Bezos, who owns Amazon, and Musk, who holds Tesla, have three times and twice The "battle of the richest man" is very exciting. After Bill Gates reduced his stake in Microsoft significantly, Bezos has been the richest man in the world for a long time.
But this year, Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH, became the world's richest man with a net worth of $233 billion. Another important reason why Bernard Arnault became the richest man was that Bezos gave his ex-wife a 4% stake after the divorce.
Bezos's divorce from his ex-wife has focused the world's attention on a child, that is, Bezos's adopted daughter, an abandoned baby from China.
Under U.S. law, adopted children have the same equal inheritance rights as biological children. In other words, this abandoned girl can inherit a quarter of the assets of her adoptive father Bezos, a net worth of about $50 billion.
As soon as the news came out, everyone couldn't help but wonder: how did she become Bezos's adopted daughter? How did her life change dramatically? And how did the little girl view the ups and downs of her life in just a few years?
1. Abandoned in the hospital at birth, a slight smile changes your life
In 2004, a baby girl was born in a maternal and child health hospital in Changsha, Hunan Province, China.
As the child cried, the child's parents and grandparents also cried.
The nurses at the Maternal and Child Health Hospital were accustomed to this, and they just pushed the child into the parents' arms, but the parents refused to even hug them and frequently retreated.
The woman was only in the hospital for one night.
The next day, the nurses found that the pregnant woman, her husband and relatives, had quietly slipped away after giving birth the day before, and there was no contact information.
Only the baby girl, who was born yesterday, wrapped in a ragged mattress, was placed on the hospital bed haphazardly, and was crying with hunger.
At that time, although it had entered the 21st century, the living and cultural standards of the Chinese people had greatly improved compared with the previous century. But in many places, patriarchy remains deeply entrenched.
Apparently, the one-day-old baby girl was abandoned in the hospital by her parents.
But the hospital is not a welfare institution and cannot raise a newborn baby.
So, after several searches for the baby girl's parents, the hospital decided to send the baby girl to a children's welfare home, that is, an orphanage, as before.
The life of the Changsha Children's Welfare Institute is considered to be one of the best in the country. Not only do you not have to worry about eating, drinking, and clothing, but you will also not be left behind in cultural classes and entertainment. The abandoned baby girl grew up happily in the orphanage.
Although there are no parents, the teachers and aunts in the orphanage are very kind people, and they fill the lonely hearts and thirst for love of the orphans with love.
However, no matter how selfless the love of others is, it is not as good as having a truly warm family.
For the children in the orphanage, there is nothing more joyful than being adopted.
Because being adopted means being like ordinary children, having a father and a mother, and their love for themselves. For them, this is something more valuable than any luxury.
Although Bezos was not the richest man in the world more than ten years ago, he was also the world's top super-rich.
But there is only one regret that has always haunted his heart, and that is: he has no daughter.
Just as Chinese want to be able to make a "good" pair, many Westerners also want to have a son and a daughter, in pairs. Bezos is no exception.
He was married to Mackenzie, who was still his wife at the time, for 15 years, and had three sons in a row, but not even a daughter. This made Bezos unable to sit still and began to think about plans to adopt a daughter.
In 2006, Bezos came to Changsha, Hunan Province, China, to discuss Amazon China.
The business exchange went well, and Bezos, who was in his spare time, began to think about adopting a daughter again. At that time, it was a rare and common thing for foreigners to come to China to adopt children.
The main reason for this situation is that it is too difficult for American families to adopt a child from their home country.
Not only is the number of children who can be adopted, but also the adoption process is extremely cumbersome and complicated, the adoption cost is extremely high, and the waiting time is too long, which makes them more inclined to adopt a foreign child - especially Asian orphans who have always been known for being "hardworking", "intelligent" and "well-behaved".
After Bezos exchanged his thoughts and wishes with the Chinese entourage, the entourage took him to the Changsha Municipal Welfare Institute.
According to Bezos, he looked at the baby girls in the orphanage, and they were all crying loudly, and they didn't seem to be interested in his "bald head".
However, when he walked up to the baby girl, who had been abandoned by his parents in the hospital, the little baby looked at the "strange-looking guy" in front of him with big black eyes, and he actually laughed happily at him.
Looking at the smiling face of the cute baby, Bezos's heart was full of tenderness.
