Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has overtaken Bill Gates to become the world’s richest person, worth $90.7bn (£69bn).
A 2.4% rise in Amazon shares on Thursday means Mr Bezos’s wealth has now eclipsed the Microsoft co-founder by $700m, according to Forbes.
Mr Bezos, 53, owns about 17% of the shares in Amazon, whose value has now exceeded $500bn.
The online retailer reports second quarter results after Wall Street closes on Thursday.
For the first three months of this year Amazon’s sales jumped 23% to $35.7bn. The company expects a rise of 16% to 24% for the quarter to June.
In recent years Mr Bezos has focused on his Blue Origin space rocket business and the Washington Post newspaper, which he bought in 2013.
Soaring technology stocks have fuelled huge growth in the worth of entrepreneurs such as Mr Bezos and Facebook founder Mark Zuckberberg, 33, who is now worth $72.6bn according to Forbes.
Highs – and lows
1994 Quits Wall Street job to start Amazon
1999 Named Time’s Person of the Year
2000 Launches Blue Origin spaceflight firm
2013 Buys the Washington Post
2015 New York Times publishes report painting a critical picture of working conditions at Amazon, which Mr Bezos says he “doesn’t recognise”
2015 Amazon appears to have come full circle when it opens its first physical bookstore in Seattle
2016 Drawn into a public spat with Trump over the Washington Post and taxes
2017 Manchester By The Sea, a feature produced by Amazon Studios, wins two Oscars including best actor for Casey Affleck, while the studio also picks up the Best Foreign Language gong for The Salesman.
BBC
