Jeff Bezos, the billionaire CEO of Amazon and richest person in the world, now has a fortune that exceeds $200 billion, Forbes and Bloomberg reported. Forbes estimated that Bezos was worth $204.6 billion when the markets closed Wednesday, while Bloomberg pegged his wealth at $202 billion.
It’s a status that hasn’t been reached before, even when adjusted for inflation.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, the second-richest person in the world with a net worth of $116.1 billion, now trails Bezos by a distant $88.5 billion. Gates’ $100 billion fortune at the height of the dot-com boom in 1999 would still be worth $158 billion in today’s dollars — just three-quarters of what Bezos currently worth — Forbes reported.
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Bezos’ fortune is also the equivalent of 1% of US gross domestic product, which sat at $21.6 trillion in the first quarter of 2020 but dropped to $19.4 trillion last quarter, according to the Department of Commerce.
Amazon has experienced a surge in online sales during the COVID-19 pandemic as people turn to online shopping while inside their homes, sending the company’s market capitalization through the roof. It’s now valued at $1.7 trillion.
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