Jeff Bezos unseats Bill Gates as world's richest man

[Greg S]

Update (7/28): By the time the market closed on July 27, Jeff Bezos was no longer on top. However it is entirely likely he'll be trading blows with Gates for the weeks to come and Amazon's CEO will surge as the richest man on earth given Amazon's dominance in e-commerce.

Bezos has been a billionaire for over 20 years, but as one of Amazon's largest stockholders, his wealth surged to $90 billion this past week after the company's stock has rallied for the past three years from less than $200 to over $1,000.

The rest of the original story follows below:

Thanks to a 1.8% rise in Amazon's stock price, Jeff Bezos has surpassed Bill Gates as being the highest valued individual on the planet. A $25 rise since this morning has pushed the Amazon CEO's net worth to a staggering $91 billion compared to Gates' $90.7 billion fortune.

Needless to say, there is little difference in lifestyle beyond a certain amount of wealth. Both executives could already spend $1 billion every single year for the remainder of their lives and still have plenty of money left over.

Today marks the first time since 2013 that someone other than Bill Gates will hold the exclusive title of world's richest. The steady increase in Prime subscribers, expanding sales to business customers, and web services all contributed to pushing stock prices up to help Bezos grow his net worth.

Overall, Amazon has had over 40% growth this year. As CEO, Bezos owns a 17% stake in the company, bringing him up from the fourth wealthiest at the beginning of the year now to the number one slot. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. chairman Warren Buffet are both vying for the position, but are nearly $20 billion short, ranking in the fourth and fifth positions.

Photo credit: AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/70326-jeff-bezos-unseats-bill-gates-world-richest-man.html

 

[kapital98]

I'm shocked Bill Gates was still the richest man. I figured that he would have been surpassed for good in 2013. M$ is a stable company that's unlikely to produce any groundbreaking advancements in the future.

As for the article: I'd say it's much harder for Bezos to keep his fortune than Gates. Gates built a fortune off of software. In the big picture, there are relatively little capital costs involved. Amazon is more like the tech version of Walmart than anything else. Their attempts at being a necessary tech company have had mixed success (The Kindle or Fire Tablet isn't close to the same success as the iPhone or Galaxy series).

 

[erickmendes]

And I still siting in a little bump of bills since 2013.

 

[Fluffybunny68]

Vladimir Putin is worth more than both of them combined if he counts.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.co...ddb7bc3b--vladimir-putin-meme-koala-bears.jpg

 

[Lionvibez]

Vladimir Putin is worth more than both of them combined if he counts.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.co...ddb7bc3b--vladimir-putin-meme-koala-bears.jpg

ya but most of that is probably acquired by illegal means and is easy to do that way.

 

[J spot]

I'm always surprised to see Bill so high up, considering the billions that he has donated.

 

[Nobina]

I'm always surprised to see Bill so high up, considering the billions that he has donated.

Giving money away might not be a bad idea after all.

 

[captaincranky]

Guys, is it really fair to compare Bezos with Gates? After all, Bill Gates is a gentle retiree, while Jeff Bezos, is still in the fray, trying to leech every possible penny he can from Amazon's customers. (Along with the entire world's currency supply, of course).

 

[TheDreams]

Sad to see this, I love bill hes a good guy

 

[ddferrari]

Vladimir Putin is worth more than both of them combined if he counts.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.co...ddb7bc3b--vladimir-putin-meme-koala-bears.jpg

How does your link in any way back up your claim?

 

[cliffordcooley]

How does your link in any way back up your claim?

Perhaps a Koala is priceless.

 

[Seraphim401]

Aaand it's gone.

 

[erickmendes]

Vladimir Putin is worth more than both of them combined if he counts.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.co...ddb7bc3b--vladimir-putin-meme-koala-bears.jpg

Vladimir Putin worths 2.5 Chuck Norris.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

I'm shocked Bill Gates was still the richest man. I figured that he would have been surpassed for good in 2013. M$ is a stable company that's unlikely to produce any groundbreaking advancements in the future.

