Jeff Bezos: see how the billionaire enjoys his life

Jeff Bezos is one of the richest people in the world and he keeps getting richer. Experts at Forbes and other economic media have calculated that the founder of Amazon could become the world's first trillionaire by 2026. Yes, a trillionaire: that's a person whose possessions amount to a dollar figure with twelve zeros.

After one of the most expensive divorces in history, with MacKenzie Scott-Bezos, the Amazon billionaire began appearing in public with the news anchor Lauren Sanchez. Their relationship seems quite serious and he even dares to tie the knot again!

In 2021, Jeff Bezos and other private travelers made one of the first tourist trips into space. Bezos has gone from Amazon into space and plans to move humanity's boundaries with his company Blue Origin.

How did all this come about? Where does Jeff Bezos come from, and what made him the richest man in the world?

Jeff Bezos was born on January 12, 1964 in Albuquerque (New Mexico, United States) with the name Jeffrey Preston Bezos. Jeff's mother, Jacklyn Gise, had him at the age of 17 and Bezos's childhood was not easy.

His biological father, Ted Jorgensen, has been out of the picture. Instead, Jeff was raised by Miguel Bezos who'd been born in Cuba.

As a child, Bezos was obsessed with science. He set up a science lab in his parents' garage. One of his first "inventions" was an electric alarm. It was supposed to keep his siblings, Christina and Mark Bezos, away from his room.

From a young age, Bezos was also fascinated by mathematics. It was the combination of science and math interests that would help him conceive of a great business idea. He founded Amazon: initially an online book store, and now of one of the largest companies in the world.

Jeff Bezos tends invest in real estate and space rockets, besides his Amazon stock, of course. The billionaire's total worth constantly goes up and down with the trends of Amazon shares on the stock market.

In 2000, Bezos created Blue Origin, his project to develop spacecraft. Other remarkable investments of the billionaire include the newspaper Washington Post and the grocery store Whole Foods.

If you travel to Seattle, or another Amazon office for that matter, you may receive a banana from Jeff Bezos. This is part of his initiative to promote healthy eating.

While the banana rule sounds nice, there is a lot of criticism of Amazon's treatment of its workers around the world. As the Guardian wrote in 2019, working conditions in Amazon warehouses were harsh and that employees did not have access to healthcare when they got hurt on the job.

Jeff Bezos came up with the idea of Amazon during a trip from New York to Seattle. He wanted to call the company Relentless, curiously reflecting his attitude towards business and competition. However, his friends told Bezos the name sounded too sinister. Still, if you put relentless.com in your browser, you'll end up in Bezos's store.

Besides his space travel plans, his taxes, and the complaints of his employees, Bezos made headlines in the past years for his divorce from author MacKenzie Bezos. The former couple have four children together.

In 2018, Jeff Bezos had $150.8 billion, which made him the richest man in history. He surpassed Bill Gates by $55 billion. However, in 2019, he got divorced and had to split his possessions with MacKenzie Bezos. Bill Gates currently has $110 billion, while Bezos has $108.7 billion.

After the divorce settlement, MacKenzie Scott suddenly became one of the most powerful women in the world. She walked away with a 4% share in Amazon and has an estimated net worth of 54.7 billion dollars, Forbes reports.

Jeff Bezos and journalist Lauren Sanchez began dating in 2017. That was before the divorce from MacKenzie Bezos had been completed. The relationship never led to any scandals, though.

As Sanchez herself testified in an Instagram ode to Bezos, he "wakes up early every morning to make breakfast for the kids so they can laugh and talk about life and science and how to make this world a better place."

In February 2021, Bezos announced that he was stepping down as the CEO of Amazon. The online shopping giant that made him a billionaire is now a dominant part of people's lives around the world.

For now, it appears that Jeff Bezos' attention has moved from the globe into the universe. With Blue Origin, he hopes to make space travel accessible and useful. In turn, he says, the work we do in space should help us make life on Earth better.

It may not be surprising that Bezos is a fan of 'Star Trek' and even participated in a film of the sci-fi saga. However, it remains to be seen how many of his futuristic plans he will be able to fulfill in real life.

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