It's just that this 2-year-old baby didn't know that her smile changed her fate forever.
Bezos emailed a photo of the little girl to his wife, Mackenzie, and explained his thoughts. Mackenzie quickly booked a plane ticket to Changsha to visit the little girl with Bezos.
After verifying the little girl's origin and past experience with the welfare home, and learning about China's adoption policies and procedures, the couple hit it off: adopt this Chinese female abandoned baby!
After reaching a consensus, the two submitted an application for adoption to the China Adoption Center. In accordance with the provisions of China's "Adoption Law", he submitted documents such as marital status certificates, occupational certificates, and economic income certificates, and explained that he wanted to designate the baby girl as the adoptee.
Soon, the China Adoption Center received the adoption application and supporting documents from the Bezos.
Unlike the United States, which had to wait several years, their application was approved after just one week.
Immediately afterward, Bezos's mailbox received the "Notice of Adoption of Children in China" issued by the China Nursing Center for them.
With this notice, the couple came to Changsha, China, from the United States again, and signed a written adoption agreement with the Changsha Municipal Welfare Institute.
At this point, the adoption relationship between the Bezos couple and the abandoned baby was officially established.
The day after the adoption, Mr. and Mrs. Bezos took the baby girl around the city of Changsha before boarding a plane to the United States.
Since then, this poor baby girl, who was abandoned in the hospital at birth, finally has a father and mother, and a home of her own.
2. Bezos, who has the same illness as his adopted daughter
"Everything" is the general impression of a successful businessman in the ordinary person, but on the contrary, Bezos is a very family-oriented person.
There has been a long-standing legend that the Amazon does not have a morning meeting. Because the owner, Bezos, feels that for Amazon employees, there is nothing more important at the beginning of a new day than having breakfast with the family.
In the same vein, Bezos carries this belief through himself: every day, Bezos wakes up early, makes breakfast with his wife, wakes up the children, and has breakfast together as a family in the dining room. And no matter how busy he is, he will definitely find a little time to spend with his family every week.
As the saying goes, "what is missing, make up for it". The reason why Bezos attaches so much importance to family is also related to his own life experience. Although Bezos has a strong sense of family, his own childhood life was not very good.
Bezos's mother was pregnant out of wedlock, and when she gave birth to him, she was only an 18-year-old high school student, and Bezos's biological relatives were no more than 20 years old at the time.
Since childhood, the biological father who lacks a sense of responsibility has ignored Bezos, and his mother, who has just come of age at the age of 18, has relied on odd jobs everywhere to support Bezos alone.
It can be said that he grew up in an environment where there was a lack of clothes and little love. But when he was 4 years old, Bezos' mother met his stepfather, Miguel Bezos.
The kind-hearted Miguel Bezos did not dislike this woman with a child at a young age, but loved the mother and son with all her heart.
Bezos had a very good relationship with Miguel, and he and his mother even decided to abandon his biological father's surname and use his adoptive father's surname "Bezos" instead.
Miguel treated Bezos like his own son, not only raised him, but also helped raise the start-up fund for Bezos as an adult. It can be said that without Miguel, there would be no Amazon, and there would be no Bezos, the super-rich man of today.
Now, the love that his adoptive father gave Bezos has been passed on by Bezos to his adopted daughter.
Bezos is very protective of this adopted daughter, although he has also taken her to several public social events such as media meetings, but no one knows her details, and even her name is a secret.
However, everyone can see from the only few family photos that the baby girl who was once abandoned by her parents on the hospital bed and was so hungry that she cried is now not only living a rich life, but also living a very happy life, and is a child who is being loved.
The richest couple attaches great importance to the cultivation of the next generation.
Bezos wrote in his autobiography: We let children use sharp knives when they are four years old, and when they are seven or eight years old, we let them use power tools.
He also once revealed that because his adopted daughter is the only little princess in the family, he treats his daughter better than his three biological sons: if he has a son, his daughter must also have it, and if his son doesn't have it, his daughter must also have it.
It is even said that Bezos directly bought an island for her daughter to use on vacation.
However, he provided more than just financial support for his adopted daughter. On the show, Bezos also revealed that he made a plan for his adopted daughter, that is, she must spend 50,000 US dollars a week, about 350,000 yuan.
