Jeff Bezos is likely one of the richest individuals on this planet, and he was the primary individual to cross the $200 billion benchmark. He’s the founding father of Amazon, and he reigned as CEO from the beginning of the corporate in 1994 till 2021 when he stepped down and turn out to be the chief chair. Though he has an annual wage of $1.6 million, he doesn’t get his wealth from that. As a substitute, Bezos’ wealth principally comes from Amazon inventory. How did Jeff Bezos turn out to be a billionaire, and the way does he spend his cash? Benzinga took a deep dive into these questions, and you’ll find the solutions under.
What’s Jeff Bezos’ Web Price?
Jeff Bozos’ web price is $148.1 billion in 2022, in keeping with Bloomberg. He was lately knocked off of the quantity two spot on Bloomberg’s richest individuals on this planet listing and now sits at quantity three behind Elon Musk and Gautam Adani.
Bezos as soon as held the title of the richest man on this planet, however his web price has gone up and down due to occasions previously few years. However don’t really feel too sorry for him; he by no means misplaced his title of billionaire as soon as he achieved it.
Bezos received his begin when his dad and mom gave him virtually $300,000 to begin a web-based bookstore that he named Amazon. He had on the spot success, and three years after launching, he took the corporate public. As quickly as the corporate went public, Bezos’ web price skyrocketed to $120 billion, however when the dot-com bubble hit, his web price shrank to $2 billion.
On the day he and his spouse introduced their divorce, Bezos was price $136 billion. Then, the subsequent yr the pandemic hit, and everybody started purchasing on Amazon as a result of they had been quarantined of their houses. The Amazon inventory rose 4.6% to $2,270 per share, and Bezos profited from it dramatically. In July 2021, Bezos tore via the $200 billion benchmark with a web price of $211 billion.
Bezos transferred a big portion of Amazon inventory to his spouse throughout the divorce, which whittled away at his web price. That, mixed with a $20 billion loss in April 2022 when Amazon inventory crashed, meant that his web price – whereas nonetheless within the billions – shrunk significantly.
Most of Bezos’s web price comes from the shares he owns in Amazon. He’s the one largest shareholder within the firm and owns 11% of the inventory. Meaning most of his wealth comes from the inventory and his means to promote it. Since 1997, he has offered $27 billion in Amazon inventory.
However shares aren’t the one method Bezos earns his cash. He launched Amazon Internet Providers in 2002. The corporate provides a cloud platform for a lot of entities, together with a $600 million cope with the Central Intelligence Company. He additionally launched Amazon Kindle.
Jeff Bezos’ Divorce Settlement
In January 2019, Jeff Bezos and his spouse, MacKenzie Bezos, introduced their resolution to divorce in a joint assertion on Twitter. On the time of the announcement, Jeff Bezos was price $136 billion.
In April 2019, Bezos submitted a settlement provide to the decide the place Jeff Bezos would give MacKenzie Bezos 4% of the excellent Amazon inventory, which amounted to 19.7 million shares. Regardless of fears from traders, MacKenzie agreed to offer Jeff Bezos voting management of her shares.
After the divorce, Bezos’ web price shrank to $114.8 billion, however he was nonetheless thought of the richest man on this planet at the moment. The shares of Amazon inventory he gave to MacKenzie decreased his web price by $38.3 billion.
How Does Jeff Bezos Spend his Cash?
As you’d anticipate from anybody who has billions of {dollars}, Jeff Bezos spends his cash on issues most individuals would by no means contemplate. For example, in 2013, Bezos bought the Washington Submit for $250 million. Since then, its readership has elevated, and it expanded its digital choices.
Bezos additionally invested in lots of houses, certainly one of which sits on greater than 5 acres and is close to Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle. He additionally bought two homes in Beverly Hills which are proper subsequent door to one another. MacKenzie Bezos obtained each houses as a part of the divorce settlement and donated them to a charity known as the California Group Basis. The couple initially paid a complete of $37.4 million for the houses. Lower than a yr after the divorce, Bezos paid $165 million for a 10-acre residence in Beverly Hills. Along with much more houses, the billionaire owns greater than 400,000 acres throughout the nation. On prime of that, he owns a ranch in Van Horn, Texas that he makes use of as the bottom for his area exploration firm, Blue Origin.
Bezos is fascinated with area exploration, and he spends some huge cash on it. In 2000, the enterprise growth skilled invested $7.5 billion in Blue Origin and has collected as a lot as $100 million in ticket gross sales for his tourist-to-space program. He lately despatched 4 individuals, together with William Shatner, the actor who performed Captain Kirk within the Star Trek sequence, into area for a 10-minute journey the place they skilled weightlessness for 3 minutes. Shatner, who was 90 on the time, walked away from the expertise in awe. In an interview in 2018, Bezos mentioned that he’ll proceed to make use of the cash he earns from Amazon to fund his curiosity in area journey.
And Bezos doesn’t solely like area journey. He additionally spent $65 million on a Gulfstream personal jet. He additionally likes to spend cash on automobiles. For example, Bezos spent $4.8 million on a Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita that sparkles like diamonds when the solar hits it. And his storage is stuffed with different costly, unique automobiles.
The billionaire additionally donates a few of his cash to charity, though not as a lot as a few of his friends. However when he does donate, his charities of selection deal with local weather change, homelessness and most cancers analysis.
Lastly, Bezos spends his cash on some uncommon initiatives. For instance, he invests within the Lengthy Now Basis’s 10,000-year clock that’s being constructed underground in West Texas. Bezos tweeted that the clock is an emblem of long-term considering.
In step with his fascination with area, Bezos funded and led an expedition on the ground of the Atlantic Ocean to recuperate one of many Apollo 12 rocket engines.
Steadily Requested Questions
Questions & Solutions
Q
How does Jeff Bezos make most of his cash?
A
Nearly all of Jeff Bezos’ cash comes from Amazon inventory. He owns 11% of the inventory, which makes him the most important single shareholder within the firm. Since 1997, Bezos has offered $27 billion price of Amazon inventory.
Q
Does Jeff Bezos share his wealth?
A
Jeff Bezos does share his wealth, and he is named a philanthropist for a lot of charitable causes. For example, he offers away his cash for causes like local weather change, homelessness and most cancers analysis. However the billionaire doesn’t fairly sustain with different rich philanthropists. As of 2021, he had given away $1.5 billion, which is just 0.7% of his wealth. He’s additionally one of many world’s elite that has to this point refused to signal the Giving Pledge, which is a promise to offer away half of his wealth, even though his ex-wife signed the pledge.
