Jeff Bezos was born on January 12, 1964 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The family moved to Texas when Jeff was a kid.
Noted as a brilliant student, Jeff attended the Student Training Programme at the University of Florida, and received a Silver Knight Award at the age of 18. He was also a National Merit Scholar.
Jeff’s interest in business drove him to start his first business venture while at high school. It was the Dream Institute, an educational summer camp for kids. Later, he graduated from the Princeton University. There, he served as the president of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. He was also elected to honour societies like Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi at Princeton.
After graduation, Jeff worked for several firms including a few on the Wall Street, like the Fitel Bank Trust and the investment firm D.E. Shaw & Co, New York, where he became the youngest vice president. Although it was a lucrative job, Jeff quit the company after a few years, and started working on Amazon.com. The company was initially set up in his garage, and served as an online bookstore. It soon found subscribers across many countries, and grew into a major e-commerce firm.
In 2000, Jeff Bezos founded the Blue Origin, a human spaceflight start-up, out of his fascination for space travel. Bezos is also the owner of the Washington Post newspaper.