It looks like billionaires are on a roll as of late. After news of Tesla CEO Elon Musk increasing his fortune by a few more billions broke out, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was in the news for adding a whopping $13.5 billion to his already massive net worth in a single day!
Share Surge
Unsplash | Amazon went public in 1997 with an initial public offering (IPO) of just $18 per share
According to Bloomberg, this recent gain is thanks to a 12% surge in Amazon’s shares, which put it at $2,100. And since the 56-year-old entrepreneur owns a reported 12% of the company’s stocks, he greatly benefited from this positive development. This stock surge didn’t come out of the blue though.
The e-commerce giant exceeded its earnings per share expectations in the previous year’s last quarter. The projected figure stood at $4.04 while the actual earnings per share of the company reached $6.47.
Sources attribute this to Amazon’s decision to make one-day shipping the standard for its Prime members, which boosted revenues to $87 billion by the end of 2019. All of these contributed to his fortune reaching the $386.1 billion mark (with some estimating his net worth at $183.8 billion).
Current Rank
CNBC/Investopedia | The two billionaires have notably traded the title of the wealthiest person in the world in the past year
One more good news is that the boost put Bezos back on top as the current richest person in the world after being dethroned by Microsoft founder Bill Gates some time ago. Gates’ fortune is currently $111.7 billion. Right behind the two of them is French businessman Bernard Arnault, who is chairman and CEO of the luxury good conglomerate LVMH.
Investing Ventures
Wired | Bezos’ space flight service provider and aerospace manufacturer was founded in 2000
While Bezos’ name is mainly attached to Amazon, it’s not his only source of income. Like his fellow billionaires, he’s also a particularly keen investor. He actually owns a venture capital vehicle, the aptly-named Bezos Expeditions.
Part of his wealth is thanks to his stakes in other businesses like The Washington Post, Twitter, and his own aerospace company Blue Origin. He’s also one of the first shareholders at Google having put in a quarter of a million dollars in the company back in the late ‘90s.
