Jeff Bezos Net Worth (Money & Salary) 2024 (2024)

Jeff Bezos Net Worth (Money & Salary)

Jeff Bezos is a generous American entrepreneur, magnate and explorer of space who boasts a total wealth of $218 billion. Jeff Bezos amassed his fortune as the originator of Amazon.com. Jeff Bezos serves as the previous CEO and current president and chairman of Amazon. He outstripped Bill Gates in terms of riches in July 2017. He held the title of the most affluent individual in the world continuously from October 2017 to January 2021. He once again reclaimed the distinction of being the wealthiest person globally in March 2024,when he exceeded Elon Musk in total net worth.

As indicated by the most recent SEC filing of the company, Jeff holds 55 million Amazon shares, approximately 12% of the overall outstanding shares. At its pinnacle, he possessed 80 million shares of Amazon. During his divorce settlement with MacKenzie Bezos in April 2019, Jeff transferred 19.7 million shares to his former spouse. The value of the shares during the transfer was $36 billion. This agreement momentarily reduced Jeff’s wealth from $150 billion to $114 billion. Jeff was also an early investor in Google.com before its IPO and possesses at least $1 billion in shares of what is currently recognized as Alphabet Inc.

Throughout much of the 2000s, Jeff was not even among the top 10 or top 20 wealthiest individuals globally. Amazon’s stocks started to soar towards the end of 2014. By July 2015, Jeff’s wealth stood at $50 billion. Within a span of two years, his wealth (and the stock) had doubled. On July 27, 2017, Bezos overtook Bill Gates as the richest person on Earth. In September 2018, Amazon’s market capitalization exceeded $1 trillion. This was before his divorce, thus he still owned 80 million shares. At that valuation, Jeff’s wealth reached a then-record high of $170 billion.

Did Jeff Bezos Ever Claim the Title of Wealthiest Person in History?

Comparing Jeff’s peak wealth of $200 billion to our compilation of the most affluent individuals of all-time adjusted for inflation, Jeff fails to make the top 10. Taking the $200 billion figure into account, it would be the 11th largest fortune ever amassed by an individual (factoring in inflation). To provide context, when oil magnate John D. Rockefeller passed away, his wealth stood at an inflation-adjusted $340 billion.

Is Jeff Bezos Capable of Achieving Trillionaire Status?

There are no limits! However, turning into a trillionaire solely based on his Amazon shares appears to be an immensely ambitious goal. With 12% ownership of Amazon’s shares, Jeff is equivalent to $120 billion (on paper) for every $1 trillion market capitalization milestone. Hence, for Jeff to hit trillionaire status based exclusively on his Amazon shares, the company’s market cap would need to exceed $8.3 trillion.

Early Years

Born on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Jeff Bezos’ mother was a 17-year-old high school student at the time of his birth. Jeff’s father operated a bicycle store. Jeff’s mother eventually divorced his biological father. At the age of four, she wed a Cuban immigrant named Miguel Bezos. Subsequent to the marriage, Miguel legally adopted Jeff, changing his last name from Jorgenson to Bezos. The family relocated to Houston, where Mike secured a position as an engineer at Exxon. They were also in proximity to Jeff’s maternal grandparents, who owned a cattle ranch south of San Antonio. Jeff’s maternal grandmother, Mattie Louise Gise, was first cousins with country artist George Straight.

During his upbringing in Texas, Jeff utilized his parents’ garage as a laboratory for his scientific experiments. He also spent summers laboring at his grandparents’ ranch. Jeff would later attest to having imbibed his work ethic during his summer stints at the ranch. Eventually, he bought the ranch and expanded it from 25,000 to 300,000 acres.

Upon their relocation to Miami when Jeff began high school, he took on the role of a short-order cook at McDonald’s. He earned the title of his high school’s valedictorian and was recognized as a National Merit Scholar. In his valedictorian speech, he articulated a vision of human colonization of space in the future.

He enrolled at Princeton University with intentions to pursue a course in physics, but his passion for computers led to a change in his academic trajectory. Ultimately, he graduated summa cum laude with a 4.2 GPA, as well as membership in Phi Beta Kappa. He earned a degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

Upon the completion of his college education, Jeff commenced working at a financial technology firm named Fitel. Subsequently, he transitioned to the banking industry when he landed a product management position at Bankers Trust. In 1990, he was

employed as a financial expert for D. E. Shaw & Co., a hedge fund that had newly been initiated with the concept that mathematical modeling could foresee significant market gains.

Jeff served at D.E. Shaw until 1994, reaching the position of the company’s fourth senior vice president by that time. He reached this milestone at the age of 30.

Amazon

A year earlier, Jeff became captivated by the emerging world wide web. His desire was to market something online, and he ultimately decided to focus on selling books. Bezos formulated Amazon’s business strategy during a cross-country drive from New York to Seattle. In 1994, he formally established the company, starting the original business in his garage.

