According to reports, Amazon CEO and Founder Jeff Bezos was briefly the richest man in the world on Thursday. He overtook Bill Gates of Microsoft in the wealth stakes thanks to a rise in Amazon’s stocks. According to the real-time billionaires index compiled by Forbes, the rise pushed the value of Bezos’s fortune to $91bn (£69bn) – compared with Gates’ wealth of $90bn. Their riches are calculated on the share prices of their respective companies and the stock they hold.
As we write yesterday: Amazon is now worth $500bn.
The increase in Amazon’s share price came in advance of Amazon results due on Thursday evening. But Gates swiftly regained the top spot. We’ll see what happens when Amazon reports results and whether that offers accelerated growth from Amazon then. It seems likely.
When you consider the wealth of the hyper rich, the question easily turns to how they will spend it. Bezos has recently explored how to crowdsource ideas for philanthropy. He made this request on twitter last month. He hasn’t reported back on which suggestions, if any, he will be pursuing.
Request for ideas… pic.twitter.com/j6D68mhseL
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) June 15, 2017
One Response
So for one day Bezos was the richest man in the world (£69bn), but today he isn’t. Bezos asks for “twitter ideas” on philanthropy, but is remarkable for giving away so little. 8 people own as much wealth as the poorest half of the world.