Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will step down as the company’s chief executive later this year and will become the chairman of the e-commerce giant’s board, the company announced Tuesday.
Here’s a look into the life of Jeff Bezos.
Personal information
Date of birth: January 12, 1964
Place of birth: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Birth name: Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen
Father: Ted Jorgensen
Mother: Jackie (Gise) Bezos
Matrimonial: MacKenzie (Tuttle) Bezos (1993-2019, divorced)
Children: an adopted daughter from China and three sons
Education: Princeton University, Bachelor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 1986
Other data
He was adopted at a young age by his stepfather, Miguel “Mike” Bezos, an Exxon engineer.
Chronology
1994 – Leaves DE Shaw & Co. to develop Amazon.
1999 – Named Person of the Year by Time magazine.
2000 – Founded Blue Origin, LLC, an aerospace company to provide low-cost access to private space travel.
2011 – Bezos and his wife donate $ 15 million to create the Bezos Center for Neural Circuit Dynamics at Princeton University.
November 2012 – Fortune magazine names Bezos its 2012 Entrepreneur of the Year.
March 2012-2013 – Leads the privately funded Apollo 11 F-1 engine recovery project team, which, in March 2013, recovers parts of two rocket engines from the Atlantic seabed. Rockets from the 1969 Apollo 11 mission remain the property of NASA.
August 5, 2013 – It is announced that Bezos will buy The Washington Post. Bezos officially becomes the owner on October 1.
January 1, 2014 – Bezos is evacuated in an Ecuadorian Navy helicopter from the Galapagos Islands after developing kidney stones. An Amazon spokesperson later reports that he did not require surgery.
November 24, 2015 – Bezos’s company, Blue Origin, successfully lands a rocket on Earth after a space flight. In the past, rockets were discarded after launching spaceships. Reusable rockets would substantially reduce the cost of space flight.
July 18, 2016 – Amazon confirms that Bezos has a cameo as an alien in the movie “Star Trek Beyond.”
December 14, 2016 – Along with other tech executives, Bezos meets with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower to discuss issues such as education, trade and immigration.
September 5, 2018 – Bezos contributes $ 10 million to With Honor, a nonpartisan organization and super PAC that aims to increase the number of veterans in politics.
September 13, 2018 – Bezos announces via Twitter that he and his wife will allocate $ 2 billion to a fund called “Bezos Day One Fund.” The fund will support non-profit organizations that help homeless families and create a network of preschool centers in low-income communities.
January 9, 2019 – In a joint statement, Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, announce that they will be divorcing after 25 years of marriage.
January 31, 2019 – For the first time, Amazon has annual sales of $ 200 billion.
February 7, 2019 – In a blog post, Bezos accuses AMI, the editor of the National Enquirer, of attempting to extort money from him, claiming that AMI threatened to post compromising photos of him.
March 6, 2019 – Haven is announced, the name of the company created by Bezos, Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon to improve the healthcare system.
Cierra Haven, the project of 3 giants that lived 3 years 0:57March 30, 2019 – An investigator working for Bezos to find out how evidence of their extramarital affair was provided to the National Enquirer claims that Saudi Arabia had access to the information before the photos and texts were leaked. In an opinion piece for the Daily Beast, Gavin de Becker says that the Saudi leadership wanted to harm Bezos because of The Washington Post’s coverage of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
April 4, 2019 – Bezos and his wife announce that they have agreed to the terms of the divorce and that MacKenzie Bezos will keep 25% of the Amazon shares owned by the couple, giving him a 4% stake in the company. Bezos will retain voting control over all of MacKenzie’s shares and will also retain all of his interests in The Washington Post and Blue Origin.
McKenzie Bezos is Amazon’s second-largest shareholder 1:04May 9, 2019 – Bezos presents Blue Origin’s new rocket engine and a mockup of the lunar lander that he wants to use to transport cargo or people to the Moon. The first mission of the lunar lander is scheduled for 2024.
February 17, 2020 – Bezos commits $ 10 billion to the Bezos Earth Fund, a new initiative to support scientists, activists, and organizations working to mitigate the impact of climate change.
April 7, 2020 – Bezos ranks first on Forbes’ annual list of billionaires, with a net worth of $ 113 billion.
July 29, 2020 – Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google parent company CEO Sundar Pichai, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testify before a House of Representatives antitrust subcommittee to address concerns that its businesses may be harming competition.
October 19, 2020 – The Bezos Academy, the first location for a network of free preschools serving children in underserved communities led by Bezos’ Day One Fund, opens in Des Moines, Washington.
November 16, 2020 – Bezos announces that he will award $ 791 million in grants as part of his Bezos Earth Fund to 16 organizations working to protect the environment. The fund is part of Bezos’ $ 10 billion pledge to support scientists, activists, NGOs and organizations working to protect the environment.