However, there are conditions for this spending: she must keep a detailed record of where and how she spent it, and also record the increase or decrease of her "assets".
He wants to use this to develop his daughter's investment philosophy.
Because of the ups and downs of the business world, even if Bezos does not have Amazon in the future, the adopted daughter can live as an independent woman, rather than a delicate flower who will only rely on her parents, especially his wife Mackenzie, who "would rather the children have only 9 fingers than have an unintelligent head".
Bezos once said in an interview with foreign media about his educational philosophy: "You have to be proud of your choice, not proud of your talent." You will eventually find what you are interested in, and that will be the greatest joy that life has to offer you. ”
3. The choice of the American billionaires: why they are all adopted in China
In the past two decades, in addition to Bezos's adopted daughter, many Chinese orphans have been adopted by foreigners, and when they grow up, they have achieved quite good results and lives.
For example, at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, McNeill, a swimmer from Canada, was picked up as an abandoned baby from Jiangxi, China, and adopted by a Canadian couple at an early age. Under the careful care of his adoptive parents, McNeil not only had a happy life, but was also groomed to become a world champion.
In 1999, the Americans Jon Huntsman and his wife adopted a 7-month-old abandoned female baby from China and brought it back to the United States to raise.
In 2006, the famous Hollywood actress Meg Ryan adopted a Chinese female abandoned baby named Daisy.
In 2017, Morgan Holder, a 16-year-old Chinese abandoned baby and the women's all-around final champion of the American Gymnastics World Championships, was also abandoned at birth and adopted by an American family at the age of 2.
These are not the only cases in which celebrities and dignitaries come to China to adopt orphans.
Since China officially implemented the Adoption Law in 1992, the government has encouraged citizens to adopt legally and allowed foreigners to come to China for adoption.
This has led to a large number of foreigners coming to China to adopt orphans, especially Americans.
According to the U.S. State Department, nearly 100,000 orphans have been adopted by American families since 1992, 90 percent of whom are baby girls.
This shows that the United States is already the largest overseas adopter of abandoned babies in China, and China is the main source of adopted children in the United States, accounting for about 30% of the children.
Thankfully, most orphans are well cared for throughout their formative years.
Even some families, in order to take care of the adopted Chinese children, will go out as a family to learn Chinese culture and Chinese characters together.
American adoptive families who don't pay attention to "looking for their roots" will almost always choose to tell their children about their life experience.
Because in their eyes, children are not their own private property, they have the right to know their own life, and they also have the right to find their biological parents.
Fourth, after the divorce, the wife receives a sky-high breakup fee, and the adopted daughter chooses to live with her mother
Unfortunately, Bezos, who has always appeared as the richest man who loves his family, ended his 25-year marriage with his wife Mackenzie and turned into the arms of a friend's wife, a 55-year-old hostess.
As a result, Bezos paid the most expensive "divorce fee" in history - $36 billion.
After the couple divorced, the three sons were almost adults, and there was no problem of support. The youngest adopted daughter chose to live with Mackenzie.
Mackenzie, who originally received a sky-high divorce fee, would not be too bad for the rest of his life, but before he officially received the divorce fee, Mackenzie announced a great decision to the world: to donate all the divorce money he received to a welfare institution.
In 2020, Mackenzie has donated $6 billion to welfare organizations in the United States, and said that it will donate $2.7 billion in 2021, a move that shocked the whole world.
Not long ago, Mackenzie posted his wedding photos on social networks, and the groom is an ordinary middle school teacher. This means that her remarriage partner barely has much property.
In response to these actions of Mackenzie, the media speculated that it is very likely that Mackenzie will not leave any property to his children, including his adopted daughter.
But if Bezos does not have any more children, the adopted daughter can still get one-quarter of her adoptive father's huge fortune.
However, I think that for their adopted daughter, it is already a blessing in misfortune that she was abandoned by her biological parents 18 years ago but was chosen to be adopted by the richest man in the world. And after her adoptive parents divorced, she must have had her own reasons for choosing to live with Mackenzie, who was "not so rich".
But in any case, the love that the Bezos couple has given her over the past few decades, and the superhuman habits, insights, learning, and abilities that they have cultivated in her cannot be separated or disappear.
This is probably something more precious than money for the former abandoned baby.