The pandemic has transformed the world into a digital one. There has been observed drastic change with the people in the field of shopping. And with such an advancement, people are entirely relying on the internet for any purchasing.
From household products to festive clothing, everything is available on the Internet and people are purchasing these as well. A wide fraction of people prefer online shopping apps for any purchase.
Among these, Amazon is one of the most established shopping applications across the world. In fact, Amazon is counted among the triumphant companies that hold the position to beat the consumer and retail industry!
With the popularity of Amazon, many small businesses consider it quite dominant in the retail industry. People are acknowledging how Amazon’s immense success is causing great loss to small businesses. Whether these are accurate and true, can’t be asserted right away! But a question arises, Is Amazon killing small retail businesses?
Well, looking back at some previous analytics, this accusation on Amazon isn’t something new. As of 2019, Steven Mnuchin, the United States Treasury Secretary also mentioned that Amazon, being a harm to the retail industry. To discuss this matter briefly, we have presented this case study- Is Amazon killing small businesses? Let’s begin!
Amazon, being the world’s one of the biggest online shopping companies, managed its way to success even in the dreadful pandemic of 2020. It made a huge profit towards the sales. At the beginning of 2020, Amazon made a profit of $5.2 billion beating its previous record of $2.6 billion in 2019.
The most significant thing about Amazon’s success is that the company modifies its policies and practices based on the resources and customers’ requirements. The company adjusted its services during the pandemic, that’s why it made such a remarkable profit.
With the immense success and fame of the company, the accusations on Amazon for killing the small businesses increased more vibrantly. The small businesses entirely blame Amazon for destroying the consumer and retail industry. Many examples and proves came out claiming Amazon for killing the small businesses but, many of these couldn’t be proven accurate.
Amazon Annual Net Revenue (in billion U.S. Dollars)
Consumers’ perspective during the Stay at Home orders
With the dreadful condition of Covid-19, people have become more cautious with their lifestyle, especially in the shopping part. People across the globe changed their offline shopping techniques into digital ones. And on that note, Amazon experienced massive progress and development. Because of this, Amazon made such a great profit even during the global crisis.
Amazon spent over $4 billion on further Covid-19 costs. And with this, the company took over various services adaptation. Amazon functions with great strategies and process improvements.
But even after this, Amazon is considered the destroyer of small businesses. It is highly criticized by the critics in a bewildering manner. But the company believes in helping and driving more audience to the small businesses but not in being a destroyer for them. However, the company remains on the top, regardless of its various accusations.
No matter how many proofs come out, any company itself cannot be blamed responsible for the downfall of small businesses.
Amazon’s perspective on being responsible for the downfall of Small businesses
On asking about the accusations made on Amazon, Jeff Bezos, the founder and executive chairman of Amazon mentioned in an interview that the company itself holds a very strong and beneficial relationship with its sellers, who are small and medium-sized businesses. Amazon believes in helping the sellers to gain profit and success as it would bring more choices that could actually lower the prices of their products.
In fact, Amazon works with around 1.5 million small to medium sellers, just in the United States. As the more such sellers would join Amazon, the more benefits the customers will get such as free delivery, shipping, and low prices.
Although Amazon is affecting the small businesses, it means no harm or demise for them and brought a performance standpoint in the marketing field. Amazon has brought a great advantage in the retail industry as reaching customers has become very easy and profitable.
With the digitization in every sector, people are becoming more connected with E-commerce platforms. That’s why small and medium-sized businesses are also enrolling in the digital platform as an advanced marketing tool.
There’s huge competition in the market among established brands and small businesses. And those who would adapt to the changes that come to them will be known as being the biggest.
Modifications by Amazon for Success of Businesses
Amazon has taken the retail industry to an advanced level. And with its popularity and services, it has brought absolute convenience for the sellers to reach out to more customers and suppliers. Many concluded this as contraction to the claim made on Amazon.
As the consumers on the global level are increasing rapidly and so as the digital marketing platforms. People are preferring online shopping more promptly. On that note, small and medium-sized businesses must acknowledge this advancement and work accordingly. This would help them to embrace the changes that come on the way, instead of complaining.
Amazon has worked tremendously to gain the customer’s support and its success. In order to do so, it has widely increased the competition in the retail industry which has not been well received by the small and medium-sized businesses.
Various claims have been made on Amazon, accusing it of killing the small business. But as it has raised the competition, it has also brought several opportunities for sellers (including small and medium-sized businesses) to reach the customers more frequently and with good services in hand.
The whole world is digitizing and as people are becoming more reliant on digital sources for any purchase, it’s a great opportunity for small businesses to modify their services and take up the stand with the E-commerce platforms. This would bring immense advantage for the small businesses. Just that, Amazon has accepted the changes that came for it and adapted it as well. That’s why it has grown to be the biggest online shopping company.
