Jeff Bezos became $13 billion richer yesterday

[midian182]

What just happened? Not only has the Covid-19 pandemic devastated lives, killing around 610,000 worldwide, it's also brought economic meltdown in numerous countries. Many people have found themselves either unemployed or poorer than before the lockdowns began, but it's been a lucrative time for Jeff Bezos, who added $13 billion to his net worth in one day.

As reported by Bloomberg, the Amazon CEO saw the largest single-day increase to his net wealth since the publication's Billionaire Index was created eight years ago. As Amazon shares jumped 7.9 percent on Monday, Bezos' worth surged by $13 billion to $189.3 billion.

Despite the US facing a recession on the scale of the great depression, Bezos has seen his fortune increase by $74 billion this year, cementing his place as the richest person in the world. He's now worth around $189.3 billion, more than the market cap of Exxon Mobil Corp., Nike Inc., and McDonald's Corp.

Bloomberg's rich list: A good reason to get into the tech industry.

While many industries have been impacted negatively by the lockdowns, including the aviation and automotive sectors, Amazon is one of those to have benefited. According to eMarketer, US e-commerce sales in 2020 are expected to increase by 18 percent annually, while retail sales are predicted to fall 10 percent YoY. There's also AWS, which continues to experience massive growth.

Bloomberg also notes that Bezos' ex-wife, Mackenzie Bezos, gained $4.6 billion Monday, making her the 13th richest person in the world and the second wealthiest woman behind L'Oréal heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers.

Bezos getting even richer will be a hard pill to swallow for many at Amazon. The company has never had the best reputation when it comes to how it treats employees, some of whom took part in a recent "sick-out" alongside Whole Foods workers to protest Covid-19 conditions.

Bezos isn't the only billionaire to increase his fortune during the pandemic. Forbes writes that the 25 wealthiest people on its rich list added almost $255 billion to their worth between March and May.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/86070-jeff-bezos-increases-wealth-13-billion-one-day.html

 

[Theinsanegamer]

But remember: you must continue to hide in your homes and pay $$$$ for cheap chinese masks. The top 1% REALLY need your help in this trying time while they hide on their yachts sipping champain.

 

[Andrighi]

Article talks about Jeff Bezos getting much richer than what I'll have in two life times.
Me: of the 10 wealthiest people in the world 8 are American. If that is not a sign of wealth disparity growing in the United States I don't know what is

 

[SirDigby]

Good for Jeff but I am very sick of rich people and wish them misfortune in a very immature and spiteful way.
With my adult hat on, I appreciate there are many purposes served by the top 1, 2, 5, 10% and there will always be a few degrees of wealth disparity but I feel like they could be serving that purpose much better and for the greater good rather than their own interests. But I guess that's how they get into these positions in the first place.

 

[Uncle Al]

I have no disrespect for the man but I am a firm believer that every company and every individual that has or makes over $100 million dollars should be paying a flat tax of 25% on earnings, regardless of deductions, spiritual standings or any other reason. I also think that individuals or companies that choose to move their homes/headquarters off shore to avoid taxes should be prohibited from doing business with the US until they pay that same 25% tax on earnings. We all pay all sorts of local, state, and federal taxes every day and since these folks put on their pants the same way we do, they deserve nothing better.

 

[Morphine Child]

I have nothing against business owners getting rich if business runs well. After all, they made it happen in the first place.

That being said, I DO have something against hoarding such wealth while your workers are seriously underpaid and in general have horrible working conditions (varies from country to country). Dude is almost 60, why do you need 200 BILLION dollars??!! Share with your workforce, make life better for thousands of families. But I guess he plans to live for 3000 years so he needs it all -_-

EDIT:

Imagine the bonus people would get if Amazon (and Jeff) would split 100 billion between his level 1 workers...

