Amazon founder surpasses Bill Gates as world's richest man

abiola

October 30, 2017 2:50 PM

The first time Bezos got valued as the wealthiest man alive, the status was short-lived lasting only a day.

Jeff Bezos has emerged the worlds richest man on Friday, October 27, 2017.

Gates also added to his fortune Friday morning with the rise in Microsoft stock after its earnings. But his gain of around $550 million put his fortune at $88.5 billion — not enough to stay ahead of Bezos.

Amazon yesterday released its third-quarter earnings results and completely blew away even the most optimistic of analyst expectations. When the dust settled, Amazon posted revenue of $43.7 billion, a cool $1 billion more than the $42.1 billion analysts on Wall St. had predicted.

Amazon continued to demonstrate that it can generate a profit, however small.

Bezos owned nearly 80 million shares in Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) as of August, according to the most recent available data from FactSet.

In the wake of Amazon’s earnings report, shares of the company began climbing in after-hours trading. When trading opened up on Friday morning, the upward trajectory continued.

By mid-afternoon, shares of Amazon were up 127 points, with the stock breaking the $1000 threshold for the first time. And with shares of Amazon going through the roof, CEO Jeff Bezos has since become the wealthiest person on the planet.

Bezos had briefly dethroned Gates in July 27 with a net worth topping above $90b due to a temporary surge in Amazon stock.

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