A surge in Amazon (AMZN) shares this morning (ahead of earnings) has propelled founder Jeff Bezos past Microsoft (MSFT) founder Bill Gates as the world’s richest person…
As Bloomberg reports, shares of the online retailer rose 1.8 percent to $1,071.31 as of 9:30 a.m. in New York. If the gains hold through the close, Bezos, 53, could leapfrog Gates on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The 61-year-old Microsoft Corp. co-founder has held the top spot since May 2013.
Bezos owns about 17 percent of Seattle-based Amazon, which has surged 40 percent this year through Wednesday, helping to add $24.5 billion to his net worth. He started 2017 as the world’s fourth-wealthiest person and has since leapfrogged Inditex SA founder Amancio Ortega, who ranks third with $82.7 billion, and Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Warren Buffett, No. 4, at $74.5 billion.
Notably, Amazon and Facebook are now both worth over $500 billion market cap.
And as far as what (or who) is behind the success of Bezos, it’s simple…
Central Bank policy truly means the rich get richest!
So this means that “the leader of the free world” is now in a feud with “the world’s richest man” – should be fun to see who wins that.
