Bezos ousts Gates as world’s richest
AMAZON.COM Inc Chief Executive Jeff Bezos has unseated fellow tech billionaire Bill Gates as the richest person in the world, having profited from the ecommerce company’s meteoric stock rise to reach a fortune of $US90.6 billion ($NZ121 billion), Forbes reported.
Amazon shares jumped 1.6% at the start of trading yesterday, boosting the net worth of Mr Bezos — the company’s founder and largest shareholder — by $US1.4 billion, according to
Forbes, which tracks the world’s wealthiest.
Amazon.com Inc yesterday reported a 77% slump in quarterly income and forecast a potential operating loss in the current quarter, as the company invests heavily in video content and in fastgrowing economies such as India.
The company’s shares, already up nearly 41% this year, were down 3% at $US1014.75 in afterhours trading.
The world’s largest online retailer forecast an operating income of $US300 million to a loss of $US400 million for the current quarter. Analysts had expected operating income in the third quarter of
$US931 million, according to FactSet StreetAccount.
The news appeared to be an old refrain on Wall Street: While Amazon consistently posts blockbuster sales growth, its profit has often not kept pace because of thin retail margins and high investment to expand the company’s already vast reach in the US economy.
From its origins as an online bookseller, Amazon has jumped into areas that historically had barriers to ecommerce, from apparel to appliances. The spectre of Amazon’s disruption now hangs over a dizzying array of industries.
Mr Bezos, a relative newcomer to the top of Forbes’ list, has benefited from the seemingly boundless expansion of Amazon into new markets. The oncebookseller plans to acquire Whole Foods Market Inc, at the same time it is making strides in the fashion business, Hollywood, enterprise computing and general retail from India to Mexico. — Reuters