Most of the world’s wealthiest people have very high IQs, which have contributed to their success. Jeff Bezos is the world’s richest person, would that mean he has a high IQ and if so, what is it?
Probably over a score of 150, but Jeff Bezos’ IQ has never been confirmed publicly. From being in the gifted program at River Oaks Elementary School to being awarded the Silver Knight Award when graduating from high school, it is clear Bezos has a high IQ. He even went to the elite university Princeton.
Scroll down to read more about IQ and if Jeff Bezos and other billionaires are considered geniuses.
What is IQ?
IQ or Intelligence Quotient is a way to measure a human’s intelligence based on standard tests. The phrase IQ was coined by German psychologist William Stern. The rating scale for IQ falls into a few different categories. The most average IQ sitting at 100.
It has been determined that two thirds of the human population sits within the IQ range of 85 to 115. If someone has an IQ between 115 and 129 they are considered superior. An IQ of 130 to 144 is considered gifted and any score higher than 145 is considered a genius.
Is Jeff Bezos a Genius?
If Jeff Bezos does in fact have an IQ over 150, then yes he would fall into the 0.1% of the human population that are considered geniuses. Since he is the world’s wealthiest man, it took more than just luck to get him to where he is today. Even as a kid, Bezos displayed the key markers of a highly intelligent individual.
This Quartz article says that as a child Bezos created “homemade robots, hovercrafts, a solar-powered cooker, and devices to keep siblings out of his room.” Jackie Bezos, Jeff’s mom, recalled in a 1999 Wired interview that “I think single-handedly we kept many Radio Shacks in business.”
On top of all of his inventions, Bezos attended the gifted program at River Oaks Elementary school. His round trip commute to school was almost 40-miles. It was at River Oaks and in their gifted program, named the Vanguard program, that Bezos was really able to hone in on his passion for inventions, engineering, computers, and space.
Bezos graduated from High School in Miami as one of the top of his class. There, he also took the title of valedictorian. He had a high enough score on his SATs to get into Princeton and graduated from the ivy league university with a 4.2 GPA. All of these feats were made easier by having a high IQ.
Follow the below link to watch Jeff Bezos give a speech at the Liberty Science Center Genius Gala 4.0 in 2015.
How Many Ultra Wealthy People Have a High IQ?
Just like Jeff Bezos, not every ultra wealthy person has their IQ readily available for the public to scrutinize. Forbes Magazine looked at the results of standardized test scores of students admitted to ivy league universities. The data they retrieved allowed them to come to a conclusion about the ultra wealthy and IQ.
In their 2012 article, The Scary Smart Are The Scary Rich: Examining Tech’s Richest On The Forbes 400, the magazine came to the conclusion that the title of the article so clearly spells out. The scary smart are the scary rich. As the Forbes publisher Richard Karlsgaard put it, “The surest way to become a billionaire today is to be born with a 150-plus IQ and 800 math SAT skills.”
The magazine was able to determine from this study published in Psychology Today, that billionaires are some of the smartest people in the world. This is due to the universities and programs they were admitted to. The programs that many of the world’s top billionaires were admitted to required very high test scores on the SATs.
Since Jeff Bezos was admitted to an elite program at an elite university, there is no doubt that he has an above average intelligence. We may never know just how smart he is though.