Tuesday, May 22, 2018

NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman Wotumi Shows Off Money In His 2.5million Convertible Car

The driver is Ghana's ruling government NPP Ashanti regional chairman, he is showing off his new $2.5million Ferrari convertible and some huge sums of money in a red bag.
The people around him are believed to be party executives and some friends, he recently was recently re-elected as the npp ashanti regional chairman, he went un-opposed.
This video is very disappointing please share to help fight corrupt practices in our Continent "Africa".

Monday, May 21, 2018

THE HORROR AT KORLE BU HOSPITAL - VERY SAD


Former pro wrestler severely beaten in apparent dispute over parking spot

Former pro wrestler severely beaten in apparent dispute over parking spot

MAR VISTA, Calif. — A former pro wrestler was beaten severely in front of his Mar Vista home Tuesday and neighbors said it all apparently began over a parking dispute. As many as six young men beat Tom Magee, who will be 60 in July.
YouTube video shows Magee when he weighed 265 pounds and fought with what was then called WWF in the '80s.
A true Goliath in the ring, Magee later became a neighborhood watchdog.
"Tom came and encountered the young men, and it proceeded to a fight," says friend Kendall Noxxel.
Magee suffered a broken jaw, broken eye socket and concussion.
beaten-man.jpg

Tom Magee was severely beaten in an apparent dispute over a parking spot.
"It was sort of a conflict over who was allowed to park in this spot," Noxxel said.
A neighbor who was a witness but didn't want to show her face on camera described the horrendous scene.
"They were literally kicking him, punching him in the face and in the head," said the neighbor.
She said six men were involved in the attack. When neighbors came out to see what was going on, the men took off.
When they rushed over to Magee, they said he was incoherent.
"To me, it was attempted murder. If we wouldn't have come out here I don't know if he would be alive. To look at his face if you saw his face right now and saw what they were doing to him, he's really lucky to be alive," the neighbor said.
LAPD robbery detectives are investigating. Thursday afternoon, they said two men were taken into custody. They were identified as Justin Lee, 20, and Degrate Bryant, also 20.
Both have been booked on charges of assault with a deadly weapon.
The arrests provide a sense of relief for neighbors. Not only for their own safety but to let their watchdog know they have his back.
Magee has a long recovery ahead. But he is out of the hospital and recovering at home.

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Billboard Music Awards 2018: The complete winners list

Billboard Music Awards 2018: The complete winners list

Recording artist Taylor Swift accepts the Top Female Artist award onstage during the 2018 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sun., May 20, 2018, in Las Vegas.
 
 GETTY
The 2018 Billboard Music Awards kicked off Sunday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, where some of the biggest names in music came out to honor the year's most celebrated and successful artists.
Hosted by Kelly Clarkson, the star-studded annual show features tons of jaw-dropping live performances from Demi Lovato, Shawn Mendes, Ariana Grande, Janet Jackson, Camila Cabello and Kesha, just to name a few.
However, for the musicians in attendance, the night really came down to who took home the awards show's coveted Golden Microphones.
Going into the show, Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars and Kendrick Lamar were tied for most BBMA nominations with 15 apiece -- and all three went head-to-head in the night's big Top Artist category. Meanwhile, Post Malone found himself toward the front of the pack with 13 nominations, followed by Imagine Dragons with 11.
Also duking it out in the coveted Top Artist category were Drake -- who nabbed 9 nominations -- and Taylor Swift, with a total of 5 nominations for her most recent album, Reputation.

Check out the list below for a look at all of the night's big winners across all categories:

Top Artist:
Drake
Kendrick Lamar
Bruno Mars
Shepherd  * WINNER *
Taylor Swift
Top New Artist:
21 Savage
Camila Cabello
Cardi B
Khalid *WINNER*
Kodak Black
2018 Billboard Music Awards: Khalid
Recording artist Khalid accepts the Top New Artist award onstage during the 2018 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sun., May 20, 2018, in Las Vegas.
 GETTY
Billboard Chart Achievement Award:
Camila Cabello *WINNER*
Cardi B
Drake
Sam Hunt
Ed Sheeran
Top Male Artist:
Drake
Kendrick Lamar
Bruno Mars
Post Malone
Ed Sheeran *WINNER*
Top Female Artist:
Camila Cabello
Cardi B
Halsey
Demi Lovato
Taylor Swift *WINNER*
Top Duo/Group:
The Chainsmokers
Coldplay
Imagine Dragons *WINNER*
Migos
U2
Top Billboard 200 Artist:
Drake *WINNER*
Kendrick Lamar
Ed Sheeran
Chris Stapleton
Taylor Swift
Top Hot 100 Artist:
Imagine Dragons
Kendrick Lamar
Bruno Mars
Post Malone
Ed Sheeran *WINNER*
Top Streaming Songs Artist:
Cardi B
Drake
Kendrick Lamar *WINNER*
Post Malone
Ed Sheeran
Top Song Sales Artist:
Imagine Dragons
Kendrick Lamar
Bruno Mars
Post Malone
Ed Sheeran *WINNER*
Top Radio Songs Artist:
Halsey
Imagine Dragons
Bruno Mars
Charlie Puth
Ed Sheeran *WINNER*
Top Social Artist:
Justin Bieber
BTS *WINNER*
Ariana Grande
Demi Lovato
Shawn Mendes
Top Touring Artist:
Coldplay
Guns N' Roses
Bruno Mars
Ed Sheeran
U2 *WINNER*
Top R&B Artist:
Chris Brown
Khalid
Bruno Mars *WINNER*
SZA
The Weeknd
Top R&B Male Artist:
Khalid
Bruno Mars *WINNER*
The Weeknd
Top R&B Female Artist:
Beyonce
Rihanna
SZA *WINNER*
Top R&B Tour:
Bruno Mars *WINNER*
Lionel Richie
The Weeknd
Top Rap Artist:
Drake
Kendrick Lamar  * WINNER *
Lil Uzi Vert
Migos
Post Malone
Top Rap Male Artist:
Drake
Kendrick Lamar  * WINNER *
Post Malone
Top Rap Female Artist:
Bhad Bhabie
Cardi B *WINNER*
Nicki Minaj
Top Rap Tour:
J. Cole
JAY-Z *WINNER*
Kendrick Lamar
Top Country Artist:
Kane Brown
Luke Combs
Sam Hunt
Thomas Rhett
Chris Stapleton *WINNER*
Top Country Male Artist:
Sam Hunt
Thomas Rhett
Chris Stapleton *WINNER*
Top Country Female Artist:
Kelsea Ballerini
Miranda Lambert
Maren Morris *WINNER*
Top Country Duo/Group Artist:
Florida Georgia Line *WINNER*
Old Dominion
Zac Brown Band
Top Country Tour:
Luke Bryan *WINNER*
Florida Georgia Line
Tim McGraw & Faith Hill
Top Rock Artist:
Imagine Dragons *WINNER*
Linkin Park
Portugal. The Man
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
twenty one pilots
Top Rock Tour:
Coldplay
Guns N' Roses
U2 *WINNER*
Top Latin Artist:
J Balvin
Daddy Yankee
Luis Fonsi
Ozuna *WINNER*
Romeo Santos
Top Dance/Electronic Artist:
The Chainsmokers *WINNER*
Calvin Harris
Kygo
Marshmello
ODESZA
Top Christian Artist:
Elevation Worship
Hillsong UNITED
Hillsong Worship
MercyMe *WINNER*
Zach Williams
Top Gospel Artist:
Anthony Brown & group therAPy
Travis Greene
J.J. Hairston & Youthful Praise
Tasha Cobbs Leonard *WINNER*
Tamela Mann
Top Billboard 200 Album:
Drake, More Life
Kendrick Lamar, DAMN. *WINNER*
Post Malone, Stoney
Ed Sheeran, ÷ (Divide)
Taylor Swift, reputation
Top Selling Album:
Kendrick Lamar, DAMN.
P!nk, Beautiful Trauma
Ed Sheeran, ÷ (Divide)
Chris Stapleton, From A Room: Volume 1
Taylor Swift, reputation *WINNER*
Top Soundtrack:
Black Panther
The Fate of the Furious: The Album
The Greatest Showman
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2: Awesome Mix Vol. 2
Moana 
*WINNER*
Top R&B Album:
Khalid, American Teen
Bruno Mars, 24K Magic *WINNER*
SZA, CTRL
The Weeknd, Starboy
XXXTentacion, 17
Top Rap Album:
Drake, More Life
Kendrick Lamar, DAMN. *WINNER*
Lil Uzi Vert, Luv Is Rage 2
Migos, Culture
Post Malone, Stoney
Top Country Album:
Kane Brown, Kane Brown
Luke Combs, This One's For You
Thomas Rhett, Life Changes
Chris Stapleton, From A Room: Volume 1 *WINNER*
Brett Young, Brett Young
Top Rock Album:
Imagine Dragons, Evolve *WINNER*
Linkin Park, One More Light
Panic! At The Disco, Death of a Bachelor
Portugal. The Man, Woodstock
U2, Songs of Experience
Top Latin Album:
Nicky Jam,  Fenix
Christian Nodal,  Let Me Wear
