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Business / World Business

Bezos charms Sun Valley crowd by reminiscing about grandparents

Published: 13 Jul 2018 - 11:22 pm | Last Updated: 07 Nov 2021 - 06:46 pm
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Facebook, Dan Rose, vice president, partnerships at Facebook, and Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, attend the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2018 in Sun Valley, Idaho

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Facebook, Dan Rose, vice president, partnerships at Facebook, and Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, attend the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2018 in Sun Valley, Idaho

Nabila Ahmed and Alex Barinka I Bloomberg

Jeff Bezos, one of the most feared businessmen on the planet, won over a crowd of billionaire industry titans with a softer message at Sun Valley on Thursday.

The Amazon.com Inc. founder, who has wreaked havoc on industries from retail to media, and is threatening to upend health care and finance, ruminated on life lessons, human nature and work culture.

The one thing that resonated, though, was what he said about the importance of grandparents, according to people with knowledge of the speech.

Bezos talked about spending summers on his grandfather’s ranch, where he said he learned many business and life lessons.

"I was blessed with great grandparents and they definitely taught me a lot,” Bezos, 54, told Bloomberg as he walked into the conference’s afternoon sessions.

Guests are scheduled to hear from another tech giant, Facebook Inc.’s Mark Zuckerberg, on Friday. China, investing in marijuana, border control and immigration are other topics on the agenda for Friday’s panel sessions at Allen & Co.’s annual media and tech conference in Idaho.