Mike Bezos, father of Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos, is significantly expanding his family office to manage the family's multi-generational wealth, reflecting the growing trend of private family offices in the U.S.
Aurora Borealis Hires CEO To Manage Multi-Billion-Dollar Family Wealth
Mike Bezos' family office, Aurora Borealis, recently hired Valeria Alberola as CEO to oversee operations from Miami and is searching for a Chief Investment Officer to manage the family's investment portfolio, sources told The Wall Street Journal.
Alberola previously worked with Walmart heirs Ben and Lucy Ana Walton, managing their investment and philanthropic activities.
Bezos Family Looks Beyond Amazon
Aurora Borealis, established in 2020, manages the wealth of Mike and the late Jacklyn Bezos, who passed away in August.
According to a job description from Russell Reynolds, the office is undergoing a "major expansion" to support the second and third generations of the family.
Mike Bezos' fortune, estimated at more than $40 billion, includes stakes in Amazon, Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER), and the company formerly known as Facebook, now a subsidiary of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ: META).
Filings from the Bezos Family Foundation show the couple made gifts of stock in recent years to diversify holdings beyond Amazon.
Jeff Bezos has previously credited his parents' early investments in Amazon as "bold and trusting," calling them the "initial startup capital" that helped launch the company.
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Early Life And Family Support Shaped Jeff Bezos' Journey To Billionaire Success
Jeff Bezos rose from humble beginnings to build a $2 trillion tech empire. Born in 1964 to 17-year-old Jacklyn Gise and her teenage husband, Ted Jorgensen, Bezos lost contact with his biological father as an infant.
His mother later married Cuban immigrant Miguel "Mike" Bezos, who adopted Jeff and became the father figure he credited with shaping his life.
Before Amazon became a global giant, Bezos relied heavily on his mother, who raised him on $190 a month while attending school at night.
In the mid-1990s, he convinced his siblings, Mark and Christina, to invest $10,000 each in Amazon, giving them 30,000 shares, a risk that could have grown into a $1.55 billion windfall if they had not offloaded their stakes.
Bezos warned his parents there was a 70% chance the investment would fail, joking he just wanted to make sure he could still come home for Thanksgiving.
Bezos' biological father remained unaware of his son's success for decades, only learning about it in 2012 when journalist Brad Stone tracked him down. Despite this, Bezos' early family support and calculated risks laid the foundation for one of the most influential companies in the world.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
