players, [24] Jeff attended River Oaks Elementary School in Houston from fourth to sixth grade. He received Germany's 2018 Axel Springer Award for Business Innovation and Social Responsibility. [270] In November 2019, when the contract was awarded to Microsoft instead, Amazon filed a lawsuit with allegations that the bidding process was biased. Sports media company Overtime has secured an $80 million fundraising round with investors including Jeff Bezos' investment firm, global entertainer Drake, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and several National Basketball Association players. [201] His net worth surpassed $100billion for the first time on November 24, 2017, after Amazon's share price increased by more than 2.5%. [119] Bezos is involved in the healthcare sector, which includes investments in Unity Biotechnology, GRAIL, Juno Therapeutics, and Zocdoc. [238][239], In January 2019, Bezos and his wife Mackenzie Scott released a joint statement which revealed that they would be getting divorced after 25 years together. The Amazon CEO Keeps His Beliefs to Himself", "What we know, and don't know, about Jeff Bezos' religious beliefs", "Amazon Chief Survives Helicopter Crash in Texas", "Amazon founder Jeff Bezos reveals Star Trek Beyond alien cameo", "Jeff Bezos, long known for guarding his privacy, faces his most public and personal crisis", "Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and wife MacKenzie to divorce after 25 years of marriage", "Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos are getting divorced after 25 years of marriage", "Jeff Bezos to keep 75 percent of couple's Amazon stock after finalizing divorce", "Amazon's Jeff Bezos, wife, make $2.5million donation for gay marriage", "Amazon.com Contributions to Federal Candidates, 2012 cycles", "How to Understand Donald Trump's #AmazonWashingtonPost Tweet in 3 Easy Steps", "Slammed by Trump, Amazon's Jeff Bezos Chooses Silence", "Why Jeff Bezos Is Dumping Cash into Trump's Swamp", "Donald Trump called out Jeff Bezos on Twitter. Scream? Jeff Bezos was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on January 12, 1964. He was raised largely in Houston, Texas, and moved to Miami, Florida, as a teenager. [132][133] Journalist Mark O'Connell criticized Bezos's relentless customer focus as "very small" in terms of impact on humanity as a whole,[134] a sentiment technologist Tim O'Reilly agreed with. [63], In May 2016, Bezos sold slightly more than one million shares of his holdings in the company for $671million, the largest sum he had ever raised from selling some of his Amazon stock. He also purchased the major American newspaper The Washington Post in 2013 for $250million and manages many other investments through his venture capital firm, Bezos Expeditions. [306], Bezos Academy is a group of tuition-free preschools for students from low-income families, which was created by Bezos, and which operate in a manner similar to the Montessori method. [56] In response to critical reports from Fortune and Barron's, Bezos maintained that the growth of the Internet would overtake competition from larger book retailers such as Borders and Barnes & Noble. He described this life philosophy by stating: "When I'm 80, am I going to regret leaving Wall Street? On July 20, 2021, he flew to space alongside his half-brother,[1] Mark. We Have 4 Guesses", "Jeff Bezos to fund schools where 'child will be the customer' with new charity", "Jeff Bezos to Create $2 Billion Fund for Homeless, Preschools", "Jeff Bezos Unveils Multibillion-Dollar Plans For Charitable Giving", "Jeff Bezos donates $33million to scholarship fund for 'dreamers', "Backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, Breakthrough Energy Ventures places first bets on power storage", "Jeff Bezos donates $10million to organization that helps veterans run for office", "Amazon founder Jeff Bezos commits $10bn to fight climate change", "Jeff Bezos: World's richest man pledges $10bn to fight climate change", "Bezos Earth Fund announces first grants totaling $791M of his $10B pledge to help planet", "Bezos Earth Fund gives nearly $800 million to climate groups in first round of grants", "Jeff Bezos names first recipients of his $10 billion Earth Fund for combating climate change", "Twitter boss pledges $1bn for coronavirus relief", "Why Jeff Bezos's $100 million donation to food banks won't satisfy his critics", "Jeff Bezos Pledges $2B for Nature Conservation as World Leaders Address Deforestation, Emissions", Jeff Bezos's tuition-free preschool is expanding to new locations in Texas and Florida. Shaw in 1994 and moved to Washington State to start Amazon as an Internet bookstore. No. [280], In January 2020, The Guardian reported that the hack was initiated before the murder but after Khashoggi wrote critically about the crown prince in the Washington Post. [121][122], Bezos also supports philanthropic efforts through direct donations and non-profit projects funded by Bezos Expeditions. Investors in OTE include Portland Trail Blazers forward Carmelo Anthony, Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant and Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. According to BBC, Bezos's top security staffer, Gavin de Becker,[279] "linked the hack to the