During a National Constitution Center event in 2015, Bezos’ step-father Mike Bezos recalled how a generous investment from he and Jeff’s mother Jackie back in 1995 allowed the company to eventually grow into the behemoth it is today. As he told it, Jeff made his pitch like this: “I want you to know how risky this is, because I want to come home at dinner for Thanksgiving and I don’t want you to be mad at me.” That would make them owners of almost three and a half percent of the company, and the second-largest individual stockholders right behind their son. And the value of that stock? As of this writing, it would be about $30 billion. Not a bad return on a $245,000 investment, and more than enough to afford plenty of turkey on Thanksgiving.
