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.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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 ...

AAUA ELECTION UPDATE! BOWBOW emerge as new president

After the conclusion of AAUA SUG election, here are the result of the updated result after students cast their vote. Below are the lists and arrangement of the  votes; AAUA 2018 ELECTION  UPDATE !!! As at 5:00 ( the end of the voting process) Total voters accredited  - 6129 Total votes casted - 349 total persons remain unvoted - 2340 PRESIDENT Elyte - 137 yomitty - 349 bowbow - 1956 WINNER Jega - 880 yellow - 127 VICE-PRESIDENT ANIKKY- 1500 OMO-B - 2027 WINNER GEN- SEN BASEHITZ - 409 TOSYNO - 780 MARSHALL- 551 ORHE- 1796 WINNER PRO BOBOVID - 918 SEGUN DANIELS - 1970 WINNER KUTA - 588 TREASURER OLORI -648 AFOLAS- 1885 WINNER FABULOUS- 887 WALFARE BALINGA- 522 SHANA- 946 MR CLASSIC - 2016 WINNER FIN SEC OLA-EMBASSY- 1873 WINNER RESOURCES- 1592 SOCIAL DIR HOLUWABASSEY- 2562 WINNER TOBI MARSHAL- 878 SPORT DIR PHERYDEE- 1766 WINNER HYBEE - 1732 AGS IMPACT - 2416 WINNER       

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.