Bezos passed up a fat bonus, packed his wife, MacKenzie Bezos, and their dog, Kamala (named after an obscure 'Star Trek' character), and headed for Seattle.įor Bezos, Seattle was the ideal city for his new business. Bezos realized that while even the largest superstores could stock only a few hundred thousand books, a mere fraction of what is available, a 'virtual' bookstore could offer millions of titles. After reviewing the list, books were the obvious choice, primarily because of the sheer number of titles in existence.

He drew up a list of 20 potential products he thought might sell well via the Internet, including software, CDs and books. Bezos immediately recognized the expansive possibilities of selling online and began exploring the entrepreneurial possibilities of developing an Internet business. While surfing the Internet in search of new ventures for D E Shaw to invest in, he came across the statistic that World Wide Web usage was growing by 2,300 percent a month. Just four years after Bezos created, the virtual bookstore became the template for how e-commerce businesses should be run, with sales of more than $610 million and more than 13 million customers worldwide.īezos first got the idea to start an Internet enterprise in 1994. It was a risky move, but it quickly paid off. But Bezos had other plans.įueled by a secret passion for the infant business of electronic retailing, Bezos dreamed of creating his own company in the vast, then virtually uncharted wilds of the World Wide Web. , the then 30-year-old Princeton University graduate was already making an estimated six-figure salary and was destined to rise even further in the company ranks. The youngest-ever senior vice president at Wall Street investment bank DE Shaw & Co. In 1994, former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was already extremely successful by most peoples standards. Keep scrolling for more details on how Bezos made Amazon what it is today. As the child of an immigrant, Bezos' rise to success is a true American dream.

Amazon jeff bezos