INVESTMENT JUNGLE GAME

Submitted by ub on

Talk about zingers... Checkmate is a chess game position in which one of the player's king is threatened.

The story begins with Jeff Bezos. He was born Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen. When he was four years old, his mother married Miguel Bezos, a Cuban who immigrated to the United States alone when he was 15 years old. He worked his way through the University of Albuquerque and decided to legally adopt Jeffrey. The family then moved to Miami, Florida, where Jeff attended High School. Jeff went on to Princeton and studied physics, but his passion was computer science. After graduating from Princeton in 1986, Bezos worked on building a network for international trade. He then started developing Internet business opportunities, until he founded Amazon.com in 1994. During a cross-country drive from New York to Seattle, Jeff wrote his business plan, while driving along the way.

In October of last year, one of our nation's most notable newspapers of record was transferred with relatively little fanfare. The Washington Post turned over it's newspaper to billionaire Jeffrey P. Bezos after four generations of The Graham family’s control.

City Island Images recently found an old Washington Post article, which was published on September 23, 1999. The story questioned the value of Amazon, a company owned by American business magnate and investor's web retailing future calling it blurred while the industry evolved. The article was written by a former Washington Post writer, who went on to report that Amazon was struggling as online retailing changed.

The Washington Post headline read: "Amazon's Growing Pains." The 9/23/99 article went on about silicone valley believers, who were asking if Amazon.com stock was still worth buying? The answer from around 200 people, who said the shares would go down was a resounding no, according to The Washington Post article.

That day, WPO stock was valued at $628.54 a share, up $17.19, which is around what it was worth when this journalist worked for The Washington Post and gave shares to his daughters, who still hold them.

Washington Post closes sale to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos http://wapo.st/1dUIUcO via @washingtonpost

Photo: http://www.lastspartan.com