How did Jeff Bezos build such an immense fortune? according to Celebrity Net Worth, It all started with an online bookstore he founded in his Seattle garage in 1994. Let’s take a closer look at Bezos’ journey to becoming the first person with a net worth over $200 billion.

The Birth of Amazon

Jeff Bezos was born in 1964 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As a child, he showed an early aptitude for science and spent summers working on his grandparents’ ranch, where he developed a strong work ethic.

After graduating from Princeton University, Bezos worked on Wall Street before quitting to start his own internet company. He briefly considered an online business for the sale of books, video games and computer software. Ultimately, he chose books since there were hundreds of thousands of titles with worldwide demand.

Bezos officially founded Amazon in 1994 as an online bookstore operating out of his garage in Seattle. The company’s name was inspired by the Amazon river, with the idea of making it a place to find everything. Within its first month, Amazon had sold books across all 50 U.S. states and 45 different countries.

Amazon’s Initial Public Offering and Rapid Growth

Amazon held its initial public offering (IPO) in May 1997 at $18 per share. The IPO raised $54 million for the company.

Despite the successful IPO, Amazon did not turn a profit for years as it prioritized growth. The dotcom bubble bursting in 2000 added to Amazon’s financial struggles.

Amazon’s big break came in 2003 when it posted its first full-year profit of $35 million on revenues of over $5 billion. By 2009, Amazon’s annual revenues had reached $24.5 billion.

Bezos grew Amazon aggressively, expanding far beyond books into new categories like consumer electronics, clothing, toys and eventually web services. Today, Amazon is the leading e-commerce platform with over $470 billion in net sales in 2023.

Amazon Web Services (AWS), launched in 2006, rapidly grew into Amazon’s biggest profit driver. AWS provides on-demand cloud computing services to individuals, companies and governments on a pay-as-you-go basis. It is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform.

Jeff Bezos Net Worth Over Time

When Amazon went public in 1997, its market cap was around $300 million. Bezos owned about 40% of the company at the IPO, giving him a net worth of around $120 million on paper.

Within a year of the IPO, Amazon’s market cap had quadrupled and Bezos became a billionaire for the first time with a $1.2 billion net worth.

As Amazon’s stock continued soaring, Bezos became one of the world’s richest people by the 2010s. His net worth cracked $100 billion in 2017, making him the world’s richest person at the time.

In 2019, Bezos’ net worth briefly dropped to around $114 billion after his divorce from MacKenzie Scott, who acquired a stake in Amazon worth $36 billion. However, Amazon’s continued success soon propelled Bezos back over $180 billion.

In 2022, Bezos’ net worth peaked at $211 billion before dropping back below $200 billion. His net worth has hovered around the $200 billion mark for the past couple years as Amazon’s valuation has remained sky-high.

Other Bezos Business Ventures

While Amazon is the core of his massive net worth, Bezos has other business ventures and investments:

Blue Origin: Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000 with the goal of enabling space travel and colonization. He has been investing around $1 billion annually into the company to support its development​​.

The Washington Post: Bezos purchased The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million through his private investment company, Nash Holdings LLC​ (Visual Capitalist)​​ (Wikipedia)​.

Early Google Investment: Bezos was indeed one of the early investors in Google, having invested $250,000 in 1998. This investment has grown significantly, and it’s likely worth over $1 billion today​.

Other Tech Investments: Through his venture capital firm, Bezos Expeditions, Bezos has invested in several tech startups including Uber, Airbnb, Twitter, and Nextdoor. These investments highlight his interest in supporting innovative technology companies​

Bezos’ Spending and Philanthropy

Despite his incredible net worth, Bezos was not known as a big philanthropic giver for most of his career. That changed in recent years as he announced:

• The Bezos Earth Fund pledging $10 billion to fight climate change
• Joining the Giving Pledge to donate majority of his wealth
• $100 million grant given to Obama Foundation
• $200 million donated to the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum

On the spending side, Bezos is estimated to have sold around $70 billion worth of Amazon shares for taxes and personal expenditures over the last 20 years.

His biggest personal spending appears to be on real estate, including:

• $165 million Beverly Hills compound in 2020
• $500 million spent on homes in Los Angeles, Washington DC, New York City and Florida
• $90 million waterfront mansion in Miami in 2024
• Two historic Washington DC homes for $68 million in 2022

Bezos reportedly spends around $1 billion per year to fund Blue Origin’s space exploration efforts as well.

The First $200 Billion Fortune

Jeff Bezos became the first person in modern history to amass a $200 billion personal fortune thanks to Amazon’s industry-disrupting ecommerce platform and hugely profitable cloud business.

While he stepped down as CEO in 2021, Bezos remains heavily involved with Amazon as executive chair. Barring any seismic events, it seems likely that Bezos’ net worth will continue increasing in the years ahead. I sincerely hope you like reading “Jeff Bezos Net Worth In 2024? How He Built a Billion-Dollar Fortune” article.

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