Jeff Bezos Biography
Founder of Amazon

Born on 12th January 1964, Jeff Bezos founded what is now the USA's leading online retailer: Amazon.com. Currently the president, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the company, he is allegedly worth a colossal $12.3 billion. And it all started with a dream, as this Jeff Bezos biography explores.

His early life consisted largely of spending time on the family ranch in Cotulla, Texas. Disrupted by his parents divorcing shortly after his birth, it has since emerged that he was always keen on mechanics. He used a screwdriver to dismantle his crib when just a toddler - something which has previously been told in others like this Jeff Bezos biography.

Jeff always displayed a keen interest in science, and pursued this at school and at home, where he converted his house garage into a laboratory. In 1982, he received a Silver Knight Award following completion of the Student Science Training Program at the University of Florida.

He graduated from Princeton University with a computer science electrical engineering degree. This was influenced by his interest in technology and, in particular, computers.

Prior to founding Amazon.com, Bezos worked for a variety of companies associated with computers and technology - most notably Fitel, Bankers Trust and D.E Shaw & Co.

The idea for Amazon.com was fuelled by his original desire to exploit the potential for money being generated from an online shopping service - an opportunity that he was desperate to benefit from and not regret later.

Bezos articulated the idea during a drive from New York to Seattle and set up the company in 1994 - a key stage in the Jeff Bezos biography - using his garage as headquarters for the then web-based book store. Since then it has expanded rapidly, and now has a tight grip over the world of online retailing, selling DVDs, CDs, kitchen utensils, gardening equipment, electronics, toys, games, clothing, sports goods, gourmet foodstuffs and groceries, beauty products, jewellery, musical instruments, educational items and an awful lot more.

It was Bezos drive, grit and determination to achieve that enabled him to buy other companies, and add to his reputation as a leader in global business - recognised by Carnegie Mellon University when he was awarded an honorary doctorate in Science and Technology in 2008. The pick of the bunch from his vast range of acquisitions are the Internet Movie Database and Reflexive Entertainment. Times magazine awarded him Person of the Year in 1999 for his contributions as a world leading dot-com entrepreneur.

Bezos is renowned for his attention to the smallest of details and desire to go where no other man in US history has.

According to some sources, he is "happy-go-lucky" but equally a "notorious micromanager" who holds the achievements of his company very dearly.

He is constantly looking for ways to improve his website, such as the recent addition of Amazon Kindle, an e-reader in 2007. Meanwhile, Amazon's WebStore enables budding entrepreneurs to design and produce e-commerce websites using Amazon inspired technology. The Jeff Bezos biography continues to grow - an encouraging story for those with similar ambitions!

Resources

• Jeff Bezos biography from Achievement.org