Ozuna,  Odyssey  * WINNER *
Romeo Santos,  Golden
Shakira,  El Dorado
Top Dance/Electronic Album:
Avicii, AVĨCI (01)
The Chainsmokers, Memories…Do Not Open *WINNER*
Calvin Harris, Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1
Kygo, Stargazing
ODESZA, A Moment Apart
Top Christian Album:
Elevation Worship, There Is A Cloud
Hillsong UNITED, Wonder
Hillsong Worship, Let There Be Light
Alan Jackson, Precious Memories Collection *WINNER*
MercyMe, Lifer
Top Gospel Album:
Anthony Brown & group therAPy, A Long Way From Sunday
Travis Greene, Crossover: Live From Music City
J.J. Hairston & Youthful Praise, You Deserve It
Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Heart. Passion. Pursuit *WINNER*
Marvin Sapp, Close
Top Hot 100 Song:
Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber, "Despacito" *WINNER*
Kendrick Lamar, "Humble."
Bruno Mars, "That's What I Like"
Post Malone ft. 21 Savage, "Rockstar"
Ed Sheeran, "Shape Of You"
Top Streaming Song (Audio):
Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber, "Despacito"
Kendrick Lamar, "Humble." *WINNER*
Lil Uzi Vert, "XO Tour LLIF3"
Post Malone ft. 21 Savage, "Rockstar"
Post Malone ft. Quavo, "Congratulations"
Top Streaming Song (Video):
Cardi B, "Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)"
Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber, "Despacito" *WINNER*
Lil Pump, "Gucci Gang"
Bruno Mars, "That's What I Like"
Ed Sheeran, "Shape of You"
Top Selling Song:
Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber, "Despacito" *WINNER*
Sam Hunt "Body Like A Back Road"
Imagine Dragons "Believer"
Imagine Dragons "Thunder"
Ed Sheeran "Perfect"
Top Radio Song:
The Chainsmokers & Coldplay, "Something Just Like This"
Imagine Dragons, "Believer"
Bruno Mars, "That's What I Like"
Charlie Puth, "Attention"
Ed Sheeran, "Shape of You" *WINNER*
Top Collaboration:
Camila Cabello ft. Young Thug, "Havana"
The Chainsmokers & Coldplay, "Something Just Like This"
Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber, "Despacito"
French Montana ft. Swae Lee, "Unforgettable"
Post Malone ft. 21 Savage, "Rockstar"
Top R&B Song:
Childish Gambino, "Redbone"
DJ Khaled ft. Rihanna & Bryson Tiller, "Wild Thoughts"
Khalid, "Young Dumb & Broke"
Bruno Mars, "That's What I Like" *WINNER*
Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B, "Finesse"
Top Rap Song:
Cardi B, "Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)"
DJ Khaled ft. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance The Rapper & Lil Wayne, "I'm The One
French Montana ft. Swae Lee, "Unforgettable"
Kendrick Lamar, "Humble."
Post Malone ft. 21 Savage, "Rockstar" *WINNER*
Top Country Song:
Kane Brown ft. Lauren Alaina, "What Ifs"
Sam Hunt, "Body Like A Back Road" *WINNER*
Dustin Lynch, "Small Town Boy"
Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line, "Meant To Be"
Brett Young, "In Case You Didn't Know"
Top Rock Song:
Imagine Dragons "Believer" *WINNER*
Imagine Dragons "Thunder"
Linkin Park ft. Kiiara "Heavy"
Portugal. The Man "Feel It Still"
The Revivalists "Wish I Knew You"
Top Latin Song:
J Balvin & Willy William Ft. Beyonce, "Mi Gente"
Becky G ft. Bad Bunny, "Mayores"
Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber, "Despacito" *WINNER*
Maluma, "Felices Los 4"
Wisin ft. Ozuna, "Escapate Conmigo"
Top Dance/Electronic Song:
The Chainsmokers & Coldplay, "Something Just Like This" *WINNER*
Cheat Codes ft. Demi Lovato, "No Promises"
Clean Bandit ft. Sean Paul & Ann-Marie, "Rockabye"
Kygo & Selena Gomez, "It Ain't Me"
Zedd & Alessia Cara, "Stay"
Top Christian Song:
Elevation Worship, "O Come To The Altar"
Hillsong Worship, "What A Beautiful Name" *WINNER*
Lecrae ft. Tori Kelly, "I'll Find You"
MercyMe, "Even If"
Zach Williams, "Old Church Choir"
Top Gospel Song:
Anthony Brown & group therAPy, "Trust In You"
Travis Greene, "You Waited"
J.J. Hairston & Youthful Praise, "You Deserve It" *WINNER*
Tamela Mann, "Change Me"
Charlie Wilson, "I'm Blessed"