Other Achievements

In 2008, Bezos was granted an honorary doctorate in Science and Technology from Carnegie Mellon University. In 1999, he was selected as Time magazine’s Person of the Year. In 2000, Bezos established Blue Origin, a startup company focused on human spaceflight, stemming from his passion for space exploration. Blue Origin initially had ambitions to create space hotels, theme parks, settlements, and small cities for 2 million to 3 million people orbiting the Earth. The company’s existence was kept confidential for a couple of years until it became publicly known in 2006 following the acquisition of a substantial amount of land in west Texas for a launch and testing facility. In 2013, Bezos engaged in discussions regarding commercial space travel prospects and tactics with Richard Branson, the multibillionaire founder of the Virgin Group – within that year, he also acquired The Washington Post.

Properties And Other Possessions

For approximately three decades, Jeff resided in Seattle, Washington. In November 2023, he made public his plan to permanently relocate to Miami. In the preceding two months he invested $150 million in two properties on a secluded island in Miami known as Indian Creek Village, often referred to as the “Billionaire Bunker.” These adjacent properties are presumed to be demolished to make way for a new grand mansion. In April 2024, news broke that Jeff had purchased a THIRD mansion on Indian Creek. This third acquisition involved a payment of $90 million for a six-bedroom residence in which he purportedly intends to reside while reconstructing the other two residences into a new opulent estate.

In 2007, Jeff and MacKenzie acquired a $24.5 million mansion situated on two prestigious acres in Beverly Hills, California. In 2018, they procured the neighboring property for $12.9 million. Following their 2019 divorce, MacKenzie acquired this combined two-home property as part of their settlement. In August 2022, MacKenzie announced her decision to donate the properties to a charity named the California Community Foundation. At the time of the donation, the combined estate was estimated to be valued at $55 million.

On February 12, 2020, it emerged that Jeff had bought $255 million worth of real estate in Beverly Hills. The initial property, known as the Jack L. Warner estate, was purchased for $165 million. This estate encompasses 10 picturesque acres in Beverly Hills and features a main residence spanning 13,600 square feet. The property was sold by entertainment tycoon David Geffen, who acquired it in 1990 for $47.5 million.

The second property that Bezos reportedly acquired in February 2020 was a 120-acre vacant hilltop known as Enchanted Hill. The seller of this property was the estate of the late Microsoft founder Paul Allen, who bought the land in 1997 for $20 million. Despite being predominantly overgrown with vegetation, the property includes a 1.5-mile driveway and a meticulously landscaped bluff at its summit. The deal fell through a month after its initial reporting, meaning that Jeff’s total real estate spree in February 2020 solely comprised the $165 million Jack L. Warner estate.

Other real estate assets:

• $23 million mansion in Washington D.C., procured in 2018. This former museum consists of two structures amounting to 27,000 square feet of living space
• 300,000 acres in Texas encompassing several ranches
• 100,000 additional acres situated in various locations across the country
• Three units in 25 Central Park West in Manhattan
• $10 million 5-acre property in Medina, Washington, purchased in 1999
• $50 million mansion adjacent to his Medina property, purchased in 2005

Financial worth Particulars And Background

During the 20 years following Amazon’s initial public offering, Bezos has offloaded shares worth at least $70 billion. As part of a structured stock sale agreement, he typically sells around $1 billion worth of shares annually.

On the day of Amazon’s IPO, the company had a market capitalization of $300 million. At that time, Jeff retained a 40% stake in the company, resulting in a net worth of $120 million (on paper, pre-tax). Within a year, this value surged to $1 billion. At the peak of the dotcom bubble era, Jeff’s net worth exceeded $10 billion. Following the bubble burst, Amazon’s stock price hit its lowest.of $5 per share in October of 2001. By that time, Jeff’s wealth plummeted to $1-2 billion.

Had you been wise enough to invest$10,000</strongin Amazon shares in October of 2001, today you would have accumulated over$15 million</strongprior to considering any dividends.

Net Worth Achievements

• May 1997 – $120 million during the company’s IPO debut.
• June 1998 – $1 billion reached for the first time
• June 1999 – $10 billion
• July 2015 – $50 billion
• January 2018 – $100 billion
• July 2018 – $150 billion
• September 2018 – $170 billion
• January 2019 – Jeff declares the end of his 25-year marriage with MacKenzie. Clearly, the divorce’s outcome will significantly impact Jeff’s $150 billion wealth.
• April 4, 2019 – Jeff and MacKenzie reveal a harmonious settlement for their divorce, where she will receive $36 billion worth of Amazon stock. Jeff will hold onto 75% of his previous shares and will maintain voting authority over MacKenzie’s shares. She will not have any stake in The Washington Post or Jeff’s space venture, Blue Origin. It remains uncertain how the couple divided their numerous properties and aircraft. Jeff’s net worth immediately after the announcement dropped to $114 billion.
• March 9, 2020 – $111 billion
• July 1, 2020 – $172 billion
• July 9, 2020 – $190 billion
• August 26, 2020 – $202 billion
• December 2022 – $117 billion
• January 2023 – $107 billion

If you’re monitoring, it took Jeff only three years to achieve billionaire status after launching in 1995. It required 20 years to amass $50 billion, but then only 2.5 years to acquire the next $50 billion, totaling $100 billion. Later, it took just seven months to add another $50 billion, resulting in a total of $150 billion. Then, he swiftly lost $36 billion with a mere stroke of a pen.

Stats are from 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032, 2033, 2034, 2035, 2036, 2037, 2038, 2039, 2040, 2041, 2042, 2043, 2044, 2045, 2046, 2047, 2048, 2049, 2050.