• StaySquared@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and one of the wealthiest individuals in the world, was not born into a particularly wealthy family. His parents, Jacklyn and Ted Jorgensen, were teenagers when Bezos was born on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Bezos’s biological father, Ted Jorgensen, was a bike shop owner and later worked as a circus performer. Jacklyn and Ted divorced when Bezos was still an infant, and Jacklyn remarried Miguel Bezos, a Cuban immigrant who legally adopted Jeff and gave him his last name.

    Miguel Bezos worked as an engineer for Exxon, and the family moved frequently due to his job. While Bezos grew up in a relatively stable and middle-class environment, his parents emphasized hard work, education, and resourcefulness. Bezos often credited his stepfather, Miguel, for instilling in him important values and a strong work ethic.

    While Bezos did not inherit significant wealth, his upbringing provided him with a supportive family environment and access to educational opportunities. Bezos attended Princeton University, where he studied electrical engineering and computer science, laying the groundwork for his future entrepreneurial endeavors. It was during his time at Princeton that Bezos developed the idea for an online bookstore, which eventually grew into the e-commerce giant Amazon.com.