Here is a look at the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos.
Personal:
Birth date: January 12, 1964
Birth place: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Birth name: Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen
Father: Ted Jorgensen
Mother: Jackie (Gise) Bezos
Marriage: MacKenzie (Tuttle) Bezos (1993-present)
Children: A daughter adopted from China, and three sons
Education: Princeton University, B.S., 1986
Other Facts:
He was adopted at a young age by his stepfather, Miguel “Mike” Bezos, an engineer at Exxon.
Timeline:
1994 – Leaves D. E. Shaw & Co. in order to develop Amazon.com.
1999 – Is named Time magazine’s Person of the Year.
2000 – Founds 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 Businessperson of the Year.
March 2012-2013 – Leads the privately funded Apollo 11 F-1 Engine Recovery project team that, in March 2013, recovers parts of two rocket engines from the Atlantic seafloor. The rockets from the 1969 Apollo 11 mission remain property of NASA.
August 5, 2013 – It is announced that Bezos is purchasing The Washington Post. Bezos officially becomes the owner on October 1.
January 1, 2014 – Bezos is evacuated on an Ecuadorian navy helicopter from the Galapagos Islands after he develops kidney stones. An Amazon spokesman later says no surgery was required.
November 24, 2015 – Bezos’ company, Blue Origin successfully lands a rocket back on Earth after a space flight. In the past, rockets were disposed of after launching space crafts. Reusable rockets would substantially reduce the cost of space flight.
July 18, 2016 – Amazon confirms Bezos has a cameo role 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.
March 20, 2017 – Ranks number three on the Forbes list of The World’s Billionaires, with a net worth of $72.8 billion.