Key facts
- Jeff Bezos' parents invested $245,573 in Amazon in 1995.
- Jeff Bezos warned his parents that they might never get their money back.
- The initial investment has since grown into billions of dollars.
Jeff Bezos' parents, Jack and Jackie Bezos, invested $245,573 of their life savings into Amazon in 1995, a move that has since grown into billions of dollars. At the time, Jeff Bezos warned them of the significant risks, estimating his startup's success rate at about 30%, a figure he considered generous given the typical 10% success rate for new ventures. Before accepting his parents' money, Bezos had approached 60 investors, with only 22, including his parents and two younger siblings, agreeing to invest. His mother, Jacklyn Gise Bezos, died in 2025, and his stepfather, Miguel “Mike” Bezos, recalled his son's cautionary words about the investment's risk. The initial investment, described as a "large fraction" of their savings, has since become one of the most successful venture investments of all time. Amazon went public in 1997 at $18 per share, and Bezos became a billionaire by 1998. The Bezos Family Foundation was later established by Mike and Jackie Bezos with their three children to focus on education and child development.