Jeff Bezos’ Internet Value Is 12 Figures—This is How He Grew His Monetary Empire

Amazon’s (AMZN) former CEO and present govt chair Jeff Bezos, with an estimated web value close to $230 billion, is the third-richest particular person on the earth as of November 2024, in accordance with Forbes’ Actual Time Billionaires Index.

Bezos owns rather less than 9% of Amazon, the world’s largest on-line retailer and one of many important components behind his fortune. Bezos’ estimated wealth trails that of Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk and, simply barely, Oracle (ORCL) CEO Larry Ellison, in accordance with Forbes. (He is forward of Ellison by one other measure, Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.)

Right here is how Bezos made his billions.

He Based Amazon

As Amazon’s founder and former CEO, Bezos helped construct the world’s largest on-line retailer, which in fiscal 2023 made about $575 billion in web gross sales. Individuals spent about $7.2 trillion on ecommerce in 2023, with practically half of that coming by means of Amazon.com.

In November, Bezos offered about $214 million value of Amazon shares, leaving him with about 926 million shares within the firm.

Bezos based Amazon in 1994 out of his storage with a $10,000 funding and assist from his now ex-wife Mackenzie Scott. Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon in 2021 however has stayed on as govt chair.

Different Corporations Owned by Bezos: The Washington Publish and Blue Origin

Bezos purchased The Washington Publish for $250 million in 2013, after which the location’s visitors and viewers skyrocketed, beating The New York Occasions for the primary time when it comes to distinctive net viewers within the U.S. Visitors has decreased by greater than 50% over the previous couple of years, in accordance with reporting by Puck from January 2024. In October 2024, the Publish misplaced lots of of hundreds of subscribers after it declined to endorse a candidate within the 2024 presidential election.

House exploration firm Blue Origin, is one other firm Bezos based. It was among the many first industrial corporations to launch a reusable rocket, in 2016. In 2021, Bezos was a part of Blue Origin’s first profitable crewed flight to area, which reached an altitude simply above 62 miles.

Blue Origin’s present valuation could not be decided. The corporate raised $185 million in a funding spherical in December 2021. Bezos has invested billions of his personal cash into the corporate.

As of July 2023, Blue Origin was seeking to set up a launch web site outdoors of the U.S., in accordance with the Monetary Occasions. The corporate has extra launches, together with of its New Glenn rocket, scheduled for this yr and past.

Bezos’ Massive Tech Investments: Uber, Workday, Airbnb, and Extra

Bezos is invested in different massive tech corporations past Amazon. In 2013, Bezos invested greater than $30 million in main rideshare app Uber (UBER), which went public in 2019 and reported a complete of $37.2 billion in income in 2023. 

One other of Bezos’ notable investments was in cloud human sources firm Workday (WDAY). After Bezos’ funding within the firm, Workday went public in an preliminary public providing (IPO) that valued it at $637 million in 2012. Workday is value greater than $70 billion at this time.

Nextdoor (KIND), Airbnb (ABNB), X (previously Twitter), Enterprise Insider, and Cloud Paper are another corporations in Bezos’ portfolio.

Bezos Has An Intensive Actual Property Portfolio

Bezos has an intensive actual property portfolio, with properties throughout the nation estimated to be value over $500 million, Architectural Digest wrote earlier this yr.

Amongst them is the historic Jack Warner Property in Beverly Hills, Calif., which Bezos purchased for $165 million in 2020. The property is known as after authentic proprietor Jack Warner, one of many co-founders of movie studio Warner Bros.

Bezos final yr relocated from his longtime house base, Seattle, to Miami, the place he owns a number of multimillion-dollar properties. Bezos purchased a 3rd property for about $90 million on Miami’s unique Indian Creek Island. The Amazon founder’s three properties on the man-made island referred to as “Billionaire Bunker” are value about $177 million mixed.

In 2021, Bezos purchased a $78 million 14-acre property on Maui, the costliest house purchased on the island.

Bezos owns a number of flats in New York Metropolis. He purchased three flats in Manhattan overlooking Madison Sq. Park for $80 million in 2019. It was probably the most costly actual property transactions in New York Metropolis that yr, in accordance with The Wall Avenue Journal. 

The Amazon founder additionally owns a 400,000-acre ranch in Texas, serving as Blue Origin’s base. And he owns a 417-foot yacht that value over $500 million to construct, in accordance with Bloomberg.

Charitable Acts

In 2022, Bezos mentioned he’ll give most of his cash to charity throughout his lifetime.

Particularly, he hopes to assist battle local weather change and heal social and political division on the earth. To these ends, Bezos based the charitable organizations Bezos Day One Fund and the Bezos Household Basis, which supplies tutorial grants and scholarships.

He additionally based the Bezos Earth Fund with a dedication of $10 billion for grants to handle local weather change and sustainability.