Washington Post's coverage of the murder of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul". A Division of NBCUniversal. [162] When interviewing candidates for jobs at Amazon, he has stated he considers three inquiries: can he admire the person, can the person raise the common standard, and under what circumstances could the person become exemplary. [45][51] Three years after Bezos founded Amazon, he took it public with an initial public offering (IPO). [69] Due to the growth of Alibaba in China, Bezos has often expressed interest in expanding Amazon into India. Perez of FrontOfficeSports.com reports that no bid exceeded $6.3 billion. Jeff Bezos quit his job at an investment bank in 1994 and moved to Seattle, Washington, to open a virtual bookstore. Jeffrey Preston Bezos is an American entrepreneur, media proprietor, investor, and commercial astronaut. [137][138][139], Bezos was seen by some as needlessly quantitative and data-driven. [76] During July 2018, a number of members of the U.S. Congress called on Bezos to detail the applications of Amazon's face recognition software, Rekognition. We want to hear from you. Bezos became D. E. Shaw's fourth senior vice-president by age 30. On August 5, 2013, Bezos announced his purchase of The Washington Post for $250million in cash,[109] at the suggestion of his friend, Don Graham. The NFL has played games in London, Mexico City and Germany but there is one place they haven't touched. [264][265][266][267], In 2014, Amazon won a bid for a cloud computing contract with the CIA valued at $600million. [137], Bezos uses the term "worklife harmony" instead of the more standard "worklife balance" because he believes that balance implies that you can only have one and not the other. [95] In September 2011, one of the company's unmanned prototype vehicles crashed during a short-hop test flight. Jeffs mother and father were was only 17 and 19 when he was born. [102], In December 2017, New Shepard successfully flew and landed dummy passengers, amending and pushing its human space travel start date into late 2018. [160] Journalist Walt Mossberg dubbed the idea that someone who cannot tolerate criticism or critique shouldn't do anything new or interesting "The Bezos Principle". The company formally launched on July 16, 1995. He should pay his workers first", "If Jeff Bezos wants to help low-income people why not just pay them better? Jeff Bezos once tried to buy the Seattle Seahawks, even when they werent selling. [269] Controversy over this was raised when General James Mattis accepted a headquarters tour invitation from Bezos and co-ordinated the deal through Sally Donnelly, a lobbyist who previously worked for Amazon. People know the name and know it stands for greatness, perseverance and ultimate success. [35] In his graduation speech, Bezos told the audience he dreamed of the day when mankind would colonize space. All Rights Reserved. [163], He meets with Amazon investors for a total of only six hours a year. ", "What Has Jeff Bezos Chosen to Spend His $140B On? Amazon Bezos left D.E. "[273] Despite Bezos's support for an open borders policy towards immigrants, Amazon has actively marketed facial recognition software to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). [230], In February 2020, Bezos purchased the Warner Estate from David Geffen for $165 million,[231][232] a record price paid for a residence in the Los Angeles area. [117][118] He also invested in Unity Biotechnology, a life-extension research firm hoping to slow or stop the process of aging. Getty. "[81] He later said: "Bezos could play a profound role. [132] During the 1990s, Bezos earned a reputation for relentlessly pushing Amazon forward, often at the expense of public charity and social welfare. Bezos affinity for the Seahawks goes back to 2019 when he attempted to woo the owners into selling the franchise to him. Cry? [146][147] His physical appearance increased the public's perception of him as a symbolically dominant figure in business and in popular culture, wherein he has been parodied as an enterprising supervillain. [214] According to Quartz, his net worth of $150billion in July 2018 was enough to purchase the entire stock markets of Nigeria, Hungary, Egypt, Luxembourg, and Iran. [143], Throughout his early years of ownership of The Washington Post, Bezos was accused of having a potential conflict of interest with the paper. [90] Bezos has long expressed an interest in space travel and the development of human life in the Solar System. "[82] Sanders's efforts elicited a response from Amazon which pointed to the 130,000 jobs it created in 2017 and called the $28,446 figure for its median salary "misleading" as it included part-time workers. [115], Bezos makes personal investments through his venture capital vehicle, Bezos Expeditions. Bezos retained his interest in The Washington Post and Blue Origin, as well as voting control of the shares received by his ex-wife. Teds grandfather had immigrated from now Denmark to Chicago around 1900. "[159] During the 1990s and early 2000s at Amazon, he was characterized as trying to quantify all aspects of running the company, often listing employees on spreadsheets and basing executive decisions on data. Overtime is a media company that