Jeff Bezos accumulated a whopping $33 billion to his net worth in 2017. Today, he is another of those fortunate individuals whose net worth has hit $100 billion mark.
In 1999, it was Bill Gates who was able to reach this mark. Given the wealth standings of all current billionaires, it seems Bezos will continue to remain on the top spot for a while.
The Unfolding Of $100 Billion Mogul
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, Inc., has seen his company grow at an exponential rate. The stock of Amazon has jumped 2 points in the share market after a spectacular Black Friday sales figures for the online retailer. This has now propelled him to the top of the list, with a gain of $2.4 billion on the world's wealthiest list and topping out at $100.3 billion.
According to the analysts, the online spending shoots up 18.4 percent over the last year and the remaining festive days of the year will continue to boost the online purchases. Amazon will keep hitting new heights in the coming weeks, backed by online spending spree of gifting season.
Bezos reached this milestone at 53, the same feat that was achieved by Bill Gates of Microsoft Corp. when he was 44. Bezos's fortune grew tremendously this year and on Thursday, registered the highest surge, accumulating $32.6 billion to his name as shown on Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the daily ranking of World's 500 richest people. In a single week, Amazon stock climbed 5 percent on the trading board.
The World's Richest Man
Now being tagged as the world's richest man, Bezos will start to receive questions on his plans to spend this wealth. Unlike Gates or Buffet, Bezos has neither pledged his wealth for charity nor has he done too much about it.
However, in June, Bezos tweeted a request asking for ideas on philanthropy and how he can help people out there who need help. In 2002, Bezos did give his shares worth $500 million at current prices for charitable missions.
Apart from charity, he said in April that he gives $1 billion to his space program called Blue Origins, LLC by selling his shares every year. Based in Kent, Washington, this company manufactures spaceflight systems and offers guided missiles and space vehicles.
Starting with selling books online, Bezos' Amazon is now a behemoth in the e-commerce industry and is expanding into other sectors of the economy. Amazon AWS is already its biggest cash cow.
