Skip to main content

Meet the man who overtook bill gates as the richest man on earth for less than four hours

  Boss Jeff Bezos briefly overtook Bill Gates as the world's richest person on Thursday following a surge in the online retailer's shares ahead of its earnings report, before the stock fell back again. The e-commerce magnate, who was the fourth richest person at the beginning of the year, overtook Microsoft co-founder Gates earlier in the day after Amazon shares rose 1.8pc to $1,071 (£820).  However, shares later dropped back, closing down 0.7pc at $1,046, meaning the 53-year-old Bezos has not yet replaced Gates as number one on the Forbes Billionaire's list. Bezos is now worth $88.5bn.

The share price move came hours before Amazon posted quarterly earnings in which it said profit had fallen 77pc on a year earlier. This was due to it ramping up investment spend on video content and international expansion.  Gates, who is worth $89.7bn, has been the wealthiest person in the world since May 2013. The philanthropic billionaire has given away $31.1bn of his wealth to charitable causes. Bezos has donated just $100m, according to Forbes.  Bezos has been close behind Gates for a number of weeks, with a net worth of $89.3bn ahead of Thursday's surge. His wealth has ballooned by an extra $24.4bn in 2017 as Amazon, in which he holds a 17pct stake, has surged almost 40pc.


Bezos has leapfrogged the $82.7bn Amancio Ortega, Inditex SA founder, and $74.5bn Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. The billionaire technology entrepreneur founded Amazon in 1994 as a book store in his Seattle garage. Amazon is now one of the top 50 biggest companies in the world with a remit that includes online shopping, original television series and on-demand delivery.

The success of Amazon Prime, the £79-per-year subscription service, has contributed to the company's rapid growth this year, as has the popularity of the Echo speaker.  Bezos's portfolio also includes the Washington Post and spaceflight company Blue Origin. He holds a stake in rival Google, having been one of the first backers of the search company, as well as Airbnb and Uber.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Music connected me with former President Olusegun Obasanjo- Ibitayo Jeje

Call her the female version of the legendary Juju crooner, Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi and you wouldn’t be wrong. She is a devoted purveyor of culture. With her one-of-a kind voice, many couldn’t imagine where highlife music would be without Ibitayo Jeje. What many don’t know is that the gospel highlife diva got her start in a church choir. The singer, entrepreneur and author looks back at various moments of her life, marriage, music and relationship with ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in this interview with Adedayo Adejobi How did you discover that you are a musician? I didn’t just discover that aspect of me by myself. Before I started singing highlife music, I used to do a bit of everything from Hip-hop, R&B and reggae in my subsequent albums. Someone heard one of my songs in the old album and asked if I had tried singing highlife music. Because I appreciate culture, I got interested and started researching and went back to the studio. One of the songs that I had record...
Post a Comment
read more»»

GHANA: Ghana top leading consumer of fresh tomatoes in Africa and second in the world.

Ghana is the leading consumer of Fresh tomatoes in Africa and the second in the world, Mr Eric Osei Tuffuor, the Chairman of the Ghana National Tomatoes Traders and Transporters Association (GNTTTA) has stated. Ghana is the leading consumer of Fresh tomatoes in Africa and the second in the world, Mr Eric Osei Tuffuor, the Chairman of the Ghana National Tomatoes Traders and Transporters Association (GNTTTA) has stated. He said presently Ghanaians consumed 90 per cent of fresh tomatoes produced in Burkina Faso which cost the country 56 billion CFA annually in importation. Mr. Tuffuor made the statement at a meeting with tomato farmers, traders, some executive members of the Association and Mr George Oduro, a Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture at Tuobodom in the Techiman North District of Brong-Ahafo Region. It was organised by the Assembly at the instance of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo following the farmers' concern for government's support ...
Post a Comment
read more»»

What a pity! Man die after eaten poison fried yam while traveling in the express Road.

A middle-aged man from the Local Government Area of ekiti, Niyi olaiya, traveling along edo at the weekend  died after eating yam he bought at the roadside in the express road. A woman from the area had earlier died after eating the yam sold by some market trader at the road of Edo. The man is said to have purchase at the roadblock along the express road  when he was hungry in the public transport and after purchasing  yam which he immediately remove and ate. Sources in the public transport reported that 30 minutes after eating the yam, which the people consider as poison yam , the man started vomiting bloody substance while his stomach started swelling. He gave up the ghost 45 minutes later. people are therefore advised to reduced the rate of eating cooked food along the express road.
Post a Comment
read more»»