Jeff Bezos once shared that his ideal line of work was very different from running a global tech empire — though he also acknowledged he probably wouldn’t be very good at it and might not last long in the role.
The Amazon founder is frequently listed among the world’s wealthiest people, with estimates putting his fortune at around $250 billion.
Even though he stepped down as Amazon’s CEO, Bezos remains closely involved as executive chairman, and it’s difficult to imagine a more successful career trajectory for him.
But long before he became synonymous with e-commerce and cloud computing, Bezos had a far more down-to-earth ambition: working behind a bar.
During an appearance at Summit LA17 in Los Angeles in November 2017, he said: “I have this fantasy of being a bartender. I pride myself on my craft cocktails.”
Business Insider has pointed out that, by his own admission, speed wouldn’t exactly be his strong suit when mixing drinks — suggesting his imaginary venue might need a notice that reads: “Do you want it good or do you want it fast?”
Speaking with his brother, Mark Bezos, he explained that he’d built up a romantic idea of bartending, picturing a job where he could talk to customers while honing his cocktail skills.
He also conceded that if he made every drink the way he wanted, the extra time involved would likely mean charging more than other bars.
While that particular dream sits in the background, Bezos has been far more vocal in recent years about where he hopes humanity is headed next — and his outlook is heavily tied to space.
On Lex Fridman’s podcast in 2023, Bezos said: “I would love to see a trillion humans living in the solar system.
“If we had a trillion humans, we would have, at any given time, 1,000 Mozarts and 1,000 Einsteins.
“That and our solar system be full of life and intelligence and energy. And we can easily support a civilisation that large with all of the resources in the solar system.”
Asked what that future might look like in practical terms, Bezos said his first step would be ‘building giant space stations’.
Bezos continued: “The planetary surfaces are just way too small unless you turn them into giant space stations or something.
“We will take materials from the moon and near-Earth objects and the asteroid belt and so on and build giant colonies and people will live in those.”