After he graduated from Princeton University with a degree in computer science and electrical engineering,
Jeffrey Bezos found employment on Wall Street, where computer science was increasingly in demand to study
market trends. He rose quickly, becoming a senior vice president, and looked forward to a bright career in
finance, when he made a discovery that changed his life, and the course of business history.
In 1994, there was still no Internet commerce to speak of. One day that spring, Jeffrey Bezos observed that
Internet usage was increasing by 2,300 percent a year. He saw an opportunity for a new circle of commerce,
and immediately began considering the possibilities.
Bezos founded Amazon.com in 1994, setting up the original company in his garage. The company was
called Amazon for the seemingly endless South American river with its numberless branches. It started as an
online bookstore but soon diversified (多样化) to all kinds of products. His work with Amazon eventually led
him to become one of the most excellent dot-com entrepreneurs (企业家). He was named Time magazine's
Person of the Year in 1999. In 2008, he was selected by U.S. News & World Report as one of America's Best
Leaders. Bezos' Amazon has become "the Earth's biggest anything store". Amazon.com is now called" one of
the smartest strategies in business history".
Today, Jeffrey Bezos lives north of Seattle and is increasingly concerned with charity (慈善) activities.
"Giving away money takes as much attention as building a successful company," he has said.