Story about the Richest Man in The World - Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos at Amazon Spheres Grand Opening in Seattle - 2018 (39074799225) (cropped).jpg
Bezos in 2018
BornJeffrey Preston Jorgensen
January 12, 1964 (age 54)
Albuquerque, New Mexico , US
Alma materPrinceton University
Occupation
  • Technology entrepreneur
  • investor
  • philanthropist
Years active1987–present
Known forAmazon and Blue Origin
Net worthUS$130.2 billion[1] (2018)
Spouse(s)MacKenzie Bezos (m. 1993)
Children4
HonoursList of honors and awards










Jeffrey Preston Bezos (/ˈbeɪzoÊŠs/;[ffa] born Jorgensen; January 12, 1964) is an American technology entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist, who is best known as the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Amazon, the world's largest online shopping retailer.
Bezos was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico and raised in Houston, Texas. He graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with degrees in electrical engineering and computer science. He worked on Wall Street in a variety of related fields from 1986 to early 1994. He founded Amazon in late 1994 on a cross-country road trip from New York City to Seattle. The company began as an online bookstore and has expanded to a variety of products and services, including video and audio streaming. It is currently the world's largest Internet sales online company, as well as the world's largest provider of cloud infrastructure services via its Amazon Web Services arm.
Bezos added to his business interests when he founded aerospace company Blue Origin in 2000. Blue Origin started test flights to space in 2015 and has plans to begin commercial suborbital human spaceflight in 2018. He purchased The Washington Post in 2013 for US$250 million in cash. Bezos manages other business investments through his venture capital fund, Bezos Expeditions.
On July 27, 2017, he became the world's wealthiest person when his estimated net worth increased to just over $90 billion. His wealth surpassed $100 billion for the first time on November 24 after Amazon's share price increased by more than 2.5%. On March 6, 2018, Forbes formally designated Bezos the wealthiest person in the world with a net worth of $112 billion, making him the first centi-billionaire on the wealth index.[3][4]

Early life and education

Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen was born on January 12, 1964, in AlbuquerqueNew Mexico, to a teenage mother, Jacklyn Gise Jorgensen, and father Ted Jorgensen, a bike shop owner and Chicago native.[5] At the time of her son's birth, Jacklyn was a seventeen-year-old high school student.[6] After Jacklyn divorced Ted, she married Miguel "Mike" Bezos, a Cuban immigrant, in April 1968.[7] Shortly after the wedding, Mike Bezos adopted four-year-old Jorgensen, whose surname was then changed to Bezos.[8] The family moved to Houston, where Mike worked as an engineer for Exxon after he received a degree from the University of New Mexico.[9] Bezos attended River Oaks Elementary School in Houston from fourth to sixth grade.[10]
Bezos was the maternal grandson of Lawrence Preston Gise, a regional director of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in Albuquerque.[11] Gise retired early to his family's ranch near CotullaTexas, where Bezos would spend many summers in his youth.[9] Bezos would later purchase this ranch, and grow it from 25,000 acres (101 km2 or 39 miles2) to 300,000 acres (1,214 km2 or 468 miles2).[12][13] His maternal grandmother was Mattie Louise Gise (née Strait), through whom he is a cousin of country singer George Strait.[14]
Bezos often displayed scientific interests and technological proficiency; he once rigged an electric alarm to keep his younger siblings out of his room.[15][16] The family moved to Miami, Florida, where he attended Miami Palmetto High School.[17][18] While Bezos was in high school, he worked at McDonald's as a short-order line cookduring the breakfast shift.[19] He attended the Student Science Training Program at the University of Florida where he received a Silver Knight Award in 1982.[20] He was high school valedictorian and a National Merit Scholar.[20][21] In 1986, he graduated from Princeton University with a 4.2 grade point average and Bachelor of Science degrees in electrical engineering and computer science and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.[22][23] While at Princeton, he was also elected to Tau Beta Piand was the president of the Princeton chapter of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space.[24][25]

Business career

Early career

After Bezos graduated from Princeton in 1987, he was offered jobs at IntelBell Labs, and Andersen Consulting, among others.[26] He first worked at Fitel, a financial telecommunications start-up, where he was tasked with building a network for international trade.[27] Bezos was promoted to head of development and director of customer service thereafter.[28] He transitioned into the banking industry when he was hired months later as a product manager at Bankers Trust; he worked there from 1988 to 1990.[28] He worked at D. E. Shaw & Co, a newly founded hedge fund, from 1990 to 1994, where he eventually served as its fourth senior vice president at the age of 30.[28][26]