 

[Alex1105]

Those ppl are not working for him, are working @ Amazon. You can't expect him to pay the workers out of his own money because it doesn't work like that. His earnings are proportional to Amazon's earnings for this year, and those are way higher.
He personally doesn't have any obligation towards them.
How about you take like 80% of your whole cash deposits and give them for free to some nobody that you know nothing about. What sane person would do that.

 

[Vrmithrax]

I have nothing against business owners getting rich if business runs well. After all, they made it happen in the first place.

That being said, I DO have something against hoarding such wealth while your workers are seriously underpaid and in general have horrible working conditions (varies from country to country). Dude is almost 60, why do you need 200 BILLION dollars??!! Share with your workforce, make life better for thousands of families. But I guess he plans to live for 3000 years so he needs it all -_-

EDIT:

Imagine the bonus people would get if Amazon (and Jeff) would split 100 billion between his level 1 workers...

You (and many others) are under the assumption that he actually HAS that money in his hand. Or is swimming around in a big pool of it like Scrooge McDuck. It's all a virtual calculation, not cold hard cash.

Bezos' calculated net worth went up, nobody just handed him 13 billion and patted him on the back. It's all about his stock worth in his company, which just happens to be one that provides a service that the pandemic situation makes even more relevant than usual. And a company, by the way, that many rely on absolutely during the current situation.

If something happened and Amazon stock dropped tomorrow, he'd suddenly be "worth" way less. But his day to day life wouldn't see that change, the amount of cash he has in his pocket wouldn't change (right away)... It's all relative, and it's capital tied up in the very workings of the company. Not just cash he can use to make it rain on his level 1 employees.

 

[candle_86]

You (and many others) are under the assumption that he actually HAS that money in his hand. Or is swimming around in a big pool of it like Scrooge McDuck. It's all a virtual calculation, not cold hard cash.

Bezos' calculated net worth went up, nobody just handed him 13 billion and patted him on the back. It's all about his stock worth in his company, which just happens to be one that provides a service that the pandemic situation makes even more relevant than usual. And a company, by the way, that many rely on absolutely during the current situation.

If something happened and Amazon stock dropped tomorrow, he'd suddenly be "worth" way less. But his day to day life wouldn't see that change, the amount of cash he has in his pocket wouldn't change (right away)... It's all relative, and it's capital tied up in the very workings of the company. Not just cash he can use to make it rain on his level 1 employees.

As a matter of fact if Amazon increased wages by 10% for everyone making less than $20hr, their stock value would drop 30-40% because investors wouldnt like it. You raise wages it always takes a hit for the value of the company.

 

[Evernessince]

You (and many others) are under the assumption that he actually HAS that money in his hand. Or is swimming around in a big pool of it like Scrooge McDuck. It's all a virtual calculation, not cold hard cash.

Bezos' calculated net worth went up, nobody just handed him 13 billion and patted him on the back. It's all about his stock worth in his company, which just happens to be one that provides a service that the pandemic situation makes even more relevant than usual. And a company, by the way, that many rely on absolutely during the current situation.

If something happened and Amazon stock dropped tomorrow, he'd suddenly be "worth" way less. But his day to day life wouldn't see that change, the amount of cash he has in his pocket wouldn't change (right away)... It's all relative, and it's capital tied up in the very workings of the company. Not just cash he can use to make it rain on his level 1 employees.

Sure and the same thing can be said of bitcoin yet it only takes me a second to convert that to fiat at any exchange. Jeff can have that converted to fiat on demand.

With the advent of digital exchanges the liquidity of stocks are extremely high. Bar a complete market collapse, which would likely screw fiat over as well anyways, you aren't going to have a problem equating stocks to cash.

 

[Evernessince]

As a matter of fact if Amazon increased wages by 10% for everyone making less than $20hr, their stock value would drop 30-40% because investors wouldnt like it. You raise wages it always takes a hit for the value of the company.

Please provide your supporting evidence for this. Amazon raised wages on March 21st of this year and bumped overtime pay and it didn't affect their stock one bit.

