Amazon boss Jeff Bezos set to lose 'World's Richest' title
What's the story
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos will soon have to give up the title of the world's richest person as the Amazon.com Inc. stock dipped in after-hours trading on Thursday. Reportedly, Bezos lost nearly $7 billion in stock value on Thursday. With this plunge in Bezos's net worth, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is set to become the world's richest person again. Here's more.
Stock market
Amazon shares fell 7% in after-hours trading
According to Forbes, Amazon shares fell 7% in after-hours trading. Bezos, who reportedly owns 57,610,359 shares of Amazon, saw his net worth swooped down to $103.9 billion. This would make Gates, currently worth $105.7 billion, richer than Bezos. However, this change will not be official until Friday's markets close, as the rankings are only updated after the close of each trading day.
Other reasons
Jeff-MacKenzie split also left a dent in Amazon boss' fortune
However, Amazon's falling stock prices aren't the only ones to blame. Had it not been for Bezos's divorce, he would still have been the world's richest. Earlier this year, Bezos split with wife MacKenzie, who received $38 billion in the world's biggest divorce settlement. Interestingly, MacKenzie's net worth would also drop to $32.9 billion, according to Bloomberg, as she owns 4% stake in Amazon.
Information
On the other hand, Gates donated billions to charity
With that said, perhaps Gates never would have lost the title of the "world's richest" to Bezos had it not been for the former's philanthropy. Since 1994, Gates has donated $35 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
History
Bezos first overtook Gates in 2017
Notably, Bezos had first surpassed Gates's fortune briefly in July 2017. While the race remained neck and neck for a while, by 2018, Bezos had added a whopping $78.5 billion to his fortune owing to a 104% surge in the price of Amazon stock. Last year, Bezos made it to the Forbes 400 list with a worth of $160 billion, ending Gates's 24-year streak.