[238][239], In January 2019, Bezos and his wife Mackenzie Scott released a joint statement which revealed that they would be getting divorced after 25 years together. Overtime is a media company that distributes original sports content on social media outlets, including Snapchat, YouTube and Facebook. [198] However, just months later in October 2016, his wealth increased by $16.2billion to $66.5billion, unofficially ranking him the third-richest person in the world, behind Warren Buffett. Initially operating out of his garage, the companys first annual revenue was $510,000. [264][265][266][267], In 2014, Amazon won a bid for a cloud computing contract with the CIA valued at $600million. Bezos Expeditions, the personal investment firm of the Amazon CEO, is one of the companies tied to this funding round. [247] Bezos and his now ex-wife MacKenzie are the parents of four children: three sons and one daughter adopted from China. ", "Jeff Bezos Buys David Geffen's Los Angeles Mansion for a Record $165 Million", "Amazon founder Jeff Bezos buys 'most expensive home' in Los Angeles", "Jeff Bezos Drops $16 Million on Another Manhattan Pad to Create a 'Vertical' Dream Home", "Rotterdam Is Dismantling a Historic Bridge for Jeff Bezos's Superyacht", "Expecting the Unexpected From Jeff Bezos", "Washington Post' May Find Conflicts in Amazon Coverage", "More than 400 Washington Post staffers wrote an open letter to Jeff Bezos calling out his 'shocking' pay practices", "More Than 400 Washington Post Staffers Wrote an Open Letter to Jeff Bezos Calling Out His 'Shocking' Pay Practices", "What Jeff Bezos' intimate-message breach teaches us about digital security", "Jeff Bezos' girlfriend Lauren Sanchez greeted him when he returned from his spaceflight. The NFL has played games in London, Mexico City and Germany but there is one place they haven't touched. However, Bezos would keep all of the couple's voting rights. Jeff Bezos and Drake invest in startup behind teen hoops league Jeff Bezos $1 Billion Deal With NFL Proves Highly ", "Amazon will have a new CEO as Jeff Bezos transitions to executive chair later this year", "Jeff Bezos and brother to fly to space in Blue Origin flight", "Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen reach edge of space, return safely on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket", "Jeff Bezos's single teen mom brought him to night school with her when he was a baby", Why Some Locals Are Skeptical About Jeff Bezos' Free Preschool Near Seattle, "At Last, Jeff Bezos Offers a Hint of His Philanthropic Plans", "Jeff Bezos just sold $534million worth of Amazon stock", "Biography and Video Interview of Jeff Bezos at Academy of Achievement", "Jeff Bezos: A rocket launched from Miami's Palmetto High", "Amazon.com's Bezos invests in space travel, time", "How Amazon's Jeff Bezos went from the son of a teen mom to the richest person in the world", "Top Executive Profiles Jeffrey P. Bezos", "MacKenzie Bezos and the Myth of the Lone Genius Founder", "Who's Writing the Book on Web Business? [110] To execute the sale, he established limited liability company Nash Holdings to serve as a holding company through which he would own the newspaper. Then Bezos called his bluff", "Why Amazon's collaboration with the CIA is so ominous and vulnerable", "DoD's $10B cloud contract comes under protest 11 days after final RFP", "Microsoft wins Pentagon's $10bn cloud computing contract", "Amazon suing Pentagon over $10B cloud contract, alleging 'bias', "Pentagon cancels $10 billion JEDI cloud contract that Amazon and Microsoft were fighting over", "Amazon Pushes ICE to Buy Its Face Recognition Surveillance Tech", "Amazon's growing spending on Seattle politics includes a spate of donations from Jeff Bezos' 'S Team', "Jeff Bezos donates $100M to the Obama Foundation in honor of Congressman John Lewis", "Jeff Bezos donates to Obama Foundation in honor of John Lewis", "Saudi crown prince meets Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in Seattle", "Saudi Arabia 'hacked Amazon boss's phone', says investigator", "Jeff Bezos hack: Amazon boss's phone 'hacked by Saudi crown prince', "Jeff Bezos hack: Saudi Arabia calls claim 'absurd', "Fred Hutch receives $35million donation, largest ever, from Bezos family", "Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and family donate $20M to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center", "Jeff Bezos is the richest man in modern history here's how he spends on philanthropy", "Unanswered questions about Jeff Bezos' new $2billion philanthropic fund", "Jeff Bezos just gave $1million to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press", "Jeff