Jeff Bezos is Entrepreneur and e-commerce pioneer. He is the founder and CEO of the e-commerce company Amazon, owner of The Washington Post, and founder of the space exploration company Blue Origin. His successful business ventures have made him one of the richest people in the world.
Born in 1964 in New Mexico, He had an early love of computers and studied computer science and electrical engineering at Princeton University. After graduation, Bezos worked on Wall Street, and in 1990 he became the youngest senior vice president at the investment firm D.E. Shaw.
Four years later, He quit his lucrative job to open Amazon.com, an online bookstore that became one of the Internet’s biggest success stories. In 2013, He purchased The Washington Post, and in 2017 Amazon acquired Whole Foods.
He graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1986 with a computer science and electrical engineering degree.
After graduating from Princeton, He found work at several firms on Wall Street, including Fitel, Bankers Trust, and D.E. Shaw. In 1990, He became D.E. Shaw’s youngest vice president.
While his career in finance was extremely lucrative, he chose to make a risky move into the nascent world of e-commerce. Bezos quit his job in 1994, moved to Seattle, and targeted the untapped potential of the Internet market by opening an online bookstore.
Bezos opened Amazon.com, named after the meandering South American river, on July 16, 1995, after asking 300 friends to beta test his site. A few employees began developing software with Bezos in his garage; they eventually expanded operations into a two-bedroom house equipped with three Sun Microstation.
The initial success of the company was meteoric. Amazon.com sold books across the United States and in 45 foreign countries within 30 days with no press promotion. In two months, sales reached $20,000 a week, growing faster than Bezos and his startup team had envisioned.
Amazon.com went public in 1997, leading many market analysts to question whether the company could hold its own when traditional retailers launched their e-commerce sites. Two years later, the startup kept up and outpaced competitors, becoming an e-commerce leader.
He continued to diversify Amazon’s offerings with the sale of CDs and videos in 1998, and later clothes, electronics, toys, and more through major retail partnerships.