8 ms·

Yeah - the man is 57, and at this point does NOT have to work anymore...probably for the rest of his life. Looks like he still intends to run his philanthropie

Yeah - the man is 57, and at this point does NOT have to work anymore...probably for the rest of his life. Looks like he still intends to run his philanthropies, Blue Origin, and the Post, but after the type of run he has had, he's probably taking some more free time while he's healthy. I try not to fall into the "cult of personality" trap, but Amazon is where it is _because_ of Bezos, and it'll be fascinating to watch how the transition plays out with the Jassy era.

mft_ 6y ago
“probably”?
uptown 6y ago
"...probably for the rest of his life." Ya think?
- boringg 6y ago
  Replace probably with "there's a chance" he won't have to work for the rest of his life.... Assuming he has managed to figure out how to live forever ... at some point this wealth would get depleted.
- jozen 6y ago
  If he buys a house in SV, he may end up bankrupt
kayoone 6y ago
> at this point [he] does NOT have to work anymore...probably for the rest of his life. that was already true a long time ago, you don't need to be one of the wealthiest people on the planet before you don't have to work anymore.
- SilasX 6y ago
  Yeah that was true by the time of his 1999 interview on 60 minutes, when the interviewer joked about him driving a cheap Honda: https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/this-jeff-bezos-interview-from-1999-is-pure-gold/news-story/94ef9a9ec68d2a21eb271fa08526f0dd https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/this-jeff-bezo...
paxys 6y ago
Bezos's net worth was $12 billion after Amazon's IPO in 1997. Him and a dozen generations after him would be set for life on that much wealth. Whatever the reason for stepping away might be, it's definitely not money. As a company Amazon is definitely too big to fail at this point. Its fate will probably be like Google's after Page/Brin/Schmidt stepped away. In the worst case it will start to fade away in another decade or two.
leipert 6y ago
With his wealth he doesn’t need to work anymore since a long time. See e.g. here: https://mkorostoff.github.io/1-pixel-wealth/ https://mkorostoff.github.io/1-pixel-wealth/ In my opinion there is hardly a justification or a _need_ for an individual to own billions. But I think we haven’t found a good way to redistribute money, apart from billionaires self-pledging to give their wealth away.
fossuser 6y ago
I think you pass the point of not having to work somewhere prior to 130B net worth. I'm worried about what happens to Amazon with Bezos gone. A good outcome would be something like Apple and Tim Cook. A bad one would be Microsoft and Ballmer, it will take a while to see which type this ends up being. Either way losing Bezos as CEO is a bummer.
- petre 6y ago
  Don't know, but I like Gates better since he stepped down as MS CEO and brought positive change to more unfortunate people's lives. Maybe Bezos would do similar things? I don't like the press release, it keeps repeating Amazon every sentence. It's a tiring read, much Like Andy Warhol's repeating patterns. That alone pretty much says a lot about the current Jeff Bezos.
  - wing-_-nuts 6y ago
    You raise a great point. I did not like Gates the CEO but I deeply respect gates the Philanthropist. We can only hope Bezos turns out the same. I wonder how one could change the world with 130B dollars.
agloeregrets 6y ago
> probably for the rest of his life. At a net worth of $1 billion and assuming he lives to 100 that is $23 million dollars a year to spend, which reasonably, he could only spend around $5-10 Million if he tried. He is worth what, $150 Billion? By the fall he probably will be. He could find a group of 10,000 people of the same age, spit the money evenly and each person would have $340k per year, a large enough sum to reasonably travel all year long around the world for each person never working agin. Nobody should ever have a $1B worth.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  > Nobody should ever have a $1B worth. How does this work? Forced sale of assets? Who determines the market price of the assets, if they’re not highly liquid?
  - PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
    When you get issued stock options at a company, you immediately become liable for taxes on them, since they are treated as income. This is true even if there is no public market for the shares at that time (something that caused headaches for many early dotcom stock option grantees). It's is an obvious precedent for taxing somebody who has "received" wealth via the route that Bezos has done.
    - lotsofpulp 6y ago
      How about land? IP? Or a private company? Surely, only people that get issued options aren’t subject to a $1B max.
      - PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
        no need to set a max. Just set the marginal rate so high that earning (or, if a wealth tax, owning) more than some amount becomes pointless.
        6y ago

mft_ 6y ago

“probably”?

