Amazon's Bezos briefly dethrones Microsoft's Gates as world's richest person

Amazon.com Inc Chief Executive Jeff Bezos briefly took the crown from fellow tech billionaire Bill Gates as the richest person in the world, profiting from the e-commerce company's meteoric stock rise to reach a fortune of $91.4 billion, according to Forbes.

News Deskbdnews24.com
Published : 27 July 2017, 05:44 PM
Updated : 27 July 2017, 08:45 PM

Amazon shares jumped 2.5 percent at the start of trading on Thursday, boosting the net worth of Bezos - the company's founder and largest shareholder - by $1.4 billion, said Forbes, which tracks the world's wealthiest, reported Reuters.

The stock was up ahead of Amazon's second-quarter earnings report after Thursday's market close.

Bill Gates (Reuters file photo)

Analysts expect the world's largest online retailer will report that its sales jumped 22 percent to $37.2 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

However, Microsoft co-founder Gates dethroned Bezos in no time after Amazon shares dropped, reported BBC.

Bezos was also in the second place right behind Gates in the list of world's richest person published by Forbes in March.

Bezos, 53, a relative newcomer to the top of Forbes' list who owns 17 percent shares of $500 billion Amazon, has benefited from the seemingly boundless expansion of Amazon into new markets.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Photo: Reuters

The once-bookseller plans to acquire Whole Foods Market Inc, at the same time, it is making strides in the fashion business, Hollywood, enterprise computing and general retail from India to Mexico.

Reuters could not independently verify the wealth of Bezos or Microsoft Corp's co-founder Gates.

A philanthropist, Gates has given $31.1 billion to charitable causes through 2016 and has a net worth of $90.1 billion, Forbes said.