The person who started selling books online from his garage 22 years ago becomes the first man to hold the “richest person” title.
It’s none other than the Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos with $90.9 billion for the first time ever.
He surpassed Bill Gates to acquire the first position. He becomes the first man to remove Gates from his position in seven years and is only the sixth man to hold the richest person title in the past 30 years.
Jeff Bezos becomes the richest person in the world, surpassing Bill Gates https://t.co/TWyOnDgoNR pic.twitter.com/M0gJfDWkW7
— Forbes (@Forbes) July 27, 2017
Did you know that even 15 hours ago he was short a billion? If we quote his words “There’ll always be serendipity involved in discovery” that really applies well in his life. Although he has been a billionaire for more than 20 years, his wealth has seen huge leaps in the last two years.”
Sobering realization for 90s kids like me: All our lives we've never known anyone apart from Bill Gates as world's richest person #JeffBezos
— Range Rovin' (@RangeRovin) July 27, 2017
The reason is pretty simple. He owns about 17 percent of Seattle-based Amazon which according to Wednesday report has surged 40% this year which has added almost $24.5 billion to Bezos net worth. According to reports by Forbes, Bezos had a net worth of about $89 billion as the market closed on Wednesday and he was just one billion dollar away from Gates. Shockingly, Amazon’s share increased by $15 overnight and as Bezos holds 80 million shares for Amazon his worth quickly increased up.
When you're the richest man in the world.#JeffBezos pic.twitter.com/yD2GsMnXsY
— Kevin Elkin (@KevinElkin3) July 27, 2017
The Rise
Bezos has been a billionaire for almost 20 years. He made his first entry in Forbes List in 1998 with a net worth of $1.6 billion after Amazon’s IPO. After that, there was no looking back. It was a slow growth for the man reaching $4.4 billion in 2007, gradually rising to $18.4 billion by 2012 with a rank of 26 on the list.
#JeffBezos Now there is goes on top of the world . pic.twitter.com/SZMnQrOaRY
— Rohit sharma (@srohit05) July 27, 2017
But the last two years worked wonders for him. His net worth has grown by $70 billion over the past five years, surging by $45 billion in the last two years. This is the largest surge ever in history! Bezos ranked third richest in the world on Forbes 2017 list of the World’s Billionaires, published in March, with $72.8 billion. And within a night from a rich man to the richest man in the world.
Others In The List
2. Bill Gates (Microsoft)- $90.7 Billion
3. Amancio Ortega (Zara)- $83.3 Billion
4. Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway)- $74.3 Billion
5. Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook)- $72.6 Billion
6. Carlos Slim Helu (Telecom)- $69 Billion
7. Larry Ellison (Software)- $62.1 Billion
8. Michael Bloomberg (Bloomberg LP)- $53.3 Billion
9. Bernard Arnault (LVMH)- $53.1 B
10. Charles Koch (Diver)- $48.5 B
@amazon #JeffBezos richest person in the world pusing @BillGates into no. 2 spot. https://t.co/XebGlrTcTs pic.twitter.com/F3fYkXpU4M
— GigiFP (@GSuhanic) July 27, 2017
When asked how his life changed when he became a billionaire, he said,
“Personally, it hasn’t changed at all. The big difference is that we now have $50 million in the bank, which is huge.”
Well, Bezos could not have come near if Gates never gave a huge amount of his money to a charitable trust earlier this year. Gates had given away $32.9 billion throughout his life. Bezos has not yet signed up in this trust but is known to have submitted $100 million by end of 2015.
Worlds Richest: @JeffBezos becomes worlds richest man surpassing @BillGates #JeffBezos net worth now $90.9billion #BloombergBillionaires pic.twitter.com/1H8HpdApy9
— Mike Buss (@MikeBuss) July 27, 2017
With his market growing each day and how competitive he is, analysts feel that it can be that Bezos reach those magical three numbers, $100 billion soon. He also owns The Washington Post and founded Blue Origin, the space-travel company. Amazon’s dominance in the market has helped the stocks to grow in the market, from $237 five years ago to the $1,070 currently!
He worked hard and his work paid him off, in billion ways!
