Jeff Bezos: From Wall Street to Amazon, Blue Origin and Miami's Billionaire Bunker

So Jeff Bezos is trending in South Africa today, and the reason is a bit surprising, it is about property tax in Florida. On Tuesday, Florida voters approved Amendment 3, a big change to the state’s property tax system, and business writers have been pointing out that billionaires like Bezos, who moved to Miami, barely feel the headline tax cut. That got people searching his name again, so let me give you the full story of the man behind Amazon.

Quick facts

Full name: Jeffrey Preston Bezos
Born: 12 January 1964
Birthplace: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Education: Princeton University, engineering degree in 1986
Known for: Founding Amazon in 1994
Other companies: Blue Origin, The Washington Post, Bezos Expeditions
Current role at Amazon: Executive chairman
Home: Miami, Florida, since 2023

Early life

Jeff was born Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen on 12 January 1964 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He later took the surname Bezos from his stepfather, Miguel Bezos, who adopted him. He grew up in Houston and Miami, and he was always a science and computer kid. He went to Princeton University and graduated in 1986 with a degree in engineering.

Wall Street before Amazon

After Princeton he did not go straight into business on his own. From 1986 to early 1994 he worked on Wall Street in different finance and technology jobs. He was doing well, but he saw how fast the internet was growing and he decided he did not want to look back later and regret not trying.

The road trip that started Amazon

In mid 1994 he left his job and drove from New York to Seattle, and that is where he founded Amazon. It started as an online bookstore, working from a garage. People laughed at the idea of buying books online back then, but it grew and grew. Amazon moved into selling almost everything, then into video and music streaming, the Alexa voice assistant, artificial intelligence, and Amazon Web Services, which is now one of the biggest cloud computing businesses in the world. Today Amazon is the largest online retailer and the largest internet company by revenue.

On 5 July 2021 Bezos stepped down as chief executive and handed over to Andy Jassy, who used to run Amazon Web Services. Bezos became executive chairman, which means he still has a big say but he is not running the daily operations.

Space and newspapers

Bezos has always loved space. In 2000 he founded Blue Origin, a rocket company, and in July 2021 he actually flew to space himself on the Blue Origin flight called NS-16. In 2013 he bought The Washington Post, one of the most famous newspapers in America. He also invests in many other companies through his venture firm, Bezos Expeditions.

The money

For years he was the richest person in the world, Forbes and Bloomberg had him at number one from 2017 to 2021. In July 2018 his net worth reached $150 billion and he was called the richest man in modern history, and he was the first person to pass $100 billion on the Forbes real time list. In 2026 his net worth is estimated at about $284 billion, which keeps him among the richest people on the planet.

Family life

Bezos has four children with his former wife MacKenzie Scott, who is now famous for giving away billions to charity. They divorced in 2019. In June 2025 he married Lauren Sánchez, a journalist and helicopter pilot, in a big wedding in Venice.

Timeline

1964: Born on 12 January in Albuquerque
1986: Graduates from Princeton with an engineering degree
1986 to 1994: Works on Wall Street
1994: Founds Amazon in Seattle
2000: Founds Blue Origin
2013: Buys The Washington Post
2017: Becomes the richest person in the world
2021: Steps down as Amazon CEO and flies to space on Blue Origin
2023: Moves to Miami, Florida
2025: Marries Lauren Sánchez
2026: Named in coverage of Florida’s Amendment 3 property tax change

Why he is trending right now

On Tuesday 3 November 2026, Florida voters approved Amendment 3, which brings in a new $250,000 homestead exemption on primary homes. Fortune reported that a middle class homeowner and the owner of a $50 million mansion would save roughly the same amount, about $2,000 a year, from that headline tax break. Bezos was one of the examples they used, because he moved to Miami in 2023 and has bought a compound on Indian Creek, the island people call Billionaire Bunker, and he is reportedly buying an oceanfront estate in Golden Beach too.

Experts told Fortune the part that matters more for very rich people is a less noticed change, a tighter cap on how fast taxable values can rise on second homes and other properties that are not a main residence, cut from 10% to 5% a year. So the billionaires may still benefit, just not from the part everybody is talking about.

That is Jeff Bezos, the engineer who left Wall Street, drove across America and built one of the biggest companies the world has ever seen.