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Birth
Bezos was born on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. -
College
Jeff Bezos graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with electrical engineering and computer science degrees. -
Hedge Fund
In 1990 Bezos started working at D. E. Shaw Co. He quickly became senior vice president of the company. -
Amazon Founded
On July 5, 1994, Jeff Bezos opened Amazon out of his garage as an online marketplace for books. -
Public Company
Amazon went public with an initial public offering (IPO) on May 15, 1997. -
New Products
In 1998 Amazon started expanding, and Amazon began offering music and videos. -
Person Of The Year
In 1999 Jeff Bezos was named Time Magazine's Person Of The Year. -
New Company
On September 8, 2000, Bezos founded Blue Origin, an American space technology company. -
Profitable Company
In the fourth quarter of 2001, Amazon finally turned its first profit after seven years. This proved that Bezos' unconventional business model could succeed. -
Helicopter Crash
In March 2003 Jeff Bezos narrowly survived a helicopter crash in Texas. -
Amazon Prime
In 2005 Bezos started the Amazon Prime membership service, offering free two-day shipping within the United States. -
Amazon Web Services
In 2006 Amazon launched Amazon Web Services or AWS, which provides cloud computing platforms to individuals and companies. -
Amazon Kindle
On November 19th, 2007, Amazon released the first Kindle, an e-reader that allows someone to purchase, download, and read books. -
Largest Retailer
In 2021, Amazon surpassed Walmart and became the world's largest retailer, a huge milestone for the company. -
Stepping Down
On July 5th, 2021 Bezos stepped down from his position as Amazon's CEO, he transitioned to executive chairman of Amazon's board.