Bezos world’s richest man – for a moment
Briefly moves ahead of Gates before stock falls
NEW YORK — Amazon. com Inc. CEO Jeff Bezos briefly became the world’s richest man yesterday after stock in his e-commerce company hit an all-time high.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates reclaimed the lead by afternoon, as Amazon’s stock fell nearly 1 percent for the day to close at $1,046.
Amazon shares have been trading at record highs. They hit $1,083.31 at about noon yesterday. According to securities filings, Bezos owns about 80 million shares, or 17 percent; those shares were valued at more than $87 billion at the peak. Bezos also owns The Washington Post through a holding company.
Forbes reported Bezos’ net worth was about $90.6 billion when the markets opened yesterday. Gates was at $90.1 billion. Forbes said Gates would have been the undisputed leader had he not given billions of dollars to various philanthropic causes. Bezos issued a request for philanthropic ideas in a tweet in June, just before Amazon announced a $13.7 billion deal for organic grocer Whole Foods.
The changes in Bezos’ fortune coincided with Amazon’s quarterly earnings report. Shares fell another 3 percent in after-markets trading as the company reported net income of $197 million (40 cents per share) in the second quarter, down from $857 million ($1.78 per share) for the same period a year earlier.
Revenue grew 25 percent, to $38 billion, compared with $30 billion.
Seattle-based Amazon employs more than 340,000 people worldwide.