Dhaka, 10 Jan, Abnews: Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos has become the richest person in the world after making $6.1 billion in just five trading days in 2018 and is now worth $105 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Bezos’ net worth reached $105.1 billion on Monday eclipsing the record previously held by Microsoft founder Bill Gates. A 1.4% rise in Amazon’s share price made the New Mexico-born businessman richer by $1.4 billion on Monday, reports said.
The 53-year-old’s net worth grew by around $32.6 billion in 2017 alone, with the majority of it coming from the 78.9 million shares he owns in his company.
Forbes, the other major tracker of the net worth of the world’s richest, put Bezos’ net worth at $104.4 billion.
Bezos grabbed the world’s richest person title in July when he briefly passed Gates. The founder of the world’s largest online retailer moved ahead of Gates in October with a net worth of $93.8 billion and his fortune crossed $100 billion for the first time a month later when the holiday shopping season kicked off on Black Friday.
Gates is worth $91.9 billion according to Forbes, and $93.3 billion by Bloomberg. According to Forbes, Gates’ net worth was briefly above $100 billion in April 1999, when the internet stock bubble helped to inflate the value of his holdings. Adjusted for inflation, $100 billion in 1999 would be worth $148 billion today.
Gates, 62, would have been worth far more than Bezos had he not given so much away. Over the past 20 years, he has given away stock and cash that would be worth about $60 billion today, which would have put his net worth at more than $150 billion if he had kept it.
Bezos’ other holdings include the Washington Post and Blue Origin, a private space travel business that intends to take tourists to space. - Hindustan Times
ABN/Adrian/Jasim/AD