2023-05-12 00:00:00
With billions in his pockets, the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, second fortune in the world behind Elon Musk, who, like his rival, following having built an empire is now seeking to conquer space, is driven by very strong ambitions. . We discover in his new biography signed Luc Mary, a man characterized by excess, an inventive genius, but also a man strongly criticized and hated by many.
Certainly, Jeff Bezos is a great visionary and likes to reverse the ways of doing things.
Today, his company Amazon has become the second largest American company behind the giant Walmart. It has become the world’s largest online retailer, with revenue in 2022 of more than $693 billion (US$514 billion).
Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Jeff Bezos was born to a father who had just turned 18, while his mother was only 16, they were just two penniless college students. He will be abandoned by his father and fortunately his mother will meet Miguel Bezos, a Cuban immigrant who studies at the University of Albuquerque. They will get married and Miguel will adopt Jeff. The latter will never know his biological father, apparently a failed artist, ravaged by alcohol.
Jeff is not a child like the others, his teachers will say of him that he is gifted. Very young, he spends most of his time in his garage to tinker. He teaches himself how a boat engine or electronic toys work. At nine, he programs video games himself.
He will prematurely obtain a baccalaureate in Art and Computer Science from Princeton University. Quickly, he will land jobs for financial companies on Wall Street.
He finds that the web is a gold mine, with usage increases of 2300% per year at the time. Wanting his share of the cake, he wanted to build the largest bookstore in the world and founded in July 1994, in Seattle, Amazon.com in reference to the largest river in the world, the Amazon.
Its online site is functional one year later. After the books, it will be the DVDs, then we know the rest. Nevertheless, it is said in his biography that the challenges were many.
“We were offering 1.5 million books, but we only had around 40 in our warehouse. »
The challenges have been met one by one, then will follow the Kindle e-reader and the Alexa voice assistant. It will also acquire the Whole Foods Market chain, buy Metro Goldwyn Mayer and the Washington Post.
Once the billions amassed, Jeff Bezos wants to devote more time to his teenage dreams, space exploration.
Thus, wanting to conquer space, he founded Blue Origin in 2000 and resigned from his position as CEO of Amazon, while remaining the executive chairman of its board of directors. According to him, the Earth has become too small. He now dreams of space cities to enlarge the blue planet.
dreams and challenges
If Jeff Bezos knows how to dream big, he must also face several challenges. During the height of the pandemic, he became the richest man in the world with a personal fortune estimated at $282 billion (US$209.2 billion) according to the magazine Forbes. His business then fell in 2022, people preferred to shop in stores rather than online. It was a loss for his multi-billion dollar business. Criticized for not wanting to pay his taxes, he finally agrees to pay with his wife funds of $2.7 billion (US$2 billion) to help the homeless.
In another setback, one of its Blue Origin rockets crashed in 2022 Texas one minute following liftoff. Fortunately no deaths, this 23rd mission was uninhabited. But Bezos’ pride takes a hit, a first failure in seven years.
The worst boss
According to several sources, Bezos is the worst employer in the world. There is even talk of inhuman working conditions. The man who has regarding a million and a half employees in the world scrutinizes the actions of workers meticulously using scanners. Even the time spent in the toilet is monitored. One of his employees, aged 69, said he took a little longer than his younger colleagues to go to the bathroom. In fact, they are all entitled to only 20 minutes for their need per 10 hour period. It’s not much when you consider that the crossing of the 4000 meter warehouse takes almost half of it. If you exceed the 20 minutes allowed, you get penalty points deducted from the salary or worse, a dismissal. The time to unload a pallet of goods is also controlled, and those who cannot keep up are simply replaced, employees being considered as disposable goods. Jeff Bezos expects his employees to prioritize work over personal life. Everything is very hierarchical, there are many military-like ranks and job interviews can last a day, because to work for the best, you have to be the best.
Today, the insatiable 59-year-old American lives on one of Texas’ largest ranches. He owns several other residences and land including a house in Medina, near Seattle, another in Beverly Hills, apartments in New York and vacation homes.
His wife, MacKenzie Tuttle, an American novelist with whom he founded his Amazon empire, filed for divorce following 25 years of marriage due to his affair with Lauren Sánchez, a journalist and news anchor. This divorce cost Bezos dearly, so much so that his ex-wife became one of the wealthiest women in the world. Together they had four children, one of whom was adopted from China. MacKenzie Tuttle is now known for her generosity and philanthropy.
♦ At only 35 years old, Jeff Bezos was elected personality of the year by Time Magazine.
♦ In 2014, he was ranked the top most successful CEO in the world by the Harvard Business Review.
♦ In 2014, he was voted “worst boss in the world” according to a poll conducted by the International Trade Union Confederation.
♦ In 2023, he was named Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
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