You may have heard of this fellow, Jeffrey Preston Bezos — started a company called Amazon which has had a nice run.

His ownership in Amazon has made him the richest person in American and the world — some $200,000,000,000 from Amazon alone. This is after coughing up 25% of his shares to part company from his wife, MacKenzie.

MacKenzie with her Amazon stock is the third richest person in America after one of the Walton Women.

So, the Good Son, Big Red Car, back on topic?

OK, let me get back on topic. Sorry.

So, in the “early days” when Amazon was just a fledgling twinkle in Jeff and MacKenzie’s (she was a co-founder contributor in those days before she had 5 children with Jeff) eye, Jeff was in need of money to fund his vision of selling books.

He was a former hedge fund person, so he did what those type of persons do — he sought investors to fund his company. This is called OPM — other persons’ money.

He offered a 1% interest in his new company for $50,000.

It is reported he approached 60 persons of which 38 told him, “Take a hike kid. This Amazon thing will never fly.”

This was 24 years ago and 22 folks did take the plunge with him.

Of these 22 shares, his parents bought SIX of them. That’s right his parents, who were not wealthy persons, coughed up $300,000 to buy 6% of their 30-year-old baby boy’s company.

It is reported that it was all the money his parents had. They went all in on a guy who would become the richest man in the world, but still be bald.

How much is that worth today, Big Red Car?

Well, it gets a little convoluted because there is a trust involved and who really knows what they did with their money. In fact, their trust has done some extraordinary good works.

If the 6% were intact that $300,000 investment from 24 years ago would be worth $42,000,000,000 which is what is called in the trade — a nifty investment.

Putting the sharp end of a pencil to it, you will end up with an ROI in the 12,000,000% range — bit of rounding going on here. Still, you get the point.

This, of course, will earn you the sobriquet, The Good Son, in any family. 

Backstory, Big Red Car?

Yes, of course, dear reader, there is always a backstory. Here are some data points.

 1. Momma Bezos was a 17-year-old girl who was impregnated by a high school boyfriend who she married. That didn’t last and Jeff was raised by a very young mother.

 2. Mom did a good job. No, Mom knocked it out of the park proving the Power of Moms.

 3. Along the way, Mom meets a gentleman named, Miguel Bezos, a Cuban emigre who landed in the United States in 1962 as a 16-year old with 3 shirts, 3 pants, 3 sets of underwear, and a single pair of shoes.

He spoke not a word of English.

 4. When they married, Jeff was 4. He would later say that his father taught him the most valuable quality of his own success — GRIT.

Readable book on the subject of grit: GRIT, The Power of Passion and Perseverance, by author Angela Duckworth. 

 5. Jeff doesn’t really know his natural father who when confronted didn’t even know the name of his famous son. Bit of sadness, but Miguel more than delivered in the father department.

Parting shot

Not only is Jeff Bezos my leading candidate for Good Son 2020, he is also a shrewd investor.

Through his personal venture capital operation, Bezos Expeditions, he invested $250,000 in a fledgling Silicon Valley company by the name of Google.

That investment alone today is worth almost $9,000,000,000 — no word if Jeff cut Mom and Dad into the deal, but who really knows?

Bottom line it, Big Red Car

Jeffrey Preston Bezos may earn your umbrage when his Amazon colossus is crushing your local business, but as to his son-ship — The Good Son.

OK, all you guys out there — get to work. Mom and Dad are counting on y’all. Jeffrey Preston Bezos style.

But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car. [Message to my No. 1 Son and My Perfect Daughter — no pressure.]