FAQ
Is Amazon killing small business?
Amazon is helping small business and retailers. As because of Amazon independent brands and small businesses can compete with large corporations and established brands.
What impact does Amazon have on small businesses?
The more sales businesses do the more money Amazon generates. Amazon has also invested more than $30 billion in logistics, tools, services, and employees to help small businesses.
Do small businesses sell on Amazon?
Yes, many small businesses are selling their products on Amazon.
Amazon.com is one of the well-known e-commerce platforms based in the United States. It is one of the big five IT companies of the United States along with the tech giants Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft. The CEO and the founder of the company Jeff Bezos have announced that he would step down from his position of CEO on July 5. Let’s look at the reason, Why he decided to step down as CEO of the company.
Amazon CEO and the founder Jeff Bezos had announced in the Annual Shareholder Meeting of the company that he would step down as the CEO of the company he had founded around 3 decades ago on 5 July 2021.
The company had previously announced about the transition plan of the CEO and is also noted that Jeff Bezos would not stay away from the company and would remain close to the company taking the major decisions of the company staying as an executive chairman.
Reason Why Jeff Bezos is stepping down as Amazon’s CEO
Jeff Bezos has conveyed that moving to the executive role he would be closely connected to the company and the decision-making process as well as being able to focus on a lot of other works.
Jeff Bezos had conveyed that he is very excited to move into the chief executive chairman position of the company where he would be able to focus his energy and attention on new initiatives and products.
It is expected that Jeff Bezos is stepping down as the CEO in order to focus on his other initiatives such as Blue Origin Spaceship company, Bezos earth Fund, Amazon Day 1 Fund and The Washington Post.
Jess Bezos had also conveyed that he would hand over the position of CEO to Andy Jassy who has been a part of Amazon from the year 1997. He was the one who launched Amazon’s most profitable segment which is the AWS cloud computing division in the year 2006.
In the year 2020, the revenue generated from AWS was around USD 45.3 billion and delivered an operating margin of 30 %. One of the recent achievements by Andy Jassy before the official handing over of the CEO position is to bring back the former senior executive of the company Jeff Blackburn.
Reason Why Jeff Bezos chose 5 July as the date to step down
Jeff Bezos during the Shareholder meeting conveyed that there was an emotion behind choosing the date 5 July as the day to hand over the CEO position. He added that he chose the date as it was sentimental for him. July 5 is when Amazon has incorporated 27 years ago exactly on the same date in the year 1994.
Bezos had even spoke about Andy Jassy providing an assurance for the shareholders that he would never let the company down and has the highest standards and the energy that is required to keep the company alive and special. He also mentioned about the deal where Amazon had acquired MGM studios.
Conclusion
Amazon has always made sure to keep its succession plans quiet but however certain spectators have predicted the successor to be Andy Jassy. The contribution of Andy Jassy to the firm Amazon is innumerable and the same would be expected from the new position which he would undertake.
FAQ
How much Amazon stock does Andy Jassy own?
Andy Jassy owns over 1,250 units of Amazon.com stock which is worth over $280,268,736.
How much does Jeff Bezos make an hour?
Jeff Bezos earned an average of $13.4 million per hour during the pandemic.
Who will be the next CEO of Amazon?
Andy Jassy will be the next CEO of Amazon, he has launched Amazon’s most profitable segment which is the AWS cloud computing.
On 3 May 2021, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates had announced that they were ending their 27 years of marriage. Bill Gates is the co-founder and the former CEO of Microsoft whereas his wife Melinda French Gates is one of the most powerful women in the world. Let’s look at what would be the net worth of Bill Gates after the divorce as he is one of the richest men in the world.
The couple had announced on 3 May 2021 that they have planned to end their 27 years of marriage life. Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates conveyed through Twitter that they had come to the decision to end their marriage after a great deal of thoughts and a lot of work on their relationship.
Bill Gates Tweet
They added that they have raised 3 incredible children and also worked together to build a foundation that works across the globe which will enable all people to lead productive and healthy lives.
Net Worth of Bill Gates
Bill Gates is one of the richest men around the globe making him one of the world’s richest billionaires. A global high net worth data and intelligence company called Wealth-X has estimated the net worth of Bill Gates to be around USD 134.1 billion.
The success of Bill Gates had begun with Microsoft. But as of now, He has just 19.6 % of his wealth through the shares of Microsoft. According to Wealth-X, the amount added to Bill Gates’ net worth through Microsoft is estimated to be around USD 26.1 billion.
The majority of the money of Bill Gates is now tied up with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation but the exact value is not yet revealed. Bill Gates has also joined with Warren Buffet where they together founded the Giving pledge which asks the billionaires to give away more than half of their wealth to philanthropy.
