The highs and lows of the last decade for Jeff Bezos, from becoming the world's richest man to a high-profile divorce
In 2010, Amazon launched Amazon Studios as something of a crowd-sourced, anti-Hollywood-studio.
That year, Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie Bezos, attended "billionaires' summer camp" at Sun Valley together. At this point, he was worth $12.6 billion.
Source: Forbes
At some point in the early aughts, Bezos started shaving his head, but he hadn't yet committed to the bald look — which is now key to his iconic style — at this November 2012 appearance on the Today Show.
In this photo from 2013, Bezos' head seems to be recently shaved. We don't really see him with hair again after this point.
In 2013, Bezos bought The Washington Post for $250 million, which amounted to less than 1% of his net worth.
Source: Forbes
2014 was Amazon's first, and so far last, attempt at releasing a smartphone. The Fire Phone flopped, but by this point, Bezos was worth $30.5 billion.
Source: CNN
Amazon also bought streaming service Twitch that same year, which has launched popular streamers like Ninja.
Source: CNN
The company released the first generation Echo in 2014, one of the first mainstream smart speakers, and made "Alexa" a household phenomenon.
Source: TechCrunch
Amazon opened its first physical store in Seattle, and celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2015.
In 2016, Bezos used his personal jet to bring a detained Washington Post report home from Germany.
Source: Business Insider
In July 2017, Bezos became world's richest person, surpassing Bill Gates. They switched back and forth briefly before Bezos retook the top spot, which he has mostly held onto ever since.
Source: Business Insider
The same year, Bezos' space company Blue Origin unveiled a rocket designed to take tourists to space, called New Shepard.
Source: Forbes
2017 was also the year that Bezos' transformation from tech nerd to buff, stylish dad became a meme.
Source: Business Insider
Former and current Jeff Bezos is literally the 'you vs. the guy she told you not to worry about' meme. pic.twitter.com/NNA2LlFxy8
— Yoni (@OriginalYoni) July 14, 2017
By 2018, The New York Times called Bezos a style icon, describing him as a "muscled-up, black-polo-shirt-and-shades digi-stud."
Source: The New York Times
Bezos and MacKenzie Bezos also made one of their last public appearances together at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in 2018.
Source: Forbes
In January 2019, the couple announced they were divorcing after 25 years of marriage.
Source: Business Insider
A day later, the National Enquirer published details about Bezos and his new girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez.
Source: Forbes
Shortly after, Bezos published a Medium post titled "No thank you, Mr. Pecker" that accused AMI, the publisher of the National Enquirer, of trying to extort him over naked photos.
Bezos said the publication was threatening to release naked photos it had obtained of him unless he stopped investigating the source of other leaks to the tabloid.
Bezos wrote, "Rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail, I've decided to publish exactly what they sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten."
Source: Medium
In July, as part of his divorce agreement, Bezos transferred one-fourth of his Amazon shares to his ex-wife, making her the third-richest woman in the world.
Source: Forbes
These days, Bezos' most recent net worth hovers around $110 billion. He's reportedly thinking about his next big purchase, and he's said to be eyeing the Seattle Seahawks. Bezos also reportedly encouraged former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg to jump into the presidential race. Meanwhile, Bezos' girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, is in the process of finalizing her divorce.
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