Jeff Bezos is a favorite target of progressive politicians. His wealth is maligned as outrageous and it is easy to ignore how he accumulated his billions – starting a small business in a garage and building it to the point where he could raise capital with an initial public offering and since it was his company, giving himself millions of shares in the new company – which any reasonable person would do.
The initial IPO was at $16.00 per share. Today Bezos owns only 9% of Amazon having sold millions of shares over the years. His wealth is mostly due to the splitting and growth in value of Amazon shares of stock. On August 25 Amazon stock closed at $3299.18 per share. Of course he is mega wealthy and why not?
The Amazon phenomenon has created millions of jobs, billions, if not trillions in tax revenue at all levels and provided convenience to customers all over the world.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I am entitled to any of Bezos’s money, but I do wish I were as smart and creative and as much of risk taker as he is.
Bezos has done nothing that was not possible for any American with an idea and the determination and guts to see it through and yet he is mocked by the likes of Sen Sanders for playing in space with his toys, mocked by a politician who has created nothing and who represents only 0.20 % of the US population.
• An initial $100 investment in Amazon would have given an investor five shares during the company’s IPO priced at $16 per share.
• Amazon shares hit record highs multiple times in 2020.
• The company’s stock split three times—two two-for-one splits in 1998 and 1999, and a three-for-one split in 1999.
• A $10,000 investment in AMZN at $18 per share would be worth more than $12 million as of May 2020.
www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/082715/if-you-had-invested-right-after-amazons-ipo.asp
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
As you have said previously, those who criticize Bezos, Gates and others for accumulating wealth seem blind to the vast amount of wealth they (and their small army of coworkers and employees) created for the public in the form of new products and lower prices. I grew up thinking that acquiring a nest egg over a lifetime of work, making wise decisions, abetted by a bit of luck, was admirable. I am now retired and I have enough, but it is minuscule compared to the billionaires. I wonder whether Senator Sanders and his followers think there is any dollar amount of wealth one can acquire that they would approve of, much less admire, or is all wealth accumulation wrong, and it’s only a matter of degree how wrong one is depending on the total amount. And, I would appreciate a definition of “fair share” as it relates to tax policy, from those politicians who refer to it. While the billionaire class hardly needs me or anyone else to speak on their behalf, it does not take a genius to realize that vilifying the billionaires and targeting them for wealth taxes today will eventually lead to a more broad tax on wealth that will affect people like you, me, and many millions of others tomorrow.
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Whatever the definition of “fair share” paying taxes is, it must include or imply that people pay taxes. According to Tax Policy Center, due to Covid and other factors only 39% of US tax payers actually paid income taxes in 2020. We can argue about the amount that those people paid but more of those 61% who didn’t pay any taxes need to start paying first in order to be fair.
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Very true
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Nailed it…again !!
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