All these have been a hurdle in the division of wealth between Bill Gates and Melinda Gates making it much more complicated. They have separation agreements but it is seen that the terms have not yet been made public according to the court documents.
The Cascade Investment is considered to be one of the biggest assets of Bill Gates. He funded the company with the amount he received after the sales of Microsoft’s stock. According to Wealth-X, his investment in Cascade has a valuation of around USD 30 billion. This accounts for around 22 % of his net worth.
Through Cascade Investments Bill Gates has shareholdings worth of billions of dollars in different companies such as Deere and Company of around USD 11 billion, Canadian National Railways of around USD 11 billion and Diageo of around USD 1.6 billion.
Through Cascade investment Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation trust reportedly own stocks.
Other holdings of Bill Gates
The real estate portfolio of Bill Gates is considered to be worth multi billion dollars. According to Wealth-X, his portfolio is worth more than USD 160 million. Some of his valuable real estate investments include a lakeside home in Washington of around 66,000 square feet, 30-acre estate in Florida, two additional properties in California and so on. He also has a private island called Grand Bogue Caye in Belize.
Bill Gates House
The car collection of Bill Gates is estimated by Wealth-X to be around USD 650,000 and an extensive art collection estimated around USD 130 million which includes some works of Leonardo da Vinci. His car collection includes brands such as Porsche, Jaguar and Ferrari.
Other than these over the years, Bill Gates has provided billions of dollars to their foundation that is Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Monica Mazzei who is a divorce attorney reacting towards Bill and Melinda’s foundation and family offices has said that the decision will depend on what extent both of them are planning to work together.
She said that even in the friendliest divorces she has seen the preference has always been to split the foundation into two so that there are fewer chances to mingle with each other and more freedom for each other. She said that the same was applicable to the family offices as well.
There are certain predictions that the assets may be divided into halves. The law of Washington states that any asset which is acquired during a marriage is equally owned by both the partners. But it does not mean exactly half, the court can allocate it according to what is just and right. According to Forbes, if the Bill gates and Melinda split their fortune equally, Melinda would be worth approximately $65.25 billion.
FAQ
What is Bill Gates wife worth?
According to Forbes, if the Bill gates and Melinda split their fortune equally, Melinda would be worth $65.25 billion.
What is the Net worth of Bill Gates?
The net worth of Bill Gates is 13,050 crores USD.
What is Bill Gates IQ?
The IQ of the Bill Gates is 160.
Conclusion
Since Bill Gates and Melinda Gates have clarified that they would be working together in the foundation and asked to provide some space and freedom, we will have to look forward to how the wealth will be divided among them.
There are a lot of billionaires in the world. Billionaires play a major role in contributing to the growth of a country and its economy by indirectly reducing unemployment and poverty.
Here is the list of the top countries with most number of billionaires and the top billionaires of that country.
The United States of America is a country which is located in the Northern America. The country is commonly as the United States or the U.S. The country has a population of around 331 million and ranks third in the most populated countries around the world.
According to the International Monetary Fund, the U.S GDP is around USD 16.8 trillion. For GDP per capita at PPP, the country is ranked sixth in the world and the ninth in the world for nominal GDP per capita.
United States have around 724 billionaires in the country. The top billionaires of the country are,
Jeff Bezos with a net worth of USD 177 billion. His main source of wealth is through Amazon.
Elon Musk with a net worth of USD 151 billion. The main source of wealth is through Tesla and SPACEX.
Bill Gates with a net worth of USD 124 billion. His main source of wealth is through Microsoft.
China
China is a country which is located in the Asian continent. The official name of China is People’s Republic of China. China has a population of around 1.4 billion and it ranks 1st in the world for the most populated country. China is also world’s 3rd or 4th largest country by area.
In terms of nominal GDP since 2010 China has the world’s second largest economy. According to World Bank in terms of Purchasing Power Parity GDP China’s economy has been the world’s largest since 2014. The nominal GDP of the country is around USD 13.5 trillion.
China has around 626 billionaires in the country. The top billionaires of China are,
Zhong Shanshan with a net worth of USD 68.9 billion. His main source of wealth is through Nongfu Spring. Nongfu Spring is a Chinese bottled water and beverage company.
Nongfu Spring Products
Ma Huateng with a net worth of USD 65.8 billion. His main source of wealth is through Tencent.
Colin Zheng Huang with a net worth of USD 55.3 billion. His main source of wealth is through Pinduoduo. Pinduoduo Inc. is an agriculture-focused technology platform in China.
India
India is also a country which is located in the Asian continent. India is officially known as Republic of India. India ranks second in the most populated country around the world and India is considered to be the most populated democratic country in the world. In terms of land area, India is the seventh largest country in the world.
The Indian economy in 2019 was worth USD 2.9 trillion nominally according to International Monetary Fund. India is the fifth largest economy by market exchange rates with around USD 11 trillion. India is one of the world’s fastest growing economies.
