Stars and their eyes… Jeff Bezos

January 17, 2022 Staff reporters

Amazon founder and executive chair Jeff Bezos is rumoured to have ptosis in his right eye, or possibly a bulging left eye. The online speculation seems to favour the former. Either way, Bezos’ condition has been present since childhood and has many wondering why the world’s richest person hasn’t seen an oculoplastic surgeon.

Whatever his eye condition, it certainly hasn’t held Bezos back. The idea to start an online bookstore came to him during a cross-country road trip and he subsequently started Amazon in his Seattle garage in late 1994. It has since expanded to a vast range of products and services, including video and audio streaming, cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Initially, Bezos named his company Cadabra but renamed it after the South American river. This was partly because, at the time, website listings were alphabetised, so a name starting with ‘A’ would appear higher in online searches. Also, Bezos said he thought the name of the world's largest river would be more fitting for what he hoped would become the world's largest online bookstore!