Jeff Bezos' net worth in 2024
Jeff Bezos's net worth is $225.5 billion. Bezos is a philanthropist and businessman. He is also considered to be the third-richest person in the world today with a lot of his earnings stemming from the success of e-commerce giant Amazon . Here's a closer look at Jeff Bezos' net worth in 2024.
What is Jeff Bezos' net worth in 2024?: $225.5 billion (estimate)
Jeff Bezos' net worth in 2024 is $225.5 billion. This is according to Forbes.
Jeff Bezos was born on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He studied at River Oaks Elementary School. After moving to Miami, Bezos attended Miami Palmetto High School.
At only 16 years old, Bezos already started to work at McDonald's. But despite studying while working, Bezos graduated high school as a valedictorian while also being a Silver Knight Scholar and a National Merit Scholar.
After high school, Bezos went on to attend Princeton University. Here, he earned his Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, majoring in computer science and electrical engineering. But more importantly, Bezos finished with summa cum laude honors.
Jeff Bezos enters business world
After completing university, Bezos worked for Fitel which is a telecommunications company. In Fitel, Bezos showcased his potential by rising through the corporate ladder. He held the positions of Development Head and Director of Customer Service during his time there.
While Bezos' stint with Fitel showed promise, the start-up firm went under. As a result, Bezos went on to work for Banker's Trust. He worked there for two years and even held the position of vice president.
After his stint with Banker's Trust, Bezos went on to work for D.E. Shaw, which is a hedge fund company. During his tenure at D.E. Shaw, Bezos was exposed to the potential of the business opportunities on the Internet.
Jeff Bezos creates Amazon
As a result, Bezos had the idea of selling books online. After leaving the firm, due to disagreements regarding the idea, Bezos and his wife started their online bookstore called Amazon in 1994.
Although Amazon was initially a bookstore, Bezos had expanded the company's product lines with the hope that Amazon would be an "everything store." Because of this, it wasn't long before Amazon started selling other products such as music, movies, housewares, electronics, toys, and other merchandise.
In 1997, Bezos turned Amazon public with an IPO. In that same year, Bezos' net worth reached $120 million. Due to the growth of online shopping, Bezos became a billionaire just a year later.
With the growth of the firm, Bezos and Amazon also launched Amazon Web Services in 2002. Amazon Web Services provided cloud computing platforms for various entities. In fact, Amazon Web Services secured a lucrative $600 million deal with the Central Intelligence Agency. Bezos also launched other subsidiaries such as Amazon Prime and Amazon Kindle.
Bezos' annual paycheck amounted to $81,000 as Amazon's CEO and founder. The rest of his lucrative earnings stem from the company's stock holdings. Since Amazon went public in 1997, Bezos has sold around $27 billion worth of Amazon stock. This includes a sale of six million shares in 2010 that was worth $793 million.
Jeff Bezos founds Blue Origin
But despite Amazon being his most successful venture, Bezos stepped down as the firm's CEO in July 2021. Nevertheless, he still retained 10% all of Amazon's shares, which still makes him the company's largest shareholder. Thus, it still allows him sufficient power to be in the firm's driver's seat.
Although Bezos is no longer the CEO of Amazon, he still is a billionaire with a lot of cash to spend. As one of the richest men in the world, Bezos invested $7.5 billion and founded Blue Origin . Blue Origin is a private spaceflight company that aims to send people to space. In 2021, Bezos announced that tourist sales to space reached $100 million worth of tickets.
Furthermore, it was also revealed that Blue Origin was one of the firms to get contracted by NASA to develop concepts for NASA's Artemis 3 mission. Unfortunately, the firm missed out on the $2.9 billion deal to SpaceX, a firm by billionaire rival Elon Musk.
Coming down without a fight, Bezos's Blue Origin sued NASA, only to suffer a defeat in the court ruling. Nevertheless, NASA and Blue Origin are penciled to collaborate in their mission to land on the planet of Mars.
Jeff Bezos purchases the Washington Post
Besides Blue Origin, Bezos also bought media outlet, The Washington Post in 2013. He shelled out $250 million. According to sources , Bezos purchased the news organization due to his belief in journalism as a critical aspect of democracy.
However, rumors are circulating that Bezos is planning to sell The Washington Post in order to acquire the NFL team, Washington Commanders.
Bezos has also made popular investments in the past. Some of which include a $15 million investment to social media company Twitter, Inc. Moreover, he also invested in Synchron, a startup brain-computer interface firm.
Based on reports, Synchron is geared towards helping people with paralysis to operate gadgets and technology with their mind. Bezos' other investments include Business Insider, Airbnb, Inc., Ula, and Uber Technologies, Inc.
In 2019, Bezos suffered a huge loss to his net worth after divorcing his wife Mackenzie Scott. Scott received $36 billion worth of Amazon shares in resolution. But while Bezos lost a huge amount of money, he still has a $225.5 billion net worth, though the billionaire did announce that he was planning to donate his fortune in the future.
While the donation is still up in the air, recent events have shown that Bezos is unlikely to donate that. Apart from starting a new life with reporter Lauren Sanchez , who he became engaged to in May 2023, Bezos also poured $500 million into a megayacht .
Nevertheless, were you at all stunned by Jeff Bezos' net worth in 2024?