Shiv Nadar with a net worth of USD 20.4 billion. His main source of wealth if through HCL technologies.
Germany
Germany is a country which is located in the European Continent. It is officially known as Federal Republic of Germany. The population of the country is around 83 million and 357,022 square kilometers, it is the area which is covered by the country. Germany ranks second in the most populated country in the European continent.
Germany’s economy is a social market economy. Germany is considered to have a very low level corruption, high level of innovation and high skilled labourers. Germany ranks third in the world for exporting of goods. The country ranks 1st European continent for the largest economies and ranks fourth across the globe for the largest economies.
Germany has around 136 billionaires in the country. The top billionaires of Germany are,
Beate Heister & Karl Albrecht Jr with a net worth of USD 36.1 billion. Their source of wealth is through their family operated discount supermarket chain Aldi Sud.
The largest Aldi sud supermarket located in the world opens in the German Ruhr area
Dieter Schwarz with a net worth of USD 22.6 billion. The main source of wealth is through multinational retail grocery shops Schwarz Gruppe.
Susanne Klatten is the BMW heiress with a net worth of USD 21 billion. The main source of wealth is through BMW, Atlanta Nordex and SGL Carbon.
Russia
Russia is a country which is located in the European continent and is also known as Russian Federation. In terms of land area, Russia ranks 1 among the world’s largest countries. The land area Russia covers is around 17, 125, 191 square kilometers. The population of Russia is around 146.2 million which makes it the most populated country in Europe and the country ranks 9th in the most populated countries around the world.
Russia has an economy which is a transition of upper-middle income. The country is considered to have enormous amount natural resources. Their natural resources include oil and gas. Russia ranks 6th in the world in terms of largest economies by PPP GDP and ranks 7th in the world in terms of largest economy by nominal GDP. Russia’s GDP per capita by PPP is around USD 29, 485 as of 2021, according to International Monetary Fund.
Russia has around 117 billionaires in the country. The top billionaires of Russia are,
Alexey Mordashov and family have a net worth of USD 29.1 billion. Mordashov has the majority shareholding in the steel company Severstal.
Vladimir Potanin with a net worth of USD 27 billion. His main source of wealth is through metals.
Vladimir Lisin with a net worth of USD 26.2 billion. The main source of wealth is through steel and transport.
Hong Kong is a country that is situated in the Asian Continent. It is one of the countries which has a very high population around the world and a economy that is capitalist mixed service. The country has a very minimal intervention in the market by the government, low taxation and an international financial market that is well established.
Hong Kong has a nominal GDP of USD 373 billion which makes its economy 35th largest in the world. Hong Kong has around 71 billionaires in the country. The top billionaires of Hong Kong are,
Li Ka-shing with a net worth of USD 35.4 billion.
Lee Shau Kee has a net worth of USD 30.5 billion.
Henry Cheng and family with a net worth of USD 22.1 billion.
Brazil
Brazil is known as the Federative Republic of Brazil. In both Latin America and South America, Brazil is the largest country. The country also has the largest economy in Latin America and has the 7thlargest economy in the world.
Brazil has around 65 billionaires in the country. The top billionaires are,
Jorge Paulo Lemann with a net worth of USD 16.9 billion.
Eduardo Saverin with a net worth of USD 14.6 billion.
Marcel Herrmann with a net worth of USD 11.5 billion.
Canada
Canada is a country which is located in North America. It is the second largest country in the world. Canada has the 10th largest economy in the world. USD 1.73 trillion is the approximate value of the nominal GDP of Canada.
Canada has around 64 billionaires in the country. The top billionaires are,
David Thomson and family with a net worth of USD 41.8 billion.
Joseph Tsai with a net worth of USD 11.6 billion.
Tobi Lutke with a net worth of USD 9.8 billion.
United Kingdom
United Kingdom is a country that is located in the European continent. The country’s economy is a partially regulated market. In Europe, UK is the second largest economy after Germany and around the world UK has the 5thlargest economy.
UK has around 56 billionaires. The top billionaires are,
James Ratcliffe with a net worth of USD 17 billion.
Hinduja Brother with a net worth of USD 14.9 billion.
Michael Platt with a net worth of USD 13 billion.
Italy
Italy is a country which is located in the European continent. The economy of Italy is an advanced capitalist mixed economy. In the Eurozone, Italy has the third largest economy and worldwide it has the 8thlargest economy. The country is considered as the most industrialized nation.
Italy has around 51 billionaires in the country. The top billionaires are,
Giovanni Ferrero and family with a net worth of USD 25.2 billion.
Leonardo Del Vecchio and family with a net worth of USD 17.9 billion.
Stefano Pessina with a net worth of USD 13.4 billion.
