Amazon shares have soared recently, pushing CEO Jeff Bezos’ personal net worth past the $100bn (£74bn) mark.
“This eclipses the record previously held by Microsoft founder Bill Gates,” says CNN Money.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Bezos, who started Amazon out of his garage in Seattle in the mid-1990s, has long been ranked among the world’s richest people. However, his net worth has skyrocketed over the past year, in line with an explosion in the value of Amazon, of which he is a major shareholder. Stocks in the online retailer are up nearly 7% already this year, after rising a whopping 56% in 2017.
However, the headline figures are slightly misleading as Gates was briefly worth just over $100bn back in April 1999, when the internet stock bubble helped to inflate the value of his holdings.
Adjusted for inflation, $100bn in 1999 would be worth $148bn (£109bn) today, says CNN.
Nor does the figure take into account the Microsoft founder’s significant charitable contributions through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Analysis of his publicly disclosed donations by Bloomberg show Gates has given away $61.8bn (£45.6bn) in Microsoft shares over the years, putting his net worth at over $150bn (£111bn).
-
What to know before turning to AI for financial advicethe explainer It can help you crunch the numbers — but it might also pocket your data
-
Book reviews: 'The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Affliction—and a Search for Relief' and 'Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run'Feature The search for a headache cure and revisiting Springsteen's 'Born to Run' album on its 50th anniversary
-
Keith McNally' 6 favorite books that have ambitious charactersFeature The London-born restaurateur recommends works by Leo Tolstoy, John le Carré, and more
-
Is Amazon about to take over the grocery business?Today's Big Question Expanded delivery will present a challenge to Walmart and Kroger
-
Trump calls Amazon's Bezos over tariff displaySpeed Read The president was not happy with reports that Amazon would list the added cost from tariffs alongside product prices
-
What's Jeff Bezos' net worth?In Depth The Amazon tycoon and third richest person in the world made his fortune pioneering online retail
-
Amazon's 'James Bond' deal could mean a new future for 007In the Spotlight The franchise was previously owned by the Broccoli family
-
Britain's new retail returns nightmareIn the Spotlight Gen Z influencers and a 'poopy diaper' have shown up fault-lines in the system
-
Saks buys Neiman Marcus in $2.65B dealSpeed Read Following the merger of the two legacy retailers, the new entity will be called Saks Global
-
Retail media is seeing a surge this yearThe Explainer Amazon now makes more money from advertising than Coca-Cola's global revenue
-
Amazon vs. the FTC: behind the monumental antitrust showdownUnder the Radar The Federal Trade Commission is taking on the e-commerce giant for allegedly building a monopoly in the online market
