Tech

Jeff Bezos

Left a Wall Street job at 30 to sell books online; funded initially by his own savings and his parents.

Born: 1964 · Albuquerque, New Mexico, US
Roots: Born to a teenage mother; raised by her and his Cuban immigrant stepfather
Family: Middle class; Born to a 17-year-old mother; raised middle class after she married Miguel Bezos, an Exxon engineer who had emigrated from Cuba.
Education: Princeton University (electrical engineering and computer science)
Started with: ~$300K; His own ~$10K plus roughly $245K invested by his parents in 1995.
Affiliations & societies: Bilderberg MeetingsDocumented; Listed as a participant on the group's published attendee lists (2011, 2013).; Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.

The pathway

1986 · age 22
Princeton degree
Turns down graduate physics for computer science; joins Wall Street firms.
1990 · age 26
D. E. Shaw
Becomes a senior vice president at the hedge fund by 30.
1994 · age 30
Incorporates Amazon$10K
Leaves D. E. Shaw after the firm passes on the online-bookstore idea; starts in a Seattle-area garage.
1995 · age 31
Parents invest$245K
Their stake comes from retirement savings.
1997 · age 33
IPO$54M raised
Amazon lists three years after founding.
2000 · age 36
Founds Blue Origin
Funds the rocket company by selling Amazon stock.
2018 · age 54
Ranked world's richest person
Per Forbes.

Sources

Compiled from these references and contemporaneous press reporting. Figures are approximate; verify before relying on them.