Japan
Japan is an Island country which is located in the Asian continent. Japan is the 11th most populated country in the world. In terms of nominal GDP after United States and China, Japan has the 3rdlargest national economy.
Japan has around 49 billionaires in the country. The top billionaires are,
Tadashi Yanai with a net worth of USD 48.7 billion.
Masayoshi Son with a net worth of USD 34.9 billion.
Takemitsu Takizaki with a net worth of USD 32 billion.
Taiwan
Taiwan that is officially known as Republic of China is a country in the Asian continent. The country has been called Taiwan Miracle because of its quick industrialization and rapid growth. This was mainly during the latter half of the 20th century.
Taiwan has 47 billionaires in the country. The top billionaires are,
Wei Ing-chou who has a net worth of USD 7.2 billion.
Ying-Chiao who has a net worth of USD 7.2 billion.
Australia is officially known as the Commonwealth of Australia. It is a sovereign country located in the Australian continent. The 6thlargest country around the world is Australia. It is considered to be a wealthy country with a very low rate of poverty and high GDP per capita.
Australia has 44 billionaires in the country. The top billionaires are,
Gina Rinehart with a net worth of USD 14.8 billion.
Harry Triguboff with a net worth of USD 9 billion.
Anthony Pratt with a net worth of USD 6.8 billion.
South Korea
South Korea is officially known as the Republic of Korea. It is a country which is located in the east of the Asian continent. South Korea’s economy is a mixed economy and in terms of the nominal GDP South Korea ranks 10th around the world. It has a high-income economy which makes it a developed country.
South Korea has 43 billionaires in the country. The top billionaires are,
Jay Y Lee who has a net worth of USD 11.2 billion.
Kim Beom-SU who has a net worth of USD 7.6 billion.
Seo Jung-Jin who has a net worth of USD 7.4 billion.
France
France is known as French Republic. It is a country which is located in the European continent. In terms of PPP GDP France is ranked as the 10th largest in the world and is ranked 2ndlargest in the European Union in terms of PPP GDP. France’s economy is a diverse economy with a domination towards the service sector.
France has around 42 billionaires in the country. The top billionaires are,
Bernard Arnault with a net worth of USD 76 billion.
Francoise Betterncourt with a net worth of USD 49.3 billion.
Francois Pinault with a net worth of USD 29.7 billion.
Sweden
Sweden is officially known as the kingdom of Sweden. It is a country which is located in the European Continent. In terms of GDP, It is the 16th richest country in the world. A high standard of living is experienced by the citizens of Sweden.
Sweden has around 41 billionaires in the country. The top billionaires are
Stefan Persson with a net worth of USD 15.6 billion.
Hans Rausing and family with a net worth of USD 12 billion.
Jorn Rausing has a net worth of USD 8.7 billion.
Switzerland
Switzerland is officially known as Swiss Confederation. It is a country that is located in the European continent. Switzerland has lands in all the four sides of their border and hence called as landlocked country. Switzerland has a high-tech economy which is stable and prosperous. It has been ranked as one of the least corrupted countries around the world.
Switzerland has around 40 billionaires in the country. The top billionaires are,
Gianluigi and Rafaela Aponte with a net worth of USD 10.7 billion.
Guillaume Pousaz with a net worth of USD 9 billion.
Ernesto Bertarelli with a net worth of USD 8.6 billion.
Thailand
Thailand is officially known as the Kingdom of Thailand and was formerly known as Siam. The country is located in the Asian continent. Thailand is considered to be a newly industrialized country and is an emerging economy.
Thailand has 31 billionaires in the country. The top billionaires are,
Dhanin Chearavanont with a net worth of USD 18.1 billion.
Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi with a net worth of USD 13.5 billion.
Sarath Ratanavadi with a net worth of USD 8.9 billion.
Spain
Spain is known as the Kingdom of Spain. The country is located in Europe. Spain has a capitalist mixed economy. They have the 14th largest economy around the world and 4th largest in the European Union.
Spain has 30 billionaires in the country. The top billionaires are
Amancio Ortega with a net worth of USD 81 billion.
Sandra Ortega Mera has a net worth of USD 6.7 billion.
Singapore is known as the Republic of Singapore. The country is located in the Asian continent. Singapore has a highly developed economy. The Singaporean economy is considered to be business friendly, innovative, dynamic and a free economy.
Singapore has around 27 billionaires in the country. The top billionaires are
Zhang Yongwith a net worth of USD 23 billion.
Goh Cheng Liang with a net worth of USD 21.7 billion.
Li Xiting has a net worth of USD 21.5 billion.
Turkey
Turkey is known as the republic of Turkey. The country is located in the European continent. Turkey is considered to have an economy that is upper middle-income. The country is considered as a newly industrialized country. Turkey is 20th largest around the globe in terms of nominal GDP.
