We already brought you part one of our list of 15 things you probably did not know about Jeff Bezos, and now we’re back with part two! Check out eight more fascinating facts about the entrepreneur and CEO of Amazon that you definitely (probably) did not know below. You might be surprised by what you find out!
Number Eight: He Keeps One Chair Empty in Every Meeting. Bezos reportedly keeps one chair empty in every important meeting as a symbolic representation of Amazon’s most important group of people – its customers.
Number Seven: He Is Relentless. We mentioned in part one of this list that Bezos wanted to call Amazon “Cadabra” at one point. At another point, Bezos wanted to call it “Relentless.” Bezos ended up registering the URL of relentless.com in 1994, and today, if you visit the site, you will be redirected to – you guessed it – Amazon!
Number Six: There’s a Reason Amazon HQ Is in Washington. Bezos founded Amazon.com in Seattle, Washington in an effort to minimize the sales tax his customers would have to pay. How thoughtful!
Number Five: He Patented the “One-Click” Pay. You might be familiar with Amazon’s convenient payment process that only requires one click. However, when Barnes and Noble tried to implement a similar one-click payment scheme, Amazon sued them and won because Bezos patented the process.
Number Four: He Used a Bell for Sales in the Beginning. Bezos’ first official Amazon employee was Shel Kaphan, and together, they set up a bell that rang every time they made a sale. We’re guessing they got annoyed with the bell pretty quickly.
Number Three: He is Pro-Gay Rights. In 2012, along with his wife, Bezos gave $2.5 million in defense of Washington’s gay marriage law.
Number Two: He Held His First Meetings at Barnes and Noble. It’s true! When Amazon was just an infant, Bezos would hold meetings with people in Barnes and Noble.
Number One: He Truly Values Resourcefulness. Before Bezos got married, he would tell people that he was looking for a woman who could get him out of a third world prison. However, what he really meant by that is that he was looking for someone who was resourceful. He even said, “Life’s too short to hang out with people who aren’t resourceful.”