How Jeff Bezos Became the Richest Person in the Modern Era

Ten years ago, if you were told that a person could be worth 200 billion, it would be hard to believe. However, this has happened with Jeff Bezos in 2020, the internet entrepreneur, who became the first person to reach 200 billion dollars net worth in the modern era.

Bezos has seen a tremendous rise in stock since the pandemic hit the world. With people staying at home due to the epidemic, there was an increase in the demand for online goods. This demand has led to the tremendous growth of Amazon’s revenue and profits, which has positively affected Bezos’ wealth. 

Bezos was born in 1964 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After he graduated from Princeton University, Bezos worked in several places before starting his own business in 1994. Years after, a once book library at its inception became the giant e-commerce company it is today. It all started in Seattle outside his garage, where he founded Amazon. 

Bezos is best known as the founder, CEO, and president of the colossus internet technology company Amazon. Although he has sold millions of his Amazon shares, he remains with an 11.1% stake in the company, making him the largest shareholder. Although Bezos owns other big companies like Blue Origin and The Washington Post, his stake in Amazon makes up more than 90% of his fortune. 

The reason for the surge in the use of Amazon services is a logical one. Because Amazon offers perfectly tailored services for the current situation of lockdowns and people working from home, millions of people rely on Amazon for online shopping, the safest and most efficient way of getting supplies. 

Businesses also rely on the cloud computing services offered by Amazon, the Amazon Web services. They run systems online and data processing enabling their workers to work in their homes. That’s been witnessed on Amazon’s tremendous increase in net profits during the pandemic.

After 25 years of marriage, Bezos divorced his wife, MacKenzie Scott, back in 2019 and transferred a quarter of his Amazon stock. However, this did not stop Bezos from retaining his top spot as the world’s richest person since 2017. He made another record in 2020 when he became the first person in the modern era to reach 200 billion dollar net worth. 

In addition to multiple investments Bezos made in big companies worldwide-including Apple- he owns two other major companies. Blue Origin aims to settle people in space, making rockets for commercial use when people start flying into space to make a home there. Washington Post is also a significant player in the newspaper industry. 

There are now more billionaires globally than ever before, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bernard Arnault. However, Bezos tops them all. And he seems to be getting richer and richer as the world adopts cloud computing and e-commerce in which Jeff Bezos’s Amazon is a significant player.