In another triumph for Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, the billionaire today became the 3rd richest person in the world by upstaging investor Warren Buffett some time after the opening of the stock markets in the United States today. Bezos' net worth was $200 million short of Buffett but soon after the begining of today's trading, he went up by $300 million and in the process became the 3rd richest person in the world.
According to a report on FORBES, ""When markets closed last night, Bezos was still $200 million shy of Buffett but passed him soon after the opening bell on Friday. By noon Eastern, Bezos' net worth climbed to $65 billion, putting him $300 million above Buffett, who is now the fourth richest person in the world. The only two billionaires richer than Bezos areMicrosoft MSFT +1.38% founder Bill Gates, who has a $78 billion fortune, and Zara founder Amancio Ortega, who has a net worth of $73.1 billion.
Bezos' rise to the number three spot on the billionaire rankings is powered by Amazon's strong stock performance-and Buffett's philanthropy. On July 14, Buffett donated $2.9 billion to charity, bringing his net worth within $1.3 billion of Bezos's net worth. In the past week, Amazon stock has risen nearly 8% while Berkshire-Hathaway stock has dipped slightly, which was enough to put Bezos ahead of Buffett for the first time on Friday."
The report went on to add, "When Forbes published its 2016 Billionaires List in March, Bezos officially appeared in the ranks of the top ten richest in the world for the first time with a net worth of $45.2 billion, making him the fifth richest person in the world. Since then, Amazon stock has risen nearly 50%, adding $19.8 billion to Bezos' fortune. Bezos first appeared on FORBES' list of the 400 richest Americans in 1998, four years after he founded Amazon, with a net worth of $1.6 billion."
