Jeff Bezos: A Timeline of His Best Financial Decisions

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Jeff Bezos, billionaire founder of Amazon.com and Blue Origin, wasn’t born into wealth.

A series of smart financial decisions got him to where he is today — one of the richest people in the world. Here’s a timeline of the best financial decisions Bezos has made, sourced from Britannica.

1986 – College Graduation

Bezos graduated from Princeton University summa cum laude with a dual major in electrical engineering and data science. This set him up to take full advantage of the then-nascent field of computer science.

1994 – Founded Amazon

Bezos was working on Wall Street when he and his then wife, Mackenzie Scott, decided to start an online bookstore. He learned a lot about the internet while working at investment bank D.E. Shaw & Co. and wanted to capitalize on its potential. He and Scott started Amazon in their garage. The company shipped its first order in 1995.

1998 – Beyond Books

Three years after it began selling books, Bezos decided to add CDs and videos to the product mix. The following year, he began investing in other online stores, further expanding the mix of products that consumers could order on Amazon, 24/7.

2000 – Blue Origin

Bezos founded Blue Origin as a private spaceflight company in 2000. Twenty-one years later, the company launched its first crewed flight, which included Bezos and his brother Mark, along with two others.

2006 – Amazon Web Services

Continuing to take advantage of the opportunities presented by advancing technology, Bezos launched Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS is now the largest cloud computing service with over 30% market share.

2007 – Kindle

Amazon introduced the Kindle in 2007 and within three years, sales of electronic books outpaced those of traditional hard copy books.

2013 – The Washington Post

Bezos bought the venerable newspaper The Washington Post and its affiliated publications for $250 million in 2013.

These financial decisions have been responsible for Bezos’s extraordinary success. According to Forbes, Bezos’s net worth, as of Feb. 14, 2026, is $214.2B, making him the fourth-wealthiest person on the planet. The majority of that wealth is concentrated in Amazon and Blue Origin stock.

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