Jeff Bezos is back as the richest man in the world
Amazon chief executive and founder Jeff Bezos briefly lost his title as the world’s richest man on Thursday, October 24, after his ecommerce giant reported disappointing third-quarter earnings. Shares fell 7% in after-hours trading, pushing his fortune mostly consisting of his nearly 12% Amazon stake to $103.9 billion as of 8 P.M. ET. Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates took over as the richest man in the world a title he held comfortably for 24 years before Bezos took the helm in 2018.
But it’s a new day. Though shares of Amazon fell on Friday compared to Thursday’s market close, the drop wasn’t as steep as in after-hours trading Thursday. Amazon shares fell 1% to $1,760.78 on Friday, putting Bezos’ net worth at $109.9 billion—and back at number one. Bill Gates is just $4.1 billion behind Bezos at number two richest, worth $105.8 billion.
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It’s possible Bezos could lose the crown once more as Amazon continues to invest heavily in infrastructure to support one-day shipping—a delivery time that he hopes will become standard for all Amazon Prime members.
The company reported during its second-quarter earnings call in in July that it had spent over $800 million on the one-day shipping initiative. It did not share how much it spent on the effort in the third quarter. But Amazon’s net income for the third quarter fell 26%. The company also stated during Thursday’s earnings call that it plans to spend $1.5 billion in just the fourth quarter on expanding its shipping and transportation program.
Bezos’ fortune is heavily reliant on the performance of the company he started. But Gates, who cofounded Microsoft in 1975, is much less dependent on his own creation. He stepped down as chairman of Microsoft in 2014 and had diversified his assets over the years. Gates owns just over 1% of Microsoft, and has invested in a mix of stocks and other assets over the years.
Amazon shares fell 7% in after-hours trading, knocking Bezos’ fortune down to $103.9 billion. That puts him at number two among the world’s richest. The new number one: Microsoft cofounder and fellow Washington State resident Bill Gates, who is worth $105.7 billion.
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In 2018 Bezos became the richest man in the world and the first centibillionaire to appear on the The Forbes 400, with a net worth of $160 billion, ending Gates’ 24-year run as number one.
But the Amazon chief executive's net worth drop isn’t entirely due to the decline in Amazon shares. Bezos transferred a quarter of his Amazon stake to his ex-wife MacKenzie Bezos as part of their divorce settlement, which was finalized earlier this year. MacKenzie Bezos is worth $32.7 billion and among the top twenty wealthiest people in the world.
On Thursday afternoon, Amazon reported a 26% drop in net income in its third quarter, its first profit decline since 2017. In after-hours trading, Amazon dropped nearly 9% to $1,624 per share in the 20 minutes after the market closed. It has since rebounded slightly, hovering at $1,657 per share at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The company said it is investing heavily in logistics and delivery infrastructure, with the goal of making one-day shipping the norm for Amazon Prime members. The company disclosed during its second-quarter earnings call in July that it had spent “a little bit” more than the estimated $800 million that it has previously said it would invest in oneday shipping infrastructure.
The company declined to disclose how much it had spent on one-day shipping in the third quarter. But chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky did disclose Thursday that the company plans to spend $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter, presumably to finance the one-day shipping initiative.
Gates, meanwhile, has been out of Microsoft since 2014 when he stepped down as chairman of the storied company, though he remains a board member. He has sold or given away the majority of his Microsoft stake and diversified his wealth over time.
He is now the co-chairman of the
Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest private charitable foundation in the world.
Bill Gates debuted on Forbes’ first ever billionaire list in 1987 with a net worth of $1.25 billion. Bezos first joined The Forbes 400 list of richest Americans in 1998, one year after Amazon went public, with a net worth of $1.6 billion.
In its “Time to Care” report, Oxfam said it estimated that unpaid care work by women added at least $10.8 trillion a year in value to the world economy - three times more than the tech industry.
“It is important for us to underscore that the hidden engine of the economy that we see is really the unpaid care work of women. And that needs to change,” Amitabh Behar, CEO of Oxfam India, told Reuters in an interview.
To highlight the level of inequality in the global economy, Behar cited the case of a woman called Buchu Devi in India who spends 16 to 17 hours a day doing work like fetching water after trekking 3km, cooking, preparing her children for school and working in a poorly paid job.
“And on the one hand you see the billionaires who are all assembling at Davos with their personal planes, personal jets, super rich lifestyles,” he said.