Bezos wants to give more money to charity. [50] Bezos initially named his new company Cadabra but later changed the name to Amazon after the Amazon River in South America, in part because the name begins with the letter A, which is at the beginning of the alphabet. The great American entrepreneur Jeff Bezos is the co-founder and longest-serving CEO of Amazon. [271][272] On July 6, 2021, the Pentagon cancelled the JEDI contract with Microsoft, citing that "due to evolving requirements, increased cloud conversancy, and industry advances, the JEDI Cloud contract no longer meets its needs. Changing His Eating Habits Turned Out To Be The Biggest Change. [3][4] He is the founder, executive chairman, and former president and CEO of Amazon. [51] At the time, website listings were alphabetized, so a name starting with "A" would appear sooner when customers conducted online searches. [51], In 1998, Bezos diversified into the online sale of music and video, and by the end of the year he had expanded the company's products to include a variety of other consumer goods. [100] Later in November, Blue Origin's New Shepard space vehicle successfully rocketed into space and reached its planned test altitude of 329,839 feet (100.5 kilometers) before executing a vertical landing back at the launch site in West Texas. [67] On January 29, 2018, he was featured in Amazon's Super Bowl commercial. [7], The company left stealth mode and launched on January 19, 2022, with a start capital of $3 billion and an executive team led by Hal Barron. [268] A 2018, $10billion contract known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) project, this time with the Pentagon, was allegedly written up in a way that favors Amazon. "[81] He later said: "Bezos could play a profound role. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos hires investment firm to evaluate a Bezos became D. E. Shaw's fourth senior vice-president by age 30. [269] Controversy over this was raised when General James Mattis accepted a headquarters tour invitation from Bezos and co-ordinated the deal through Sally Donnelly, a lobbyist who previously worked for Amazon. Bezos not only invested in the real estate startup's seed round in 2021, but he doubled down on that investment during the company's series A last year. [41][42], After Bezos graduated from college in 1986, he was offered jobs at Intel, Bell Labs, and Andersen Consulting, among others. [140][141] This perception was detailed by Alan Deutschman, who described him as "talking in lists" and "[enumerating] the criteria, in order of importance, for every decision he has made. Jeff Bezos saw his wealth slashed by $20 billion on Friday, cutting him to No. Nonetheless, he certainly has enough money to buy a sports team with the fortune he has accumulated from Amazon. Jeff Bezos [295][bettersourceneeded] In June 2018, Bezos donated to Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a private philanthropic fund founded by Bill Gates aimed at promoting emissions-free energy. [85] The American workers who were being paid the minimum wage had this increased to $15 per hour, a decision that was interpreted as support for the Fight for $15 movement. ", "Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Bezos have finalized their divorce agreement, and he's getting 75% of the Amazon shares and voting control of the rest", "Jeff Bezos Buys Three Manhattan Apartments for $80 Million The combined space totals 17,000 square feet", "Amazon's Jeff Bezos Stiffs Tommy Mottola In $7.65 Million Deal", "Will Jeff Bezos live in one of his Upper West Side apartments when Amazon comes to town? [216] On July 17, 2018, he was designated the "wealthiest person in modern history"[c] by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index,[219] Fortune,[220] MarketWatch,[221] The Wall Street Journal,[222] and Forbes. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox. The Washington Post reported that Jones may be leaning on Dan Snyder to sell Although he does not respond to the emails, he forwards some of them with a question mark in the subject line to executives who attempt to address the issues. [102], In December 2017, New Shepard successfully flew and landed dummy passengers, amending and pushing its human space travel start date into late 2018. [35] In his graduation speech, Bezos told the audience he dreamed of the day when mankind would colonize space. Jeff Bezos Sports media company Overtime has secured an $80 million fundraising round with investors including Jeff Bezos investment firm, global entertainer Drake, [80] While preparing to introduce