 

[paul1122]

This is what you work for, hope to get someday, not ***** about all the time.

 

[Vrmithrax]

Sure and the same thing can be said of bitcoin yet it only takes me a second to convert that to fiat at any exchange. Jeff can have that converted to fiat on demand.

With the advent of digital exchanges the liquidity of stocks are extremely high. Bar a complete market collapse, which would likely screw fiat over as well anyways, you aren't going to have a problem equating stocks to cash.

Well, yes, you can convert bitcoin to other currency any time. But that is comparing a type of currency to another type of currency. Stocks are different on many levels. We're at an "apples and oranges" comparison here.

Primary issue: if you convert bitcoin to money, you aren't giving up a percentage of the ownership of something by doing so. Bezos selling stocks off to convert to cash is also selling off ownership shares of his own company. A whole different situation, with a lot of alternative ramifications (including tax issues to consider).

 

[Evernessince]

Well, yes, you can convert bitcoin to other currency any time. But that is comparing a type of currency to another type of currency. Stocks are different on many levels. We're at an "apples and oranges" comparison here.

Primary issue: if you convert bitcoin to money, you aren't giving up a percentage of the ownership of something by doing so. Bezos selling stocks off to convert to cash is also selling off ownership shares of his own company. A whole different situation, with a lot of alternative ramifications (including tax issues to consider).

Bitcoin isn't a fiat current so it's not a direct comparison. I was more comparing some of the more liquid asset types in general.

Ramifications do not effect the liquidity of stocks. More to consider does not affect the ability to sell.

Bitcoin is considered an investment like stocks for tax purposes so you are going to have the same ramifications when selling a ton of bitcoin as you would stock when you go to file your taxes. The only difference here is that Bezos is giving up a percentage of ownership of Amazon.

 

[JB3543]

$189 Billion?!?! That's a lot of money! I guess he must be doing something right.

 

[Lifeispossible]

Warren Buffet takes over trailer parks and hikes up people's rents. I'm glad he's 0.001% poorer.

 

[brucek]

Are we going to get daily updates of his wealth going up and down a few billion every business day, and occasionally several billion like today, as a result of normal market volatility with no actual change in any real world anything?

Personally I feel I'm better off for having amazon.com, AWS, etc as options, even when I end up choosing different ones. My only relationship to Amazon is as a customer but I feel they've made me richer, not poorer.

 

[Evernessince]

Are we going to get daily updates of his wealth going up and down a few billion every business day, and occasionally several billion like today, as a result of normal market volatility with no actual change in any real world anything?

Personally I feel I'm better off for having amazon.com, AWS, etc as options, even when I end up choosing different ones. My only relationship to Amazon is as a customer but I feel they've made me richer, not poorer.

Amazon can provide those features you enjoy while being more socially responsible. The two are not exclusive.

The wealthiest people making large increases in their wealth by doing nothing while everyone else is either out of a job or working their butts off for meager pay isn't the sign of a healthy economy. It's the sign of a plutocracy.

I have to seriously question the mental health of any man who can have anywhere near the sum Bezos has and says "Yeah I need a lot more". There have been plenty of chances where he could have rewarded the people who helped build his company with their fair share. Bezos certainly didn't build Amazon on his own. Having lots of money tied up in a few individuals is bad for the economy as well. Aside from the power disparity that the extremely wealthy are given in legal, political, and societal matters, wealth concentration leads to a reduction in economic activity. A wealthy person can only consume so much food and they only require so much healthcare. Now imagine instead if some of that wealth enabled people to buy higher quality food from local farms and fish that didn't come from a chinese fish farm. Imagine Americans on the whole being able to afford health care and the boost that would give the economy. Heck, you might even see more small business start to pop up offering quality food products instead of the junk we see on the shelves nowadays.

This issue is very complicated and that was only a few basic examples. The short of it is, Bezos having that much money is only a detriment to everyone, including bezos himself in the long run.