Amazon


Bezos (center) at a cooperative for robotics in 2005
In late 1993, Bezos decided to start an online bookstore.[29] He left his job at D. E. Shaw and founded Amazon in his garage on July 5, 1994, after writing up its business plan on a trip from New York to Seattle.[30][31] Bezos named his new company "Amazon" after the Amazon River in South America, in part because the name begins with the letter "A," which is at the beginning of the alphabet.[32] He accepted an estimated $300,000 from his parents and invested in Amazon.[31] He warned many early investors that there was a 70% chance that Amazon would fail or go bankrupt.[33] Although Amazon was originally an online bookstore, Bezos had always planned to expand to other products.[28][32] Three years after Bezos founded Amazon, he moved to take it public with an initial public offering (IPO).[34] In response to critical reports from Fortune and Barron's, Bezos maintained that the growth of the Internet would overtake market competition from larger book retailers such as Bordersand Barnes & Noble.[32]
Bezos with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014
Bezos receives the James Smithson Bicentennial medal in 2016 for his work with Amazon.
In 1998, Bezos advocated for enterprise diversification when he initiated the online sale of music and video; by the end of the year, he had also expanded the company's products to include a variety of consumer goods.[32] Bezos used the $54 million raised during the company's equity offering to finance aggressive acquisition of smaller or competing firms.[32] In 2002, Bezos led Amazon to launch Amazon Web Services, which compiled data from weather channels and website traffic.[32] During late 2002, rapid spending from Amazon caused it financial distress after revenues stagnated.[35] Bezos borrowed $2 billion from select banks with only $350 million in holdings.[36] After the company nearly went bankrupt, he closed distribution centers and laid off 14% of the Amazon workforce.[36] In 2003, Amazon rebounded from financial instability and turned a profit of $400 million.[37] In November 2007, Bezos launched the Amazon Kindle.[38] According to a 2008 Time profile, Bezos wished to create the same flow state found in video game simulations in books; he wished readers would fully engage with books.[39] In 2013, Bezos secured a $600 million dollar contract with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on behalf of Amazon Web Services.[40] In October that year, Amazon was named as the largest online shopping retailer in the world.[41]
On Saturday, August 15, 2015, The New York Times published an article that described Amazon's business practices.[42]Bezos responded to his employees with a Sunday memo,[43] in which he rebutted the article's inferences that the company was an emotionally destitute workplace. Bezos said that anyone who believed that the story was true should contact him directly.[44] In May 2016, Bezos sold slightly more than one million shares of his holdings in the company for $671 million, making it the largest amount of money he had ever raised in a sale of his Amazon holdings.[45]
On August 4, 2016, Bezos sold another million of his shares at a value of $756.7 million.[46] A year later, Bezos took on 130,000 new employess when he initiated widespread hiring sprees across company distribution centers.[47] On January 19, 2018, his holdings in Amazon stock appreciated to slightly over $109 billion; months later he began to sell stock to raise cash for other enterprises, in particular, Blue Origin.[48] On January 29, 2018, he was featured in Amazon's Super Bowl commercial.[49] On February 1, 2018, Amazon reported its highest ever profit with quarterly earnings of $2 billion.[50] Due to the proliferation of Alibaba in China, Bezos has continuously expressed interest in expanding Amazon across India.[51]
In March 2018, Bezos dispatched Amit Agarwal, Amazon's point person, to the country, with $5.5 billion to localize operations throughout their supply chain routes.[52]Later in the month, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Amazon–and Bezos in particular–of sales tax avoidance, misusing postal routes, and anti-competitivebusiness practices.[53] Amazon's share price fell by 9% in response to the president's negative comments; this reduced Bezos's personal wealth by $10.7 billion.[54]Weeks later, Bezos recuperated his losses when academic reports out of Stanford University indicated that Trump could do little to meaningfully regulate Amazon in the near-to-long term future.[55]

Blue Origin

Bezos giving NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver (fourth from left) a tour of Blue Origin's crew capsule in 2011.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Cartermeets with Bezos in 2016 at The Pentagon.
In September 2000, Bezos founded Blue Origin, a human spaceflight startup company.[56] Bezos has long expressed an interest in space travel and the development of human life in the solar system.[21] He was the valedictorian when he graduated from high school in 1982. His speech was followed up with a Miami Herald interview in which he expressed an interest to build and develop hotels, amusement parks, and colonies for human beings who were in orbit.[57] The 18-year-old Bezos stated that he wanted to preserve Earth from overuse through resource depletion.[58]
After its founding, Blue Origin maintained a low profile until 2006, when it purchased a large tract of land in West Texas for a launch and test facility.[59] After the company gained the public's attention during the late 2000s, Bezos additionally indicated his interest in reducing the cost of space travel for humans while also increasing the safety of extraterrestrial travel.[60] In September 2011, one of the company's unmanned prototype vehicles crashed during a short-hop test flight. Although the crash was viewed as a set back, news outlets noted how far the company went from its founding-to-date in advancing spaceflight.[61]In May 2013, Bezos met with Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Galactic, in 2013 to discuss commercial spaceflight opportunities and strategies.[62] He has been compared to Branson and Elon Musk as all three are billionaires who prioritize spaceflight among their business interests.[63]
In 2015, Bezos announced that a new orbital launch vehicle was under development and would make its first flight in the late-2010s.[64] Later in November, Blue Origin's New Shepard space vehicle successfully rocketed into space and reached its planned test altitude of 329,839 feet (100.5 kilometers) before executing a vertical landing back at the launch site in West Texas. In 2016, Bezos allowed select journalists to visit, tour, and photograph his facility.[65] He has repeatedly called for increased inter-space energy and industrial manufacturing to decrease the negative costs associated with business-related pollution.[66]
In December 2017, New Shepard successfully flew and landed dummy passengers, amending and pushing its human space travel start date into late 2018.[67] To execute this program, Blue Origin built six of the vehicles to support all phases of testing and operations: no-passenger test flights, flights with test passengers, and commercial-passenger weekly operations.[68] Since 2016, Bezos has spoken more freely about his hopes to colonize the solar system, and has been selling $1 billion in Amazon stock each year to capitalize Blue Origin in an effort to support this endeavor.[69][70]

