Jeff Bezos spent much of 1994 soliciting anyone who would listen to invest in his fledgling e-commerce web business, "Amazon.com." His goal was to raise $1 million from family, friends, and pretty much anyone willing to cut a check. He even asked his parents to invest. They agreed. Over two transactions in 1995 and 1996, they gave their son $245,573. Amazon went public in May 1997 and today Jeff's parents are almost certainly secret billionaires.
Let’s take a moment to explore the fascinating journey of Jeff Bezos and the pivotal role his family played in his monumental success.
The Early Years of Jeff Bezos
Jacklyn Gise and Ted Jorgensen met as teenagers in high school in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jacklyn, who went by "Jackie," discovered she was pregnant when she was a 16-year-old junior. 18-year-old Ted was more passionate about unicycles than being a father, spending summers working for the Ringling Bros. circus and apparently founding the world’s first unicycle hockey club.
As if having a unicycle-obsessed baby-daddy wasn’t bad enough, Jackie was shunned by her high school for getting pregnant. The school briefly attempted to block her from attending classes and graduating. They only relented after she agreed to some draconian terms, which she recalled during a 2019 commencement speech:
- Condition one: I had to arrive and depart school within five minutes of the starting and finishing bells.
- Condition two: I could not talk to other students.
- Condition three: I couldn’t eat lunch in the cafeteria.
- Condition four: I was told I would not be allowed to walk across the stage with my classmates to get my diploma.
The Birth of Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen
Before the baby came, Jackie and Ted eloped to Mexico. On January 12, 1964, they welcomed a baby boy into the world named Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen. Jackie turned 17 just 14 days prior to his birth. Unfortunately, Jackie and Ted did not last as a couple; she filed for divorce in June 1965 and began supporting herself with a secretarial job that paid $190 a month.
Despite the challenges, Jackie remained determined to graduate from college. She enrolled in night classes at the University of New Mexico, choosing courses taught by professors who were accommodating to her situation of bringing a baby to class.
Meeting Miguel Bezos
As fate would have it, one of Jackie’s classmates was a Cuban immigrant named Miguel. Miguel faced significant challenges as well. His parents owned a successful lumber business in Cuba, but it was seized by Fidel Castro's troops in the late 1950s. In 1962, his family used their last funds to secure a visa JUST FOR HIM to seek refuge in America.
Upon arriving in the U.S., Miguel lived in a refugee camp for unaccompanied minors before being taken in by a Catholic school in Delaware. Eventually, he earned a scholarship to the University of New Mexico, initially aiming to study physics and math before switching to computer science.
The Formation of a New Family
Miguel Bezos and Jackie Gise began dating. After Miguel graduated, he found a job with Exxon in Houston, Texas. Yet again, Jackie had to postpone her dream of graduating college. In 1968, Miguel and Jackie married, and four months later, Miguel sought Ted’s permission to adopt 4-year-old Jeff.
Ted did not resist this arrangement and agreed to sever all contact. He would not learn of his child’s identity again until 2012 when a biographer tracked him down. Sadly, Ted passed away in 2015 without ever reconciling with Jeff, although he publicly apologized for being a bad father in a 2014 television interview.
The Rise of Amazon
Fast forward to 1994: After leaving his job at a hedge fund in New York City, Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com, originally named "Cadabra," on July 5, 1994. While managing the business, Jeff was also actively seeking funding, aiming to raise $1 million. He successfully convinced around 20 investors to invest, but his largest contribution came from his parents.
Before they agreed to invest, Jeff warned his parents:
“I want you to know how risky this is because I want to come home for Thanksgiving, and I don’t want you to be mad at me.”
Fortunately, Jeff never experienced a bad Thanksgiving!
Financial Success of the Bezos Family
According to Amazon's pre-IPO prospectus, Miguel purchased 582,528 shares in February 1995, and Jackie bought 874,716 shares in July 1996. In total, they invested $245,573 for a combined 6% stake in the company. If they never sold a single share, that stake would now be worth an astounding $110 billion.
By the end of 1999, Jackie and Miguel no longer directly owned more than 5% of Amazon, the threshold for SEC disclosure. Around this time, they co-founded the Bezos Family Foundation. From 2001 to 2016, they transferred 600,000 shares to this foundation, which, after Amazon's 20:1 stock split in June 2022, became 12 million shares worth $2.1 billion today!
In 2022 alone, the foundation donated $710 million to a Seattle-based cancer research institute and $100 million to Dolly Parton's foundation. The Bezos family is almost certainly billionaires today, even if their stake had dropped to a mere 0.054% after donations and sales, they would still be worth $1 billion.
Jackie and Miguel’s recent real estate purchases hint at their wealth: in July 2022, they spent $80 million on two side-by-side waterfront estates in Coral Gables, Florida.
Jackie’s Journey to Graduation
Despite her struggles, Jackie eventually realized her dream of graduating from college. After watching her children go off to college, she returned to school in 1984, ultimately graduating in 1986 at the age of 40. Her journey is a testament to perseverance and dedication, inspiring many to pursue their educational goals regardless of life’s challenges.