uptown 6y ago

"...probably for the rest of his life." Ya think?

boringg 6y ago
Replace probably with "there's a chance" he won't have to work for the rest of his life.... Assuming he has managed to figure out how to live forever ... at some point this wealth would get depleted.
jozen 6y ago
If he buys a house in SV, he may end up bankrupt

kayoone 6y ago

> at this point [he] does NOT have to work anymore...probably for the rest of his life. that was already true a long time ago, you don't need to be one of the wealthiest people on the planet before you don't have to work anymore.

SilasX 6y ago
Yeah that was true by the time of his 1999 interview on 60 minutes, when the interviewer joked about him driving a cheap Honda: https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/this-jeff-bezos-interview-from-1999-is-pure-gold/news-story/94ef9a9ec68d2a21eb271fa08526f0dd https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/this-jeff-bezo...

paxys 6y ago

Bezos's net worth was $12 billion after Amazon's IPO in 1997. Him and a dozen generations after him would be set for life on that much wealth. Whatever the reason for stepping away might be, it's definitely not money. As a company Amazon is definitely too big to fail at this point. Its fate will probably be like Google's after Page/Brin/Schmidt stepped away. In the worst case it will start to fade away in another decade or two.

leipert 6y ago

With his wealth he doesn’t need to work anymore since a long time. See e.g. here: https://mkorostoff.github.io/1-pixel-wealth/ https://mkorostoff.github.io/1-pixel-wealth/ In my opinion there is hardly a justification or a _need_ for an individual to own billions. But I think we haven’t found a good way to redistribute money, apart from billionaires self-pledging to give their wealth away.

fossuser 6y ago

I think you pass the point of not having to work somewhere prior to 130B net worth. I'm worried about what happens to Amazon with Bezos gone. A good outcome would be something like Apple and Tim Cook. A bad one would be Microsoft and Ballmer, it will take a while to see which type this ends up being. Either way losing Bezos as CEO is a bummer.

petre 6y ago
Don't know, but I like Gates better since he stepped down as MS CEO and brought positive change to more unfortunate people's lives. Maybe Bezos would do similar things? I don't like the press release, it keeps repeating Amazon every sentence. It's a tiring read, much Like Andy Warhol's repeating patterns. That alone pretty much says a lot about the current Jeff Bezos.
- wing-_-nuts 6y ago
  You raise a great point. I did not like Gates the CEO but I deeply respect gates the Philanthropist. We can only hope Bezos turns out the same. I wonder how one could change the world with 130B dollars.

agloeregrets 6y ago

> probably for the rest of his life. At a net worth of $1 billion and assuming he lives to 100 that is $23 million dollars a year to spend, which reasonably, he could only spend around $5-10 Million if he tried. He is worth what, $150 Billion? By the fall he probably will be. He could find a group of 10,000 people of the same age, spit the money evenly and each person would have $340k per year, a large enough sum to reasonably travel all year long around the world for each person never working agin. Nobody should ever have a $1B worth.

lotsofpulp 6y ago
> Nobody should ever have a $1B worth. How does this work? Forced sale of assets? Who determines the market price of the assets, if they’re not highly liquid?
- PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
  When you get issued stock options at a company, you immediately become liable for taxes on them, since they are treated as income. This is true even if there is no public market for the shares at that time (something that caused headaches for many early dotcom stock option grantees). It's is an obvious precedent for taxing somebody who has "received" wealth via the route that Bezos has done.
  - lotsofpulp 6y ago
    How about land? IP? Or a private company? Surely, only people that get issued options aren’t subject to a $1B max.
    - PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
      no need to set a max. Just set the marginal rate so high that earning (or, if a wealth tax, owning) more than some amount becomes pointless.
      - 6y ago