The Life Of Jeff Bezos Prior To Amazon
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Currently, Jeff Bezos is one of the richest men in the world, with a mindblowing net worth of about $187 billion. Nevertheless, his life prior to Amazon was rather humble, and his growth before he became a billionaire is significant to the icon he is today.
Jeff Bezos made history by surpassing the outstanding net worth of Bill Gates, another leading billionaire. Presently he tops the list of billionaires worldwide; however, Bezos was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His journey prior to Amazon is truly epic, as many years of struggle molded him into the overachiever he became later.
Here is a small glimpse at Jeff Bezos' life prior to Amazon.
Early Life - Childhood
Bezos was a builder from an early age - it is said that he had attempted to dismantle and reassemble his own crib as a toddler. Jeff Bezos was born on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. When his mother was about 17 years of age and in high school, she gave birth to Jeff. His biological father worked in a bike shop.
However, the very next year, his parents got divorced, which led to the severing of all connections with his biological father. His mother, Jackie Gise, married again three years later. Jeff grew up under the care of his mother's second husband, Michael Bezos, who adopted him and gave him his name. Michael turned out to positively influence young Jeff, constantly pushing him to do better and grow.
Mike himself led a very fast-progressing life and this offered Jeff the chance to learn closely and be inspired. When Michael landed a job as an engineer at Exxon Corporation, he took his family with him to Texas. The following job transfer brought Jeff to Florida, where he ended up studying at the Palmetto High School in Miami. Bezos was well-liked amongst his peers and became the class president and valedictorian in his senior year.
Adolescence And College Life
As Reference For Business states, Jeff had a knack for developing an intimate understanding of how things worked; he was an innovator from the very beginning. He started building fascinating tools and toys, which took his younger siblings by surprise. Jeff's family had been immensely supportive of his making and breaking prospects from a young age, and it instilled self-belief in him. So when he wanted a fancy toy like the Infinity Cube, he built it himself from scratch if his family could not afford an expensive toy.
Jeff toyed with the materials he found at home and built several fancy robots out of them. He also built an alarm that would ring every time somebody tried entering his room. When his 'science projects' began messing up his bedroom, his parents offered young Jeff the garage as his personal lab.
Later, Bezos went to Princeton University to pursue a physics major as he idolized Stephen Hawking as his role model. However, soon Jeff realized Physics was not his calling and ended up taking up a double major in Electronics and Computer science instead, as stated by Make It.
Career Before Amazon
Having a penchant for rising above mediocrity, Jeff always dreamt of making it big in business by starting his own venture. However, the roads were not very smooth for him in the beginning. Big companies recognized Bezos as a brilliant software engineer who would turn out to be an asset to the company, but he turned down most of their offers.
He finally signed up for a job under Fitel, a newly established fiber optic company, with a job role to set up a new computer network for international business. His next job was at the Banker's Trust in New York City for developing management systems concerning investment funds. One of his most significant achievements prior to building Amazon was joining the Wall Street investment firm of D. E. Shaw & Company. From being their computer specialist, he was soon promoted to the post of their Senior Vice President.
The future billionaire got a taste of success at the young age of twenty-eight. Bezos developed the idea of Amazon while working with D. E. Shaw & Company. Then, he took his inspiration from the rising popularity of the World Wide Web and started developing an idea for himself. According to Business Insider, Amazon sells about $136 billion worth of goods annually, making its creator the wealthiest tech entrepreneur in the world.
Besides being a businessman, the creator of Amazon.com, and its biggest shareholder, Bezos is also a philanthropist and a space enthusiast. In fact, his interest in space dates back to his youth. Recently, the billionaire announced that he would be stepping down from the CEO position at Amazon after having spent three decades building the successful e-commerce site, as stated by Hindustan Times.
Source: Business Insider, Hindustan Times, Make It, Reference For Business
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