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Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

    Jeff Bezos: Richest Man in History

    Jeff+Bezos%3A+Richest+Man+in+History

    Worth nearly $105 billion as of Wednesday morning, Jeff Bezos, has quickly assumed the title of “the richest man in the history of Earth.”

    After four years of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates holding the number one spot on Forbes: World’s Top 20 Billionaires, Bezos was suddenly ranked number one in July of 2017 due to an increase of stock–his reign only lasted a day.  In a matter of just five trading days in 2018, Bezos accumulated $6.1 billion–not only eclipsing Gates for the title once again but accumulating more money than an average American would generate in five lifetimes.

    Although surpassing Gates to be the richest person in the world, there is one title he can not be assimilated with: world’s most generous. The king of e-commerce has recently been receiving an increased pressure from the public to give back more to organizations. Even with billions attached to his name, Bezos has yet to make a big philanthropic mark–accounting for it the ‘save for later basket.’

    Over the past month, 60 minutes was granted access inside Amazon’s day-to-day operations. A 1.2 million square foot distribution center, the size of 20 football fields, is used during the holiday season. If there’s such thing as Santa’s workshop…this would be it.

    The 96 Amazon warehouses dramatically contrast the company origins that take root in Bezos’s garage. He recounts the fledgling beginning years of the company stating, “If you go back in time 18 years, I was driving the packages to the post office myself, and we were very primitive.” in 1994, Bezos noticed the internet revolution and took a chance–quitting his job and starting a company that would appeal to the masses. 18 years later…he now reigns as “the richest man in the world.”

     

     

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