the bill, Sanders opined: "Instead of attempting to explore Mars or go to the moon, how about Jeff Bezos pays his workers a living wage? [51] In late 2002, rapid spending from Amazon caused it financial distress when revenues stagnated. But Soon, the F.A.A. Since that report from November 2019, Bezos' ties with the NFL have only grown. [45][246] In 1994, they moved across the country to Seattle, Washington, where Bezos founded Amazon. If he said today, nobody who is employed at Amazon will receive less than a living wage, it would send a message to every corporation in America. "I don't want to drag anybody around," he said . Jeff Bezos Facts Who Will Win? [129][130], In September 2021, Bezos co-founded Altos Labs with Mail.ru founder Yuri Milner. [137], Bezos uses the term "worklife harmony" instead of the more standard "worklife balance" because he believes that balance implies that you can only have one and not the other. But if OTE players do not pursue a professional career, OTE will provide an additional $100,000 for college tuition. Bezos founded Amazon in late 1994 on a road trip from New York City to Seattle. [61] In 2013, Bezos secured a $600-million contract with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on behalf of Amazon Web Services. He was succeeded as CEO by Andy Jassy. [39], Bezos portrayed a Starfleet official in the 2016 movie Star Trek Beyond, and joined the cast and crew at a San Diego Comic-Con screening. [301][302][303] In April 2020, early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Bezos donated $100 million to food banks through Feeding America. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos attended the Sports Illustrated Super Bowl party. WebThere is little chance that Jeff Bezos will slow down after stepping down as Amazon CEO. The first centibillionaire on the Forbes wealth index,[8] Bezos was named the "richest man in modern history" after his net worth increased to $150billion in July 2018. [28] Multiple opinion columnists responded by asking Bezos to pay higher wages to Amazon warehouse workers. [43] He first worked at Fitel, a fintech telecommunications start-up, where he was tasked with building a network for international trade. [107] In July 2018, it was announced that Bezos had priced commercial spaceflight tickets from $200,000 to $300,000 per person.[108]. [75] Weeks later, Bezos recouped his losses when academic reports out of Stanford University indicated that Trump could do little to regulate Amazon in any meaningful way. We Have 4 Guesses", "Jeff Bezos to fund schools where 'child will be the customer' with new charity", "Jeff Bezos to Create $2 Billion Fund for Homeless, Preschools", "Jeff Bezos Unveils Multibillion-Dollar Plans For Charitable Giving", "Jeff Bezos donates $33million to scholarship fund for 'dreamers', "Backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, Breakthrough Energy Ventures places first bets on power storage", "Jeff Bezos donates $10million to organization that helps veterans run for office", "Amazon founder Jeff Bezos commits $10bn to fight climate change", "Jeff Bezos: World's richest man pledges $10bn to fight climate change", "Bezos Earth Fund announces first grants totaling $791M of his $10B pledge to help planet", "Bezos Earth Fund gives nearly $800 million to climate groups in first round of grants", "Jeff Bezos names first recipients of his $10 billion Earth Fund for combating climate change", "Twitter boss pledges $1bn for coronavirus relief", "Why Jeff Bezos's $100 million donation to food banks won't satisfy his critics", "Jeff Bezos Pledges $2B for Nature Conservation as World Leaders Address Deforestation, Emissions", Jeff Bezos's tuition-free preschool is expanding to new locations in Texas and Florida. The previous record high price of $150 million was paid by Lachlan Murdoch for the Chartwell Mansion. Jeff Bezos Jeff Bezos - Bald & Ballin [107] He announced that New Shepard would begin transporting humans into sub-orbital space by November 2018. Bezos rose to be the 5th richest person in the world hours before market close; he gained $7billion in one hour. [307], In November 2022, Bezos granted a $100-million Courage and Civility Award to singer Dolly Parton in recognition of her charity work focused on improving children's literacy around the world. [46] He and his then-wife, MacKenzie Scott, left their jobs at D. E. Shaw and founded Amazon in a rented garage in Bellevue, Washington on July 5, 1994, after writing its business plan on a cross-country drive from New York City to Seattle. This fundraise reflects the incredible growth opportunities associated with