distributes original sports content on social media outlets, including Snapchat, YouTube and Facebook. That shouldn't be an issue for Bezos, who with a net worth of $117.8 billion is one of the world's wealthiest people. In his initial discussion of the project which became Alexa with his technical advisor Greg Hart in 2011, Bezos told him that the goal was to create "the Star Trek computer. Bezos' net worth is worth $119 billion, according to Forbes , and he'd likely be able to outbid other potential buyers. [14] The suborbital flight lasted over 10 minutes, reaching a peak altitude of 66.5 miles (107.0km). [234], Bezos is known for creating an adversarial environment at Amazon, as well as insulting and verbally abusing his employees. That shouldn't be an issue for Bezos, who with a net worth of $117.8 billion is one of the world's wealthiest people. [51], In 1998, Bezos diversified into the online sale of music and video, and by the end of the year he had expanded the company's products to include a variety of other consumer goods. [43] He first worked at Fitel, a fintech telecommunications start-up, where he was tasked with building a network for international trade. Brin said in a blog post from 2008 that he Nonetheless, he certainly has enough money to buy a sports team with the fortune he has accumulated from Amazon. Got a confidential news tip? [92] Rob Meyerson led Blue Origin from 2003 to 2017 and served as its first president. [284] In 2013, he pledged $500,000 to Worldreader, a non-profit founded by a former Amazon employee. Amazon went public in But he's now out of the NFL and working as the head coach of the XFL's Houston Roughnecks And Phillips - part of a first family of football in Houston thanks to [101] He has repeatedly called for increased inter-space energy and industrial manufacturing to decrease the negative costs associated with business-related pollution. Jeff himself revealed that before For other people with the surname, see, Wealthiest people in the United States by state, All currency figures expressed in the United States dollar (US$) in, Many calculations of Bezos's wealth during the late 2010s were not, Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, Heinlein Prize for Advances in Space Commercialization, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as minors, 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, "Riding the Wild, Perilous Waters of Amazone.com", "Jeff Bezos Is Getting Astronaut Wings. "Bezos" redirects here. [62] In October of that year, Amazon was recognized as the largest online shopping retailer in the world. [60] According to a 2008 Time profile, Bezos wished to create a device that allowed a "flow state" in reading similar to the experience of video games. [162] Instead of using presentation slides, Bezos requires high-level employees to present information with six-page narratives. ', "Country star Dolly Parton gets $100m award from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos", "Jeff Bezos announces 40 grants totaling $123 million to combat homelessness", "Jeff Bezos reveals what it's like to build an empire", "Inside Jeff Bezos's Washington D.C. Life", List of mergers and acquisitions by Amazon. Bezos has been interested in becoming an NFL owner for at least four years. Bezos not only invested in the real estate startup's seed round in 2021, but he doubled down on that investment during the company's series A last year. ", "Amazon will have a new CEO as Jeff Bezos transitions to executive chair later this year", "Jeff Bezos and brother to fly to space in Blue Origin flight", "Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen reach edge of space, return safely on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket", "Jeff Bezos's single teen mom brought him to night school with her when he was a baby", Why Some Locals Are Skeptical About Jeff Bezos' Free Preschool Near Seattle, "At Last, Jeff Bezos Offers a Hint of His Philanthropic Plans", "Jeff Bezos just sold $534million worth of Amazon stock", "Biography and Video Interview of Jeff Bezos at Academy of Achievement", "Jeff Bezos: A rocket launched from Miami's Palmetto High", "Amazon.com's Bezos invests in space travel, time", "How Amazon's Jeff Bezos went from the son of a teen mom to the richest person in the world", "Top Executive Profiles Jeffrey P. Bezos", "MacKenzie Bezos and the Myth of the Lone Genius Founder", "Who's Writing the Book on Web Business? [296] In September 2018, Bezos donated $10million to With Honor, a nonpartisan organization that works to increase the number of veterans in political office. [107] In July 2018, it was announced that Bezos had priced commercial spaceflight tickets from $200,000 to $300,000 per person.[108]. [28] His relative lack of philanthropy compared to other billionaires has drawn a negative response from the public since 2016. The first centibillionaire on the Forbes wealth index,[8] Bezos was named the "richest man in modern history" after his net worth increased to $150billion in July 2018. Although the crash was viewed as a setback, news outlets noted how far the company went from its founding-to-date in advancing spaceflight. He was succeeded as CEO by Andy Jassy. "I don't want to drag anybody around," he said .