PAYesterday Bill Gates was knocked off his rich list top spot by Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos.
But, as they say, money listicles are a fickle mistress, and Bezos’ time at number one has already ended after a 24-hour stint on top.
The King of Amazon moved up one place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index when the online store’s stock rose on Wednesday morning.
PAImmediately, Jeff Bezos‘ eye-watering net worth went up to $90.9 billion USD compared to Gates’ net worth – a meagre sum totalling just $90.7 billion USD.
Those little decimals are just a drop in the ocean to the money tycoons – but to you or me, the difference between their net worth adds up to more than $500 million.
However, today Amazon reported its second quarter earnings, showing a profit of just $197 million USD compared to $38 billion USD in sales. This marks a 77 per cent drop from the company’s $857 million USD earnings from last year.
PAUnfortunately, this drop means Bezos’ personal fortune – amassed thanks to his 80 million shares in Amazon – will also take a hit. At the close of today’s market, Bezos was back in second spot with Gates holding onto the title.
Although many think of Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and all-round good egg, as the richest man in the world, there are many nipping at his feet at the top of Bloomberg’s capitalist ladder.
Gates was last surpassed on Forbes’ real-time rankings for just two days almost a year ago by Spanish retail giant Amancio Ortega.
GettyForbes started keeping track of billionaires around the world back in 1987 – and Bezos is only the seventh person to hold the title of the world’s richest person and the third American to top the global ranks.
Bezos first appeared on the Forbes 400 in 1998, the year after Amazon went public, with a $1.6 billion fortune.
But the Amazon CEO would be ‘nowhere close to being the world’s wealthiest person’ had Gates not given so much of his fortune to philanthropy, writes Forbes.
PAGates created the Giving Pledge to encourage billionaires to give at least half of their wealth to charitable causes, he had given away $32.9 billion up until the end of 2016.
Bill, welcome back to your rightful place on the Microsoft money throne.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.