As for the article: I'd say it's much harder for Bezos to keep his fortune than Gates. Gates built a fortune off of software. In the big picture, there are relatively little capital costs involved. Amazon is more like the tech version of Walmart than anything else. Their attempts at being a necessary tech company have had mixed success (The Kindle or Fire Tablet isn't close to the same success as the iPhone or Galaxy series).

Bill Gates doesn't work for MS anymore. he'd be rich even if they went under. The surprising reason he's still at the top of the list is because he's donated like $30 billion to solving the world's problems.

 

[wiyosaya]

Where are all the complaints about this not being tech news??

Oh, must be the fact that Trump was not mentioned in the article.

 

[ddferrari]

Bill Gates doesn't work for MS anymore. he'd be rich even if they went under. The surprising reason he's still at the top of the list is because he's donated like $30 billion to solving the world's problems.

So you're saying Bill Gates still has so much money because he gives billions away? That's some interesting math! O_o

 

[ddferrari]

Perhaps a Koala is priceless.

Perhaps, but I'll settle for the money.

 

[ddferrari]

Sad to see this, I love bill hes a good guy

Sad? Bill still has over 90B, and he never seemed to care about holding the "wealthiest person" title anyway. Of all the people on Earth you should feel sorry for, he is not one of them.

 

[captaincranky]

Where are all the complaints about this not being tech news??

. It's not "tech news" per se, but it's certainly "tech news by extension"! The name Bill Gates will be inseparably linked to the Microsoft Corporation in perpetuity. It's the source of his billions. That's the connection with technology.

OTOH, Jeff Bezos is simply the currently greediest and most ruthless CEO in all of retail sales. His only connection to technology is the fact the vast majority Amazon's business is online.

Oh, must be the fact that Trump was not mentioned in the article.

And whaddya know, you're the only off topic poster who has brought our POTUS into the discussion. What can we infer from that?

So, as "The Donald" is well down on the "world's richest men list" perhaps you should content yourself by whimpering about that sexist reference existing in the article.

 

[JamesSWD]

Funny...at the time of this article, only 300M separated Bezos from Gates. 300M. In their world, that's literally a rounding error or their stock having a momentary hick-up. Yet to the real world, that's a massive piece of wealth.

 

[psycros]

Lex Luthor, folks

 

[Joe Blow]

Which world problems would those be? He's a eugenicist and depopulationist, seeing all of us as useless feeders who need to be eradicated. His tools? Technology, mosquitoes, vaccines and geo-engineering. The problem he sees is that you're alive. Are you going to help him solve that problem?

I'm shocked Bill Gates was still the richest man. I figured that he would have been surpassed for good in 2013. M$ is a stable company that's unlikely to produce any groundbreaking advancements in the future.

As for the article: I'd say it's much harder for Bezos to keep his fortune than Gates. Gates built a fortune off of software. In the big picture, there are relatively little capital costs involved. Amazon is more like the tech version of Walmart than anything else. Their attempts at being a necessary tech company have had mixed success (The Kindle or Fire Tablet isn't close to the same success as the iPhone or Galaxy series).

Bill Gates doesn't work for MS anymore. he'd be rich even if they went under. The surprising reason he's still at the top of the list is because he's donated like $30 billion to solving the world's problems.

 

[Joe Blow]

Bezos got extra rich by getting in bed with the CIA. With friends like that, you don't need enemies.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Which world problems would those be? He's a eugenicist and depopulationist, seeing all of us as useless feeders who need to be eradicated. His tools? Technology, mosquitoes, vaccines and geo-engineering. The problem he sees is that you're alive. Are you going to help him solve that problem?

Either you fell off the top of the crazy tree and hit every branch on the way down or we are talking about two completely opposite Bill Gates'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_&_Melinda_Gates_Foundation

 

[captaincranky]

Either you fell off the top of the crazy tree and hit every branch on the way down or we are talking about two completely opposite Bill Gates'. ...[ ]....

Perhaps, there could be instituted another Techspot ceremonial title such as, "Mad Prophet of the Airways" AKA the, "He's as crazy as Howard Beale Award". For frame of reference purposes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_(film

The post does bring up a very significant question, (actually two questions); "Exactly how many monkeys does anyone think this planet is capable of holding"? Along with, "you don't think they'll stop breeding on their own, do ya"?