Jeffrey Preston Bezos

In late 1993, Bezos decided to establish an online bookstore. He left his job at D. E. Shaw and founded Amazon in his garage on July 5, 1994, after writing its business plan on a cross-country drive from New York City to Seattle. He warned many early investors that there was a 70% chance that Amazon would fail or go bankrupt. In 1998, Bezos diversified into the online sale of music and video, and by the end of the year he had expanded the company's products to include a variety of other consumer goods. By October of 2013, Amazon was recognized as the largest online shopping retailer in the world. Bezos founded the aerospace manufacturer and sub-orbital spaceflight services company Blue Origin in 2000. Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle reached space in 2015, and afterwards successfully landed back on Earth. The company began commercial suborbital human spaceflight, and did two successful human spaceflights in 2021. He also purchased the major American newspaper The Washington Post in 20