Billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has denied a claim that he advised young entrepreneurs to work at McDonald’s before starting a business.
On Thursday, Polymarket, a prediction market platform, wrote on X, where it has a million followers, that Bezos “advises aspiring Gen Z entrepreneurs to start at real world jobs like McDonalds or Palantir before starting a business.”
Bezos responded a few hours later, writing: “Nope. Not sure why polymarket made this up.”
Newsweek has contacted Polymarket for comment via an email sent outside regular business hours. Bezos has been contacted for further comment via an email to Amazon.
Why It Matters
Bezos’ response to Polymarket suggests the platform’s social media account is fabricating news, which raises questions about the company’s business model. The post about Bezos is not the first time Polymarket has been accused of posting misinformation on social media. For example, in August 2025 it said NASA had discovered “coral rock” on Mars, indicating signs of prehistoric alien life, despite this being a result of nothing more than erosion.
Polymarket bills itself as the world’s largest prediction market. Because prediction market prices reflect aggregated wagers about real-world outcomes, false or unverified claims could influence trading behavior and perceived probabilities, raising concerns about integrity.
What To Know
Polymarket’s post about Bezos now includes a Community Note, a feature on X where contributors can add context or fact-check a post.
“Jeff Bezos denied making this statement,” the note says.
Bezos gave advice to young entrepreneurs during an interview at Italian Tech Week in October last year.
While he did not name any specific companies to work for, he did say he advises aspiring entrepreneurs to gain work experience before launching new companies.
What Advice Has Jeff Bezos Given To Young Entrepreneurs?
Bezos noted in his remarks during Italian Tech Week that while it is “possible” for colleges dropouts to go on to become successful entrepreneurs, such cases are rare.
“We have famous examples of that working. Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg etc. But these people are the exception,” he said.
“I always advise to young people, you know, go work at a best-practices company somewhere, where you can learn a lot of basic fundamental things, how to hire really well, how to interview, etc.
“There’s a lot of stuff you would learn in a great company that will help you, and then there’s still lots of time to start a company after you have absorbed it.”
Doing that “increases your odds” of being successful, he said.
He added: “I started Amazon when I was 30. Not when I was 20. I think that that extra 10 years of experience actually improved the odds that Amazon would succeed.”
What People Are Saying
Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, wrote in response to Bezos’ post: “Well, the President worked at McDonald’s and now he’s the President.”
Rachel Karten, a social media consultant and writer of the Link in Bio newsletter, wrote on X: “It’s very weird that the official account for polymarket regularly tweets completely made up news.”
Will Tjernlund, the cofounder of an Amazon Marketplace consulting company, wrote on X: “Why wouldn’t Polymarket lean into being the arbiter of truth, the place people go when they want the real answer, fast? Instead they post bait trying to farm reactions. It’s such a miss. Their brand should feel like Walter Bloomberg, not NBA Centel.”
What Happens Next
Polymarket’s post about Bezos remains on X as of Friday morning.