The Washington Post

On August 5, 2013, Bezos announced his purchase of The Washington Post for $250 million in cash.[71] In order to execute the sale, he established Nash Holdings, a limited liability holding company that legally owns the paper.[72] The sale closed on October 1, 2013, and Nash Holdings took control.[73] In March 2014, Bezos made his first significant change at The Washington Post and lifted the online paywall for subscribers of a number of U.S. local newspapers in TexasHawaii, and Minnesota.[74] In January 2016, Bezos set out to reinvent the newspaper as a media and technology company by reconstructing its digital media, mobile platforms, and analytics software.[75] Throughout the early years of ownership, Bezos was accused of having a potential conflict of interest with the paper.[76] Bezos and the newspaper's editorial board have dismissed accusations that he unfairly controlled the paper's content and Bezos maintains the paper's indepedence.[77][78] After a surge in online readership in 2016, the paper was profitable for the first time since Bezos made the purchase in 2013.[78]

Bezos Expeditions

Bezos makes personal investments through his venture capital vehicle, Bezos Expeditions.[79] He was one of the first shareholders in Google, when he invested $250,000 in 1998. That $250,000 investment resulted in 3.3 million shares of Google stock, worth about $3.1 billion in 2017.[80][81] He also invested in Unity Biotechnology, a life-extension research firm hoping to slow or stop the process of aging.[82] Bezos is involved in the healthcare sector, which includes investments in Unity Biotechnology, Grail, Juno Therapeutics, and ZocDoc.[83] In January 2018, an announcement was made concerning Bezos's role within a new, unnamed healthcare company. This venture is expected to be a partnership between Amazon, JPMorgan, and Berkshire Hathaway.[84][85]

Public image


Thierry Ehrmann's "Jeff Bezos" on the Abode of Chaos in Saint-Romain-au-Mont-d'Or, France, 2017
Journalist Nellie Bowles of The New York Times has described the public persona and personality of Bezos as that of "a brilliant but mysterious and coldblooded corporate titan".[86] During the 1990s, Bezos earned a reputation for relentlessly pushing Amazon forward, often at the expense of public charity and social welfare.[86][87] His business practices projected a public image of prudence and parsimony with his own wealth and that of Amazon's. Bezos was a multi-billionaire who hung his clothes on a rack in his Amazon headquarters office and drove a 1996 Honda Accord.[88] Throughout the early 2000s, he was perceived to be geeky or nerdy, often wearing ill-fitting clothing and making a variety of social missteps.[89][90][91]
Bezos was seen by the public as needlessly quantitative and data-driven.[92][93] This perception was detailed by Alan Deutschman who described him as "talking in lists" and "[enumerating] the criteria, in order of importance, for every decision he has made."[89] Select accounts of his persona have drawn controversy and public attention. Notably, journalist Brad Stone wrote an unauthorized book that described Bezos as a demanding boss as well as hyper-competitive.[87][92] Studies involving former Amazon employees have noted interactions with Bezos as Darwinian in nature but praised the dynamic for maintaining a well-run company.[94] Bezos has been stereotyped as a notoriously opportunistic CEO who operates with little concern for obstacles and externalities.[95][96] This depiction has been challenged by Bezos himself, his wife, Amazon employees, and the public as a mischaracterization.[97]
During the early 2010s, Bezos solidified his reputation for imperialistic business practices, and his public image began to shift. Bezos started to wear tailored clothing; he weight trained, pursued a regimented diet and began to freely spend his money.[98] His physical transformation has been compared to the transformation of Amazon; he is often referred to as the metonym of the company.[99][100] His physical appearance increased the public's perception of him as a symbolically dominant figure in business and in popular culture, wherein he has been parodied as an enterprising super villain.[101][102][103] Bezos eats exotic foods, such as breakfast octopusand roasted iguana.[104][105][106] During the late 2010s, Bezos reversed his reputation for being reluctant to spend money on non-business related expenses.[107] His liberal personal spending and lack of philanthropy has drawn a negative response from the public since 2016.[108][107]