such a market leading position, including the opportunity to bring Overtime Elite into the world," said Michael Spirito, a partner at investment firm Sapphire Sport, who led the funding round. [190] From 2005 to 2007, he quadrupled his net worth to $8.7billion. The company also and sells apparel with its logos and branding. [237] In 2013, more than 400 Washington Post employees wrote an open letter to Bezos criticizing his poor wages and benefits for his employees. Did His wealth surpassed $100billion for the first time on November 24, 2017, and he was formally designated the wealthiest person in the world by Forbes on March 6, 2018, with a net worth of $112billion. [83] However, Sanders countered that the companies targeted by his proposal have placed an increased focus on part-time workers to escape benefit obligations. [161] Bezos does not schedule early morning meetings and enforces a two-pizza rulea preference that meetings are small enough for two pizzas to feed everyone in the boardroom. Yes. [192][193] His wealth rose by 85.2% in 2010, leaving him with $12.6billion. The company formally launched on July 16, 1995. [115], Bezos makes personal investments through his venture capital vehicle, Bezos Expeditions. During that time, Amazon was just coming into its own by selling CDs online. [101] He has repeatedly called for increased inter-space energy and industrial manufacturing to decrease the negative costs associated with business-related pollution. Jeff Bezos plays games here and there but you wouldnt [253] He had lobbied Paramount for the role apropos of Alexa and his personal/professional interest in speech recognition. Even Jeff Bezos' brother Mark was completely taken off guard by the internet memes showing the man behind Amazon looking completely jacked. [96] After the crash, Bezos has been superstitiously wearing his "lucky" Texas Cowboy boots to all rocket launches. ", "What Has Jeff Bezos Chosen to Spend His $140B On? Jeff Bezos | Biography, Amazon, & Facts | Britannica Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was a smart and enterprising kid, as Brad Stone writes in his 2013 book "The Everything Store." A local newspaper quoted his intention "to get all people off the earth and see it turned into a huge national park". [74] Amazon's share price fell by 9% in response to the President's negative comments; this reduced Bezos's personal wealth by $10.7billion. [148][149][150] Since 2017, he has been portrayed by Kyle Mooney and Steve Carell on Saturday Night Live, usually as an undercutting, domineering figure. [203] Bezos was officially ranked as the third-wealthiest person in the world, up from the 5th spot in 2016. ", "Bezos Not Concerned About Competition, Possible ULA Sale", "Jeff Bezos lifts curtain on Blue Origin rocket factory, lays out grand plan for space travel that spans hundreds of years", "Jeff Bezos says he wants to fly into space 'as soon as possible', "Later, Vader! He received Germany's 2018 Axel Springer Award for Business Innovation and Social Responsibility. [95] In September 2011, one of the company's unmanned prototype vehicles crashed during a short-hop test flight. [287], In May 2017, Bezos gave $1million to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which provides pro bono legal services for American journalists. WebBezos made a cameo appearance playing an alien in the film Star Trek Beyond. He believes that work and home life are interconnected, informing and calibrating each other. [121][122], Bezos also supports philanthropic efforts through direct donations and non-profit projects funded by Bezos Expeditions. [49] Prior to settling on Seattle, Bezos had investigated setting up his company at an Indian reservation near San Francisco in order to avoid paying taxes. [157][158], Bezos used what he called a "regret-minimization framework" while he worked at D.E. Shaw and again during the early years of Amazon. Altos Labs is a generously funded biotechnology company dedicated to harnessing cellular reprogramming to develop longevity therapeutics. [227], In June 2019, Bezos purchased three adjoining apartments overlooking Madison Square Park in Manhattan, including a penthouse, for a combined total of US$80million, making this one of the most expensive real estate purchases within New York City in 2019. [191] After the financial crisis and succeeding economic recession, his net worth would decrease to $6.8billiona 17.7% drop. [132][133] Journalist Mark O'Connell criticized Bezos's relentless customer focus as "very small" in terms of impact on humanity as a whole,[134] a sentiment technologist Tim O'Reilly agreed with. In