Amazon founder Jeff Bezos saw his net worth top $100 billion after Amazon stock, of which Bezos is the single largest owner, climbed 2.5 percent on Black Friday. The bump earned Bezos $2.4 billion on Friday alone.
Microsoft's Bill Gates was the first person to reach $100 billion in 1999. By Bloomberg's count, Bezos is the richest person in the world and the only individual to currently boast a 12-figure fortune, as Gates, in second place, now has a mere $89 billion to his name.
Bezos' gain is part of a larger story of how online shopping continues to eat up market share. Shoppers dropped $640 million online Friday by 10 a.m. Eastern, an 18 percent increase over Black Friday 2016. Investment banking firm Jefferies found only only 13 percent of customers said they'd be spending more on Black Friday this year, compared to 17 percent last year, indicating that more people are shopping online throughout the month than on just one day.
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.
-
Mexico’s forced disappearancesUnder the Radar 130,000 people missing as 20-year war on drugs leaves ‘the country’s landscape ever more blood-soaked’
-
The Week contest: Racoon’s regretsPuzzles and Quizzes
-
Housing costs: Is deregulation the answer?Feature Washington, D.C.’s NoMa neighborhood is now leading the nation in new apartment construction
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