Leadership style

"Day 1" Management Philosophy
Day 1: start up
Day 2: stasis
Day 3: irrelevance
Day 4: "excruciating, painful decline"
Day 5: death
Bezos has stated "it is always Day 1" to describe his growth mindset.[109][110]
Bezos used what he called a "regret-minimization framework" while he worked at D. E. Shaw and again during the early years of Amazon.[111] He described this life philosophy by stating: "When I'm 80, am I going to regret leaving Wall Street? No. Will I regret missing the beginning of the Internet? Yes."[111] During the 1990s and early 2000s at Amazon, he was characterized as trying to quantify all aspects of running the company, often listing employees on spreadsheets and basing executive decisions on data.[112] To push Amazon forward, Bezos developed the mantra "Get Big Fast", which spoke to the company's need to scale its operations and establish market dominance.[32] He favored diverting Amazon profits back into the company in lieu of allocating it amongst shareholders in the form of dividends.[89]
Bezos uses the term "work–life harmony" instead of the more standard work–life balance because he believes balance implies that you can have one and not the other.[113] He believes that work and home life are interconnected, informing and calibrating each other.[113] Journalist Walt Mossberg dubbed the idea that someone who cannot tolerate criticism or critique shouldn't do anything new or interesting, "The Bezos Principle".[114] Bezos does not schedule early morning meetings and enforces a two pizza rule–a preference for meetings to be small enough to where two pizzas can feed everyone in the board room.[115] He meets with Amazon investors for a total of only six hours a year.[115] Instead of using PowerPoints, Bezos requires high-level employees to present information with six-page narratives.[116] Starting in 1998, Bezos publishes an annual letter for Amazon shareholders wherein he frequently refers to five principles: focus on customers not competitors, take risks for market leadership, facilitate staff morality, build a company culture, and empower people.[117][118] Bezos maintains the email address "jeff@amazon.com" as an outlet for customers to reach out to him and the company.[119] Although he does not respond to the emails, he forwards some of them with a question mark in the subject line to executives who attempt to address the issues.[119] Bezos has cited Warren Buffet (of Berkshire Hathaway), Jamie Dimon (of JPMorgan Chase), and Bob Iger (of Walt Disney) as major influences on his leadership style.[120]

Recognition

In 1999, Bezos received his first major award when Time named him Person of the Year.[121] In 2008, he was selected by U.S. News & World Report as one of America's best leaders.[122] Bezos was awarded an honorary doctorate in science and technology from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008.[123] In 2011, The Economistgave Bezos and Gregg Zehr an Innovation Award for the Amazon Kindle.[124] In 2012, Bezos was named Businessperson of the Year by Fortune.[125] He is also a member of the Bilderberg Group and attended the 2011 Bilderberg conference in St. Moritz, Switzerland,[126] and the 2013 conference in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. He was a member of the Executive Committee of The Business Council for 2011 and 2012.[127] In 2014, he was ranked the best-performing CEO in the world by Harvard Business Review.[128]
He has also figured in Fortune's list of 50 great leaders of the world for three straight years, topping the list in 2015.[129] In September 2016, Bezos received a $250,000 prize for winning the Heinlein Prize for Advances in Space Commercialization, which he donated to the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space.[130] In February 2018, Bezos was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for "leadership and innovation in space exploration, autonomous systems, and building a commercial pathway for human space flight".[131] In March 2018, he was awarded the Buzz Aldrin Space Exploration Award in recognition of his work with Blue Origin.[104] He received Germany's 2018 Axel Springer Award 2018 for Business Innovation and Social Responsibility.[132] Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in their 2018 listing.[133]

Wealth

Annual estimates of Jeff Bezos's net worth[b]
YearBillionsChangeYearBillionsChange
199910.1Steady 0.0%20096.8Decrease 17.7%
20006.1Decrease 40.5%201012.6Increase 85.2%
20012.0Decrease 66.6%201118.1Increase 43.6%
20021.5Decrease 25.0%201223.2Increase 28.2%
20032.5Increase 66.6%201328.9Increase 24.5%
20045.1Increase 104.0%201430.5Increase 5.5%
20054.1Decrease 5.8%201550.3Increase 60.9%
20064.3Decrease 10.4%201645.2Decrease 10.1%
20078.7Increase 102.3%201772.8Increase 61.6%
20088.2Decrease 5.7%2018112.0Increase 53.8%
Main data source: Forbes World's Billionaires Estimates
Additional reference(s): Bloomberg Billionaires Index
Bezos first became a millionaire in 1997 after raising $54 million through Amazon's initial public offering(IPO).[134] He was first included on Forbes The World's Billionaires list in 1999 with a registered net worth of $10.1 billion.[135] His net worth decreased to $6.1 billion a year later, a 40.5% drop.[136] His wealth plummeted even more the following year, dropping 66.6% to $2.0 billion.[137] He lost $500 million the following year, which brought his net worth down to $1.5 billion.[138] The following year, his net worth increased by 104% to $2.5 billion.[139] From 2005 to 2007, he quadrupled his net worth to $8.7 billion.[140] After the financial crisis and succeeding economic recession, his net worth would erode $6.8 billion—a 17.7% drop.[141][142] His wealth rose by 85.2% in 2010, leaving him with $12.6 billion. This percentage increase ascended him to the 43rd spot on the ranking from 68th.[141][143]
After a rumor broke out that Amazon was developing a smartphone, Bezos's net worth rose to $30.5 billon in 2014.[144][145] A year later, Bezos entered the top ten when he increased his net worth to a total of $50.3 billion.[146] Bezos rose to be the 5th richest person in the world hours before market close; he gained $7 billon in one hour.[146] By the time the Forbes list was calculated in March 2016, his net worth was registered at $45.2 billion.[147] However, just months later in October 2016, his wealth increased by $16.2 billion to $66.5 billion unofficially ranking him the third richest person in the world behind Warren Buffett.[148] After sporadic jumps in Amazon's share price, in July 2017 he briefly unseated Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates as the wealthiest person in the world.[149]