March, the company made headlines when it announced Overtime Elite, a basketball league for 16-to-18-year-olds that allows them to earn at least $100,000 per year. [28] His relative lack of philanthropy compared to other billionaires has drawn a negative response from the public since 2016. Jeff Bezos is a gamer if you count flying rockets: Twitch co [14] The suborbital flight lasted over 10 minutes, reaching a peak altitude of 66.5 miles (107.0km). In his initial discussion of the project which became Alexa with his technical advisor Greg Hart in 2011, Bezos told him that the goal was to create "the Star Trek computer. ", "Jeff Bezos's Net Worth Hits Record $151 Billion After Strong Amazon 'Prime Day', "Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150 Billion", "Jeff Bezos Is Now the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150 Billion", "Jeff Bezos becomes the richest person in modern history amid Amazon Prime Day kickoff", "Is Jeff Bezos Really the Richest of Them All? He was high school valedictorian, a National Merit Scholar,[35][36] and a Silver Knight Award winner in 1982. That [135] His business practices projected a public image of prudence and parsimony with his own wealth and that of Amazon. WebOn Feb 21st, both Jones' jet and Bezos' jet landed at Princess Juliana Airport on the Island of St. Martin. [63], In May 2016, Bezos sold slightly more than one million shares of his holdings in the company for $671million, the largest sum he had ever raised from selling some of his Amazon stock. Jeff Bezos Jeff Bezos In September 2016, Bezos received a $250,000 prize for winning the Heinlein Prize for Advances in Space Commercialization, which he donated to the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. $3,487 is divided by 47, a fraction. [195][196] A year later, Bezos entered the top ten when he increased his net worth to a total of $50.3billion. The real question, as a league source has framed it for PFT, is whether Bezos has deliberately chosen not to get in, or whether he has been frozen out. [64] On August 4, 2016, Bezos sold another million of his shares for $756.7million. No, Jeff Bezos does not own a sports team. "Bezos" redirects here. [37] In 1986, he graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with a 4.2 GPA and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree (B.S.E.) [36] His 1982 high school valedictorian senior graduation speech was followed up with a Miami Herald interview in which he expressed an interest to build and develop hotels, amusement parks, and colonies for human beings who were in orbit. [57] In 2002, Bezos led Amazon to launch Amazon Web Services, which compiled data from weather channels and website traffic. [113] In January 2016, Bezos set out to reinvent the newspaper as a media and technology company by reconstructing its digital media, mobile platforms, and analytics software. He described this life philosophy by stating: "When I'm 80, am I going to regret leaving Wall Street? [62] In October of that year, Amazon was recognized as the largest online shopping retailer in the world. Jeffs mother and father were was only 17 and 19 when he was born. Here's who's eligible to attend and why Bezos says 'the child will be the customer. Jeff Bezos, Drake and others invest $80 million in sports Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) October 1, 2021 Since New Worlds launch on Tuesday , it has managed to reach a concurrent player count of over 800,000 players, He transitioned into the banking industry when he became a product manager at Bankers Trust from 1988 to 1990. [48][53][54] He warned many early investors that there was a 70% chance that Amazon would fail or go bankrupt. He worked on Wall Street in a variety of related fields from 1986 to early 1994. Jeff Bezos once tried to buy the Seattle Seahawks, even when they werent selling. He has also supported Democrats U.S. representative John Conyers, as well as Patrick Leahy and Republican Spencer Abraham, U.S. senators serving on committees dealing with Internet-related issues. When he studied at Stanford, he joined a variety of sports teams, including in-line skating, skiing, gymnastics, and trapeze. WebFor the years he did pay federal income taxes between 2006 and 2018, Bezos paid a total of about $1.4 billion on a reported income of $6.5 billion, or a rate of about 21.5%. Bezos retained his interest in The Washington Post and Blue Origin, as well as voting control of the shares received by his ex-wife. Won't Award Them", "FAA Commercial Human Spaceflight Recognition", "Bloomberg Billionaire Index Jeff Bezos", "Meet Altos Labs, Silicon Valley's latest wild bet on living forever", "This Is The Richest Person in the World", "Jeff Bezos Becomes The First Person Ever Worth $200 Billion", "Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos grows fortune by $24bn amid coronavirus pandemic", "Jeff Bezos to Step Down as Amazon C.E.O. [7] The company has recruited prominent scientists such as Juan Carlos Izpisa Belmonte (known for work on rejuvenation through reprogramming), Steve Horvath (known for work in epigenetic aging clocks), and Shinya Yamanaka (the Nobel Prize-winning inventor of cellular reprogramming in mammalian cells). Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Monday will hand over his chief executive title to Andy Jassy, ending a more than two-decade run leading the company through its "[254] Bezos's family corporation Zefram LLC is named after Zefram Cochrane, a character from Star Trek. Aaron Rodgers Answers 'Diva' Question; ESPN Conflicting Perez of FrontOfficeSports.com reports that no bid exceeded $6.3 billion. 2023 CNBC LLC. Cry? Bezos started to wear tailored clothing; he weight trained, pursued a regimented diet and began to freely spend his money. Jeff Bezos quit his job at an investment bank in 1994 and moved to Seattle, Washington, to open a virtual bookstore. To date, the Brooklyn-based Overtime says it has raised more than $140 million. Amazon Bezos left D.E. [98] He has been compared to Branson and Elon Musk as all three are billionaires who prioritize spaceflight among their business interests. [132] During the 1990s, Bezos earned a reputation for relentlessly pushing Amazon forward, often at the expense of public charity and social welfare. It is the world's largest online sales company, the largest Internet company by revenue, and the largest provider of virtual assistants and cloud infrastructure services through its Amazon Web Services branch. Jeff Bezos Jeff Bezos Jeff Bezos [123] Bezos used Bezos Expeditions to fund several philanthropic projects, including an Innovation center at the Seattle Museum of History and Industry and the Bezos Center for Neural Circuit Dynamics at Princeton Neuroscience Institute. [38][39] While at Princeton, Bezos was a member of the Quadrangle Club, one of Princeton's 11 eating clubs. [143] Additionally, Bezos reportedly pitted Amazon teams against each other, and once declined to give Amazon employees city bus passes in order to discourage them from leaving the office. [52] In addition, he regarded "Amazon," the name of the world's largest river as fitting for what he hoped would become the world's largest online bookstore. [20] Jeff attended a Montessori school in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when he was two years old. Getty. ", "Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Bezos have finalized their divorce agreement", "World's richest man Jeff Bezos divorces", "Jeff Bezos, World's Richest Person, Announces Divorce After 25 Years Of Marriage", "MacKenzie Bezos, author, philanthropist, and soon to be world's richest woman? [142] Bezos has been characterized as a notoriously opportunistic CEO who operates with little concern for obstacles and externalities. [92][248] Bezos and MacKenzie have not disclosed their religious status. The Amazon CEO Keeps His Beliefs to Himself", "What we know, and don't know, about Jeff Bezos' religious beliefs", "Amazon Chief Survives Helicopter Crash in Texas", "Amazon founder Jeff Bezos reveals Star Trek Beyond alien cameo", "Jeff Bezos, long known for guarding his privacy, faces his most public and personal crisis", "Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and wife MacKenzie to divorce after 25 years of marriage", "Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos are getting divorced after 25 years of marriage", "Jeff Bezos to keep 75 percent of couple's Amazon stock after finalizing divorce", "Amazon's Jeff Bezos, wife, make $2.5million donation for gay marriage", "Amazon.com Contributions to Federal Candidates, 2012 cycles", "How to Understand Donald Trump's #AmazonWashingtonPost Tweet in 3 Easy Steps", "Slammed by Trump, Amazon's Jeff Bezos Chooses Silence", "Why Jeff Bezos Is Dumping Cash into Trump's Swamp", "Donald Trump called out Jeff Bezos on Twitter. [215] Following the report by Quartz, Amazon workers in Poland, (Germany), and Spain participated in demonstrations and labor strikes to draw attention to his growing wealth and the lack of compensation, labor rights, and satisfactory working conditions of select Amazon workers. [234], Bezos is known for creating an adversarial environment at Amazon, as well as insulting and verbally abusing his employees.