Jeff Bezos’ reason for still driving a 1997 Honda Accord after becoming a billionaire makes a lot of sense

  • Jeff Bezos was still driving his 1997 Honda Accord in 2013
  • Yes, he was already a billionaire
  • He’s spoken out on why

Published on Sep 09, 2024 at 2:27 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones

Last updated on Sep 10, 2024 at 11:10 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by Tom Wood

Jeff Bezos might now fly and sail in luxury, but he was still driving his 1997 Honda Accord in 2013.

He was already a very wealthy man by that point.

He’s spoken out on why, as a billionaire, he didn’t upgrade sooner.

Honestly, it makes a lot of sense.

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The billionaire driving a 1997 Honda Accord

He might have founded Amazon.com Inc. and flit between the first and second spot of Forbes Real Time Billionaire list – but the car he was driving in 2013 was remarkably modest.

The current world number two according to Brad Stone’s, The Everything Store, continued driving a 1997 Honda Accord.

It’s in stark contrast to his recent purchase of a $80 million Gulfstream G700 private jet.

He also owns a $500 million superyacht with eyewatering upkeep costs.

Earlier this year, Jeff Bezos acquired a third mansion on the exclusive Billionaire Bunker Island for $90 million.

That’s not to mention the $42 million he spent building a clock that will outlast human civilization.

His reasoning for the car? “

This is a perfectly good car,” he said in a 60 Minutes interview with Bob Simon in 1999.

While Amazon was a 5-year-old online bookstore at the time – it was still eyebrow-raising due to his then net worth of about $8 billion.

Other frugal facts about Jeff Bezos

Amazon’s headquarters were, at the time, sitting between a heroin needle exchange and a pornography store.

Simon, seeing also Bezos’s desk made from a wooden door and 4x4s, asked why he hadn’t moved the office to a swanky location.

Bezos replied: “It’s a symbol of spending money on things that matter to customers.

An approach that sits aligned with one of Amazon’s core leadership principles: “Accomplish more with less. Constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency and invention.”

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All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”