At just 16 years old, Miguel Bezos, father of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, fled Cuba during Operation Pedro Pan in 1962. Arriving in the United States as an unaccompanied teenager, he faced significant challenges adapting to a new country and culture. Over the next three decades, he completed his education, built a career in engineering and management at Exxon, and started a family. In 1995, 33 years after leaving Cuba, Miguel and his wife Jackie invested nearly $250,000 of their hard-earned savings in Jeff's fledgling online bookstore, Amazon. That early investment, based on subsequent stock splits, could be worth more than $90 billion today, exceeding the annual GDP of over 100 countries.
Miguel Bezos arrived in Miami in 1962 as part of Operation Pedro Pan, a program that allowed thousands of Cuban children to travel to the United States without their parents amid concerns about political changes following Fidel Castro's rise to power. He initially stayed at Camp Matecumbe, a refugee center in Florida, before being transferred to a Catholic institution in Wilmington, Delaware. Miguel continued his education in the United States, attending Salesianum School in Wilmington, Delaware, and later receiving a scholarship to the University of Albuquerque in New Mexico, where he studied mathematics and graduated in 1968.
In 1994, Jeff Bezos left his job at investment firm D E Shaw to pursue an opportunity in the rapidly expanding internet. He established an online bookstore, which would eventually become Amazon. Miguel and Jackie became among his earliest financial backers, investing $100,000 personally in February 1995 and another $145,500 through Jackie's family trust in July 1995. Their combined investment amounted to approximately $245,500, which is commonly rounded to $250,000. Despite the uncertainty and risk involved, Miguel and Jackie decided to support their son, investing in him rather than simply betting on the idea of an online bookstore. Amazon went public in May 1997 at $18 per share, and its growth over the years transformed the value of early shares, including those acquired by Miguel and Jackie.