Turkey also has around 27 billionaires in the country. The top billionaires are,
Erman ılıcak with a net worth of USD 3.8 billion.
Murat Ülker with a net worth of USD 3.7 billion.
Hüsnü özyeğin with a net worth of USD 2.1 billion.
FAQ
How many Trillionaires are there?
As of today, there are no trillionaires who live on earth.
Who is the wealthiest family in the world?
Walton Family – Walmart is the wealthiest family in the world with a Estimated net worth of $215 billion.
Is Kylie Jenner a billionaire?
Kylie Jenner, 23, was the youngest billionaire, but did not make the cut this year. In 2019, she was controversially named the youngest self-made billionaire in 2019.
Conclusion
These are the list of the top Countries with the most number of billionaires. Some of the other countries with the most number of billionaires are Israel with 17, Indonesia and Philippines with 15, Mexico, Norway and Malaysia with 12, Netherlands with 11, Austria and Ireland with 9, Czech Republic and Denmark with 8 and so on.
Jeff Bezos is currently the World’s Richest Man with a Net-worth of $193.2 billion as of April 2021. He is the founder & CEO of Amazon and the owner of ‘The Washington Post’. The e-commerce industry has been at the center of most entrepreneurial attempts and ventures. Significant developments have happened in this segment over the last couple of decades. The e-commerce division has become an indispensable part of our lives today. Physical obstacles related to brick-and-mortar stores have essentially been eliminated. Without any doubt, Amazon is at the pinnacle of e-retail. And the credit goes to Jeff Bezos.
Jeff Bezos Biography
Name
Jeff Bezos
Born
12 January 1964 (age 57 years)
Place
Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
Net Worth
$193.2 Billion (April 21, 2021)
Known for
World’s Richest Man (Forbes), Founder & CEO of Amazon
Education
Princeton University (1982–1986), Miami Palmetto Senior High School, River Oaks Elementary School
Bezos graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with a degree in computer science and electrical engineering. His early interest in gadgets and the functioning of machines made him turn his parent’s garage into a laboratory. He had business instincts right from the start as during high school, he began the Dream Institute—an educational summer camp for fourth, fifth, and sixth graders.
Jeff Bezos – Key Investments
Jeff Bezos invested in various businesses to date. A look at the World’s Richest Man’s investments shows a diversified portfolio spanning across sectors including media, software technology, healthcare, financial services, logistics & more.
Take a look at the Key Investments of Jeff Bezos.
Jeff Bezos Key Investments
Jeff Bezos – Jobs Before Amazon
After graduation, Bezos worked for several firms on Wall Street. He worked for Bankers Trust and then D.E. Shaw. He was elected as the youngest vice president at D.E. Shaw in 1990. A smooth life wasn’t everything for him and he decided to try his hands on something different. In 1994, he resigned from D.E. Shaw and moved on to the e-commerce industry. He launched an online website that sold books. This marked the beginning of his entrepreneurial path.
Inspired by the great South American River Amazon, he named his online bookstore Amazon.com. The website went live after nearly 300 friends tested the beta site. Amazon.com became popular all over the world. With no promotion, Amazon.com sold books all over the country and within 30 days, the company was operating in 30 countries. Within two months, sales reached around 20,000 USD per week. This was much larger than anticipated.
Amazon Logo
The company went public in 1997. After two years, the company became the face of the e-commerce industry. The growth of Amazon.com lead to diversification in its offerings. The company began to sell CDs and videos in 1998. Later, toys, clothes, and video games were brought onto the Amazon platform. The move was done to cover every age group. While many e-commerce websites were struggling to survive, Amazon.com flourished. The yearly sales took a giant leap from 510,000 USD in 1995 to 17 billion USD in 2011.
The introduction of Amazon Prime was significant in revenue boost. The media tycoon declared that Amazon Prime had surpassed 100 million paid subscribers. The company’s value reached 1 trillion USD in the year 2018, making it the second company to break the 1 trillion mark.
Amazon.com launched its video-on-demand service in the year 2006. The extension was initially named as Amazon Unbox on TiVo. Bezos introduced Amazon Studios in 2013. The studio became popular due to its association with the critically acclaimed Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle. Bezos has also made a cameo appearance in the movie Star Trek Beyond as an alien. Under his leadership, Amazon introduced Alexa, the virtual assistant. The arrival of Kindle changed the way people read books after 2007. Bezos gave Apple’s iPad a run for its money by introducing launching Kindle Fire HD. The tablet was affordable and was well received.
Bezos made headlines after purchasing The Washington Post for 250 million USD. After taking over the company, Bezos hired hundreds of reporters and editors. Later, the association of Michael Flynn (the former national security advisor) with Russians was revealed by Washington Post. This forced Flynn to resign. At the end of 2016, the new publisher generated revenues of 100 million USD.
