Brooke Eden
$2 million
Jeff Bezos’s net worth is estimated at $224 billion, making him the fourth wealthiest person in the world as of March 2026. The founder and Executive Chairman of Amazon built the world’s largest e-commerce and cloud computing company from a garage startup in 1994, and has since diversified into aerospace, media, and real estate. His fortune remains predominantly tied to his approximately 8.6% ownership stake in Amazon, supplemented by his personally funded space company, Blue Origin, and other investments.
Updated March 2026: According to the Forbes World’s Billionaires List 2026, Jeff Bezos ranks fourth globally with a net worth of $224 billion as of March 1, 2026, based on Amazon stock prices and exchange rates at that date. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index independently tracks his wealth, noting that his fortune is driven primarily by his Amazon ownership and cash investments managed through Bezos Expeditions.
Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen was born on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Jacklyn Gise and Ted Jorgensen. His parents divorced when he was less than two years old. In 1968, his mother married Cuban immigrant Miguel Bezos, who formally adopted Jeffrey, giving him the surname Bezos. The family relocated to Houston, Texas, and later to Miami, Florida, where Jeff attended Miami Palmetto Senior High School as class valedictorian.
From childhood, Bezos demonstrated an intense interest in science and technology. He spent summers on his maternal grandfather’s Texas ranch, where he developed self-reliance and problem-solving skills. He enrolled at Princeton University, initially intending to study physics before switching to electrical engineering and computer science. He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in 1986. After Princeton, he worked in financial technology in New York, including a position at hedge fund D.E. Shaw, where he became one of the youngest senior vice presidents in the firm’s history before leaving in 1994 to found Amazon.
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in July 1994 from a garage in Bellevue, Washington, with approximately $300,000 in seed capital provided by his parents. The company launched as an online bookstore in 1995 and went public via IPO in May 1997 at $18 per share, giving it an initial market capitalization of approximately $438 million. In the decades since, Amazon has expanded into cloud computing (Amazon Web Services, launched 2006), digital media (Prime Video, Kindle, Music), grocery (Whole Foods, acquired 2017 for $13.7 billion), advertising, logistics, and artificial intelligence.
Key milestones in Bezos’s business career include:
Blue Origin, founded in 2000, has received more than $48 billion in personal funding from Bezos, primarily through Amazon stock sales, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Bezos himself flew to space aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle on July 20, 2021, on its first crewed mission.
Bezos’s wealth is almost entirely tied to his equity in Amazon, with the company’s market capitalization exceeding $2 trillion by early 2026. His income from Amazon salary is negligible — he received a base salary of $81,840 per year as CEO — with the overwhelming majority of his net worth tied to stock appreciation.
Jeff Bezos was married to MacKenzie Scott (then MacKenzie Bezos) from September 1993 until their divorce was finalized on April 4, 2019. The couple met at D.E. Shaw in New York. MacKenzie Scott received approximately 4% of Amazon shares in the divorce settlement, valued at approximately $38 billion at the time and significantly more since. They have four children together — three biological sons and one daughter adopted from China.
Following his divorce, Bezos began a publicized relationship with journalist and media personality Lauren Sánchez. The two became engaged and married in June 2025 in a ceremony in Venice, Italy. Sánchez, a former television news anchor and helicopter pilot, has been involved with Blue Origin’s initiatives.
Bezos is a known science fiction enthusiast and has credited the genre for inspiring his interest in space exploration. His philanthropic efforts include the Bezos Day 1 Fund, a $2 billion commitment to fund homeless family shelters and preschools in underserved communities, and the Bezos Earth Fund. His connections in the business world overlap with figures like Elon Musk, his closest competitor in the commercial space race, and Tony Robbins and Grant Cardone, prominent figures in the entrepreneurship and wealth-building space.
Jeff Bezos’s net worth is estimated at $224 billion as of March 1, 2026, according to the Forbes World’s Billionaires List 2026, making him the fourth wealthiest person globally. Forbes estimates are based on Amazon stock prices and exchange rates as of March 1, 2026, and note that individual fortunes fluctuate with market movements. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index independently tracks his wealth in real time.
Jeff Bezos owns approximately 8.6% of Amazon as of early 2026, having sold billions of dollars in shares over the years primarily to fund Blue Origin. At Amazon’s market capitalization of over $2 trillion, an 8.6% stake is worth approximately $172–$190 billion, making it by far the largest component of his net worth. His base salary as CEO was historically $81,840 per year — a number he maintained to keep his healthcare benefits — meaning virtually all of his personal wealth derives from equity appreciation rather than compensation.
Jeff Bezos married journalist and media personality Lauren Sánchez in June 2025 in Venice, Italy. He was previously married to MacKenzie Scott from 1993 to 2019. Bezos and Scott have four children together. MacKenzie Scott, who received approximately 4% of Amazon in the divorce settlement, has since given away tens of billions of dollars to charitable causes and is now one of the world’s largest philanthropists in her own right.