The net worth of Jeff Bezos from 1999 to 2018 as estimated by Forbes magazine, in the nominal U.S. dollar. His net worth is calculated in the billions by March of each year.
Bezos would continue to sporadically surpass Gates throughout the month of October 2017 after Amazon's share price fluctuated.[150] His net worth surpassed $100 billion for the first time on November 24, 2017, after Amazon's share price increased by more than 2.5%.[151] When the 2017 list was issued, Bezos's net worth was registered at $72.8 billion, adding $27.6 billion from the previous year.[152] Bezos was officially ranked as the third wealthiest person in the world up from the 5th spot in 2016.[152] His wealth's rapid growth from 2016 to 2017 sparked a variety of assessments about how much money Bezos earned on a controlled, reduced time scale. On October 10, 2017, he made an estimated $6.24 billion in 5 minutes, slightly less than the entire economic output of Kyrgyzstan.[153]
On March 6, 2018, Bezos was officially designated the wealthiest person in the world with a registered net worth of $112 billion.[3] He unseated Bill Gates ($90 billion) who was $6 billion ahead of Warren Buffett ($84 billion), ranked third.[154]He is considered the first registered centi-billionaire (not adjusted for inflation).[c]
His wealth, in 2017–18 terms, equaled that of 2.7 million Americans.[160] Bezos's net worth increased by $33.6 billion from January 2017 to January 2018. This increase outstripped the economic development (in GDP terms) of more than 96 countries around the world.[161] During March 9, Bezos earned $230,000 every 60-seconds.[162] The Motley Fool estimated that if Bezos had not sold any of his shares from its original public offering in 1997, his net worth would sit at $181 billion in 2018.[163]

Personal life

In 1992, Bezos was working for D. E. Shaw in Manhattan when he met novelist MacKenzie Tuttle. MacKenzie was a research associate at the firm and they married a year later.[28][164] In 1994, they moved across the country to Seattle, Washington, where Bezos founded Amazon.[165] He and his wife are the parents of four children: three sons, and one daughter adopted from China.[58][166]
In March 2003, Bezos was one of three passengers in a helicopter that crashed in West Texas after the craft's tail boom hit a tree.[167] Bezos sustained minor injuries and was discharged from a local hospital the same day.[23]
In 2016, Bezos played a Starfleet official in the movie Star Trek Beyond, and joined the cast and crew at a San Diego Comic-Con screening.[168]

Politics

According to public campaign finance records, Bezos supported the electoral campaigns of Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, two Democratic U.S. Senators from Washington. He has also supported U.S. representative John Conyers, as well as Patrick Leahy and Spencer Abraham, U.S. Senators serving on committees dealing with Internet-related issues.[169] He is an advocate of the LGBTQ movement and supported the legalization of same-sex marriage.[170] Bezos donated $100,000 towards a movement against a higher Washington state income tax in 2010.[169] In 2012, he donated to Amazon's political action committee (PAC),[169] which has given $56,000 and $74,500 to Democrats and Republicans, respectively.[171]
After the 2016 presidential election, Bezos was invited to join Donald Trump's Defense Innovation Board, an advisory council to improve the technology used by the Defense Department. Bezos declined the offer without further comment.[40][172] Trump has alluded to potential conflicts of interest between Bezos's business interests. He accused Bezos of avoiding corporate taxes, gaining undue political influence, and undermining his presidency by spreading fake news.[173][174] Bezos has repeatedly joked about using his rocket company to send Donald Trump into outer space.[175][176]

Philanthropy


Bezos funded the retrieval of this F-1 Engine from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in 2015.
Bezos supports his philanthropic efforts through direct donations, non-profit projects funded by Bezos Expeditions, and other charitable organizations.[177] Through Bezos Expeditions, he has funded the Bezos Center for Innovation at the Seattle Museum of History and Industry for $10 million and Bezos Center for Neural Circuit Dynamics at Princeton Neuroscience Institute for $15 million.[178][179] He personally donated $10 million in 2009 and $20 million in 2010 to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.[180] He also donated $800,000 to Worldreader, a non-profit, founded by a former Amazon employee.[181]
In 2015, he funded the recovery of two Saturn V first-stage Rocketdyne F-1 engines from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.[182]They were positively identified as belonging to the Apollo 11 mission's S-1C stage in July 2013.[183] The engine is currently on display at the Seattle Museum of Flight.[184]
On June 15, 2017, he sent a message on Twitter asking for ideas for philanthropy: "I'm thinking about a philanthropy strategy that is the opposite of how I mostly spend my time—working on the long term".[12] On May 23, 2017, he gave $1 million to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the largest single gift received by the organization.[185] The committee provides pro bono legal services to protect the rights of American journalists.[185]
In January 2018, he made a $33 million donation to TheDream.US, a college scholarship fund for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States when they were minors.[186]