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Jeff's parents supported him when he left his hedge fund job at D.E. Shaw. He was a quant and he had been there 4 years. He left his bonus on the table when h

Jeff's parents supported him when he left his hedge fund job at D.E. Shaw. He was a quant and he had been there 4 years. He left his bonus on the table when he left but he was extremely well paid. He wasn't exactly hurting for cash. It's already well established fact that Jeff's/Amazon's costs in the early days were paid for with his parents' life savings.

toomuchtodo 8y ago
You interpreted "support" differently than I: "The couple was leaving behind a wealthy existence on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, according to Brad Stone, the author of the 2013 book The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon. “They gave up a really comfortable lifestyle and successful careers to move across the country and start something on the internet,” says Stone. “The only reason [Jeff] was able to do that is because he had an extremely supportive spouse. It was an incredible risk and one that they both took on jointly.” "In a 2010 commencement speech he gave at Princeton, Jeff himself acknowledged the gamble his wife had taken. “I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go do this crazy thing that probably wouldn’t work since most startups don’t, and I wasn’t sure what would happen after that,” he said. “MacKenzie … told me I should go for it.” (Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)"
- busterarm 8y ago
  And yet spousal support after a divorce isn't in the form of "yes, you should take the extremely risky move of living without my billions of dollars. I support your doing this."
  - toomuchtodo 8y ago
    Such are the perils of a billionaire's marriage dissolving in a community property state. Marriage and living in Washington state are voluntary actions. My argument was for more value of a partner's contributions to business success, regardless of statute. EDIT: @busterarm: We're not going to agree on what defines "earned", good chat.
    - busterarm 8y ago
      Yes, but then regulatory hazard isn't the same thing as earning the money. It's just being entitled to it. Edit: I'm pretty sure Amazon shareholders won't agree with you about the definition of "earned" either. It's not just cash at stake here, it's voting power. Is that spousal support worth 8.5% control of the company? Up from 0%. I'm not saying she isn't entitled to it, just that there's a difference between value through entitlement and value through work.
      - rtx 8y ago
        It's not 8.5% from 0%. Its 8.5% from 16%.
- Rapzid 8y ago
  Says Stone. Honestly, I find that this stuff is as romanticized as the Old South.

toomuchtodo 8y ago

You interpreted "support" differently than I: "The couple was leaving behind a wealthy existence on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, according to Brad Stone, the author of the 2013 book The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon. “They gave up a really comfortable lifestyle and successful careers to move across the country and start something on the internet,” says Stone. “The only reason [Jeff] was able to do that is because he had an extremely supportive spouse. It was an incredible risk and one that they both took on jointly.” "In a 2010 commencement speech he gave at Princeton, Jeff himself acknowledged the gamble his wife had taken. “I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go do this crazy thing that probably wouldn’t work since most startups don’t, and I wasn’t sure what would happen after that,” he said. “MacKenzie … told me I should go for it.” (Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)"

busterarm 8y ago
And yet spousal support after a divorce isn't in the form of "yes, you should take the extremely risky move of living without my billions of dollars. I support your doing this."
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  Such are the perils of a billionaire's marriage dissolving in a community property state. Marriage and living in Washington state are voluntary actions. My argument was for more value of a partner's contributions to business success, regardless of statute. EDIT: @busterarm: We're not going to agree on what defines "earned", good chat.
  - busterarm 8y ago
    Yes, but then regulatory hazard isn't the same thing as earning the money. It's just being entitled to it. Edit: I'm pretty sure Amazon shareholders won't agree with you about the definition of "earned" either. It's not just cash at stake here, it's voting power. Is that spousal support worth 8.5% control of the company? Up from 0%. I'm not saying she isn't entitled to it, just that there's a difference between value through entitlement and value through work.
    - rtx 8y ago
      It's not 8.5% from 0%. Its 8.5% from 16%.
Rapzid 8y ago
Says Stone. Honestly, I find that this stuff is as romanticized as the Old South.