On the heels of the melt-up in US mega-cap tech stocks, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has leapt past Amancio Ortega and Warren Buffett to become the world’s second-richest person.
As Bloomberg reports, the 53-year-old founder of Amazon.com Inc. added $1.5 billion to his net worth on Wednesday, the day after the e-commerce giant announced it will buy Dubai-based online retailer Souq.com, and has added over $7 billion since the global equities rally began following the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president on Nov. 8.
Bezos has a net worth of $75.6 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That’s $700 million more than Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Buffett and $1.3 billion above Ortega, the founder of Inditex SA and Europe’s richest person. Buffett, who’s added $1.7 billion in 2017, has shed $4.7 billion since his fortune peaked at $79.6 billion on March 1. Ortega is up $2.1 billion year-to-date.
Bezos remains $10.4 billion behind Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, the world’s richest person with $86 billion.
If AMZN topped $1000 - while MSFT flatlined - Bezos would take Gates.