We all dream about the life we would lead if we won the Lotto, but for Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos it’s all about living the dream.

He’s estimated to be worth around $82 billion (R1,07 TRILLION), so I suppose he has some breathing room when it comes to how he spends his money.

BusinessInsider have taken a look at his life, from how he built his empire to how he spends his money, but let’s kick off with his rise and rise:

Bezos showed signs of brilliance from an early age. When he was a toddler, he took apart his crib with a screwdriver, because he wanted to sleep in a real bed.

In school, Bezos told teachers “the future of mankind is not on this planet.” As a kid, he wanted to be a space entrepreneur. Now he owns a space-exploration company called Blue Origin.

In 1994, Bezos read that the web had grown 2,300% in one year. This number astounded him, and he decided he needed to find some way to take advantage of its rapid growth. He made a list of 20 possible products to sell online and decided books were the best option.

So yeah, that pretty much took off and Amazon was born.

Onto how he spends his money:

What does Bezos do with all his money? In 2012, he donated $2.5 million to defend gay marriage in Washington.

Bezos has also donated $42 million and part of his land in Texas to the construction of The Clock Of The Long Now, an underground timepiece designed to work for 10,000 years.

Bezos is said to own a 5.35-acre estate on Seattle’s Lake Washington that includes 200 yards of shoreline.

He also bought a seven-bedroom, $24.5 million mansion in Beverly Hills in 2007. There’s a greenhouse, tennis court, pool, and guest house on the property, and it neighbors Tom Cruise’s estate.

In January 2017, Bezos bought the Textile Museum [below], a pair of mansions in Washington, D.C.’s Kalorama neighborhood [sic]. The property sold for $23 million and is the largest in Washington.

Bezos also owns three linked apartments totaling 10,000 square feet in New York City’s Century Tower.

Safe to say he isn’t going homeless.

He’s actually closing in on Bill Gates for the title of world’s richest man, and believes innovation has been key to his success:

“What really matters is, companies that don’t continue to experiment, companies that don’t embrace failure, they eventually get in a desperate position where the only thing they can do is a Hail Mary bet at the very end of their corporate existence.”

Who knows what’s next, but chances are it’s going to make him a whole bunch of money.

[source:businessinsider]