In 2000, Bezos founded Blue Origin. Blue Origin is an aerospace company that makes space travel affordable through cutting-edge tech. For the most part of the decade, the company wasn’t in the news, siloing itself in its research. Bezos invited many reporters to visit the company’s headquarters in Kent in 2016. He proposed a vision of humans colonizing the space. Bezos sold 1 billion USD of Amazon stock to fund Blue Origin. NASA announced that Blue Origin was amongst the 13 companies selected to collaborate on nineteen technology projects to reach the Moon and planet Mars. Blue Origin is also working with NASA on reusable rockets.
In the year 2018, Bezos launched the Bezos Day One Fund. This organization helps homeless families. It also aims at creating a network of new, non-profit tier-one preschools for low-income communities. Jeff gave away 2 billion USD of his personal fortune to fund the nonprofit organization.
For many years, Bill Gates was at the tip of our tongues when speaking of the world’s richest person. Jeff Bezos changed that. The staggering increase in his wealth shows what behemoth of a company Amazon has become. What began as an online bookstore now deals with cloud services, e-retail, electronics, high tech offerings, and what not. Jeff Bezos is an example of how consistent efforts and innovation can take an individual to unimaginable success!
Jeff Bezos – FAQs
How much does Jeff Bezos make in a day?
Jeff Bezos’s net worth increased by $67.4 billion on August 12, 2020. Based on these figures, Jeff Bezos made around $321 million per day or $3,715 per second. According to Observer, Jeff Bezos earns approximately $149,353 a minute.
What does Jeff Bezos do with his money?
Bezos’ net worth is an estimated $193.2 billion, according to Forbes. He spends his fortune on real estate, a Gulfstream Jet, and his space exploration company.
What did Jeff Bezos study in university?
Bezos had an early love of computers and studied computer science and electrical engineering at Princeton University.
Who Founded Blue Origin?
In 2000, Bezos founded Blue Origin. Blue Origin is an aerospace company that makes space travel affordable through cutting-edge tech.
Why Jeff Bezos named Amazon?
Inspired by the great South American River Amazon, Jeff Bezos named his online bookstore Amazon.com.
How was life for Jeff Bezos before Amazon?
After graduation, Bezos worked for several firms on Wall Street. He worked for Bankers Trust and then D.E. Shaw. He was elected as the youngest vice president at D.E. Shaw in 1990.
Jeff Bezos – Conclusion
Bezos founded e-commerce giant Amazon in 1994 out of his garage in Seattle. Before starting Amazon, Bezos worked for several firms on Wall Street. He worked for Bankers Trust and then vice president at D.E. Shaw. Bezos was doing well with his life at that point of time. But he wanted to try something new with his life and started working on Amazon from his garage. The life story of Jeff Bezos has admired a lot of people all over the world. “Never Settle. Keep Hustling”.
“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” — Steve Jobs
Ultra-Millionaire Tax is a wealth tax that is introduced for the richest people in the U.S.A. It is a new bill that is introduced by Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. She has been proposing to introduce this for a long time.
Senator Elizabeth Warren introduced the Ultra-Millionaire tax with Representative Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania And Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington. The main aim of the new bill is to fight for wealth inequality in the country.
The wealth tax would force the American households whose income is more than $50 million to pay taxes.
Lets dive deeper to understand what is this tax all about
The American households whose net worth is in-between $50 million and $1 billion will have to pay a 2% wealth tax. For example, if the household is earning $50 million then they will have to pay $100,000 in the form of wealth tax.
The American households whose net worth is more than $1 billion will have to pay a 3% wealth tax. For example, if the household is earning $2 billion, then it will have to pay $60 million in the form of wealth tax.
The households earning below $50 million will not come under the tax bracket. 0.05% of the American households will come under the proposed tax bracket according to a press release.
Evasion Methods
The Ultra-millionaire tax has anti-escape measures been taken under consideration. The country will invest an amount of $100 billion to strengthen the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) who is responsible for collecting the taxes. There will be a minimum of 30% audit rate for the taxpayers who are responsible for paying the wealth tax.
If the U.S citizens who have an income of more than $50 million would want to leave the country or move their assets and citizenship to another country, then they would have to pay an exit tax of 40%. There would be penalties implements for underpayment of the wealth tax.
Top Richest Americans
Reasons for the new Ultra-Millionaire Tax
The main reason for the implementation of the new bill is to reduce the wealth inequality in-between the American Households in the country.
Let’s take an example – consider two people A and B. A’s father is a millionaire with an income worth $50 million, pieces of jewelry, collectibles, and yachts. A earns an income of $50,000 and B comes under the American household who earns an income of $100,000. B’s income is also $50,000.
But even though A has a lot of assets and income generated in his family he will have to pay the same amount of tax that B is paying. Increasing the income tax would affect B more than that of A and that is why the wealth tax is implemented.
