2018

Jeff Bezos was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. After graduating from Princeton University in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Bezos joined a high-tech start-up and later worked at New York asset management companies Bankers Trust Company and D. E. Shaw & Co. Foreseeing the Internet’s capacity for e-commerce, he developed the idea of a bookselling business on the Internet. He made this reality in 1994 when he set up Amazon. This was followed by an unparalleled career during which he transferred the original online bookstore to a global retailer, a marketplace and cloud computing provider. With the voice-controlled personal assistant Amazon Echo, he made a decisive contribution towards developing the Internet of Things.

The Amazon CEO is distinguished by his diverse economic engagement. Since 2013, he has owned the traditional US newspaper “The Washington Post”. Jeff Bezos is a self-proclaimed fan of Star Trek and founder of the space travel company Blue Origin, which seeks to lower the cost of spaceflight and enable a future where millions of people live and work in space. In January 2018, Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos donated a $33 million dollar scholarship grant for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US as children, giving 1,000 immigrant graduates of US high schools the opportunity to go to college.

“Jeff Bezos is receiving the Axel Springer Award 2018, because he was the first person almost a quarter of a century ago to recognize the potential of trading goods on the Internet and, with Amazon, he created a global corporation which he then led to unique business success. At a time when the digital economy had not yet by any means entered all areas of our lives, he believed in his idea, pursued it over years with exceptional foresight and created a new offering that has changed considerably the everyday lives of consumers worldwide. By purchasing ‛The Washington Post’ in 2013, he put in place the prerequisites for bringing back to life the innovative power and passion for experiment of a traditional brand in decline, and gave new courage to an insecure industry. His ambitious space travel projects also prove that he wants to shape the future with passion. In his business models, he is driven by his maxim of focusing on the individual as customer and reader without compromise.”