Richest man in the world… for a short while
It appears as though the battle for the world's richest is on between Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, for now.
For a while there, Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, was the richest man in the world but, it was not to last and he dropped back below Bill Gates on Forbes' Real-Time Ranking, and Gates ended the day as the world's richest person.
Earlier on Friday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had overtaken Bill Gates and was the richest person in the world, with a fortune topping US$90 billion for the first time ever.
When markets opened on Thursday, Bezos had a net worth ofUS$90.6 billion, putting him US$500 million ahead of Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Amazon stock opened up 1.6% on Thursday, adding US$1.4 billion to Bezos' net worth. That was enough to put him ahead of Gates, who was last surpassed on Forbes' real-time rankings for just two days nearly a year ago by Spanish retail giant Amancio Ortega.
Forbes started tracking billionaires around the globe in 1987. Bezos is now the seventh person to hold the title of the world's richest person and the third American to top the global ranks besides Gates and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett. While Buffett appeared on Forbes' first ranking of America's 400 Richest people in 1982 and Gates joined four years later, Bezos is a newer addition to Forbes' wealth rankings. He first appeared on the Forbes 400 in 1998, a year after Amazon went public, with a US$1.6 billion fortune. Bezos ranked third richest in the world on Forbes 2017 list of the World's Billionaires, published in March, with a fortune of US$72.8 billion.
Bezos would be nowhere close to being the world's wealthiest person had Gates not given so much of his fortune to philanthropy. Gates, who created the Giving Pledge with Buffett to encourage billionaires to give at least half of their wealth to charitable causes, had given away US$31.1 billion over the course of his lifetime through end of 2016. Forbes estimates that Bezos, who has not signed the pledge, had given approximately $100 million to charity through the end of 2015. In June, Bezos tweeted out a request for ideas for his philanthropy, garnering thousands of responses.
FORBES
Earlier on Friday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had overtaken Bill Gates and was the richest person in the world, with a fortune topping US$90 billion for the first time ever.
When markets opened on Thursday, Bezos had a net worth ofUS$90.6 billion, putting him US$500 million ahead of Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Amazon stock opened up 1.6% on Thursday, adding US$1.4 billion to Bezos' net worth. That was enough to put him ahead of Gates, who was last surpassed on Forbes' real-time rankings for just two days nearly a year ago by Spanish retail giant Amancio Ortega.
Forbes started tracking billionaires around the globe in 1987. Bezos is now the seventh person to hold the title of the world's richest person and the third American to top the global ranks besides Gates and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett. While Buffett appeared on Forbes' first ranking of America's 400 Richest people in 1982 and Gates joined four years later, Bezos is a newer addition to Forbes' wealth rankings. He first appeared on the Forbes 400 in 1998, a year after Amazon went public, with a US$1.6 billion fortune. Bezos ranked third richest in the world on Forbes 2017 list of the World's Billionaires, published in March, with a fortune of US$72.8 billion.
Bezos would be nowhere close to being the world's wealthiest person had Gates not given so much of his fortune to philanthropy. Gates, who created the Giving Pledge with Buffett to encourage billionaires to give at least half of their wealth to charitable causes, had given away US$31.1 billion over the course of his lifetime through end of 2016. Forbes estimates that Bezos, who has not signed the pledge, had given approximately $100 million to charity through the end of 2015. In June, Bezos tweeted out a request for ideas for his philanthropy, garnering thousands of responses.
FORBES
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