Wealth tax is calculated based on the entire income of the family and not just an individual.
According to an analysis conducted by economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman from the University of California-Berkley, The American wealth of the richest that is 0.1% of the population has seen their income triple from 7% to 20% in the years 1970-2016 and the rest of the 99.9% has seen a decline in their share of wealth from 35% to 25% in the years 1970-2016.
The richest families of America are 13,000, they have the same amount of wealth as the rest of the 117 million families in the country. According to their study, they’ve found that the top 0.1% pays around 3.2% of their income as taxes while the bottom 99.9% pays around 7% of their income as taxes.
Amount Owed by the Richest for Ultra-Millionaire Tax
According to the Tax rates which is proposed by Elizabeth Warren, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos will have to pay $5.7 billion as a wealth tax for the year 2020. Jeff Bezos would still have $185 billion in net worth after paying the tax.
Tesla’s Elon Musk will have to pay $ 4.6 Billion as a wealth tax for 2020. Elon Musk would still have $148 billion in net worth after paying the tax.
Microsoft’s Bill Gates will have to pay $ 3.6 billion as wealth tax for 2020 and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg will have to pay $3 billion as wealth tax for 2020.
According to a survey conducted by CNBC on Millionaires, it was seen that around 60% of the millionaires support the wealth tax proposed by Elizabeth Warren.
FAQ
How many billionaires are there in India?
There are 177 billionaires in India as of 2020.
Who is the richest billionaire in India?
Mukesh Ambani is the richest billionaire in India.
Who is richest woman in India?
Roshni Nadar Malhotra with a wealth of ₹54,850 crore is the richest woman in India.
Conclusion
According to Elizabeth Warren, the implemented wealth tax would raise around $3 Trillion in 10 years. It is said that the tax would raise around 1% of America’s GDP in a year. The revenue would help in paying for child care, developing the educational infrastructure, developing nursing home cares, tuition-free public colleges and schools, and promoting clean energy in the country.
Elizabeth Warren has said that implementing the wealth tax will help in raising money for President Joe Biden’s agenda ‘#BuildBackBetter’ which includes policies like expanding the caregiving economy.
Google has announced that they will be allowing the merchants to list their products on Google Shopping search results for free of cost starting with the US and to be continued in the whole world. This is one of the new way to kick start their work while helping the retailers to sell their product and asking the ads merchants to take the advantage of this new opportunity in the person of lockdown. The main concentration of Google in this case is to revive their revenue source in this difficult situation where they are not having work due to complete global lockdown. Google Shopping ads now drive 76.4% of retail search ad spend, generating 85.3% of all clicks on Adwords or Google Shopping campaign ads. Let us discuss that weather this initiative will be going to be a boon or a bane for Google.
Benefits of the Google shopping campaign
Benefits of the Google shopping campaign
The Google has shown the benefits and the interest of all 3 sections of the society (retailers, shoppers and ads merchants) who are directly connected with the Google shopping facility.
The change given in Google shopping, in the product search offering will help the retailers in such a way that; -now they will be able to get free exposure and experience to millions of people( new and existing) who come to Google every day for fulfilling their required shopping products and materials.
Like the retailers, the shoppers will be able to get more choices over the product and the brands over better pricing from more stores due to the new campaign by Google Shopping. This will be all possible on discovery through the Google Shopping tab on the Google search platform or Google search engine.
The advertisers will also get the benefit of this new facility provided by Google shopping in such a manner that, now they will be getting a new section for running paid campaigns because of this free listings on Google shopping tab. The Ads merchant will be able to get the advantage of the free listings, and this will inspire the new Ads merchant to work in this streamline and make it a new source of revenue.
Google has also made a new partnership with many other platforms for the Google Shopping tab that are working in the same field and helping the businesses by providing their premium facilities. These platform include
Google will be going to work with all the platforms which help the merchants manage their products and inventory in Google Shopping tab, easily without any tension of any type of e-commerce facilities. This includes Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce, which helps the make in making a virtual digital commerce platform for themselves.
During the period of COVID-19 and so far, Amazon’s trillion-dollar company, Jeff Bezos has been considered, the most notable winner in terms of business working and expansion who has added $24 billion in his total wealth from the same time, the global shutdown began. While on the other hand, the tech giants like Google and Facebook who are having all their revenue from ads are facing heavy crisis, as there is no business in the world and so, advertisers has cut a big portion from their 2020 marketing budgets. This has pushed the tech giant like Google in the back-foot. The company is now trying to search a new source income in the person of global lockdown.
Since, all the businesses are shut down in this time period except the e-commerce and the basic utility business so, this tech giant is also trying all it’s strategies in the same sector by just integrating it their own business model and making this facility, free for all.
Tanusha Verma
