Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos has become the newest billionaire to reach a net worth of $100 billion.
According to Bloomberg, Bezos’s fortune jumped $2.4 billion to $100.3 billion early on Nov. 24, following more than a two percent rise in shares on Black Friday.
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. (David Ryder/Getty Images)This surge in net worth makes Bezos, 53, the first billionaire to reach a net worth of $100 billion since 1999. The last billionaire to achieve that milestone was Microsoft Corp. co-founder, Bill Gates.
Reaching the new landmark was shortlived, however. After the close of trading in New York on Friday, the billionaire’s total net worth fell back down to $97.9 billion.
Nonetheless, Bezos has had a good year. His net wealth went up $36.2 billion this year through to Nov. 24—a 49.8 percent increase since the same period last year.
The online retail mogul surpassed Gates as the world’s richest man last month, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, a daily ranking of the world’s 500 richest people.
An Amazon fulfillment center. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)Gate, 62, still holds second place with a net worth of $88.9 billion, while Warren Buffet, 86, of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. remained in third with a net worth of $78.9 billion, according to the index on Nov. 24.
Bezos is the largest shareholder of Amazon, the world’s biggest retailer, owning about 16 percent of Amazon’s stock. The bulk of his wealth is generated from these shares.
The Amazon CEO is also the owner of space exploration company, Blue Origin, which has an implied value between $1 billion and $12 billion. He also owns the Washington Post, which he purchased for $250 million in 2013, and he owns shares in a number of other companies.
Amazon reported a 34 percent rise in revenue of $43.7 billion in the third quarter this year compared to the same period last year, according to Forbes. The company also recently had a soft launch of its Australian online store on Nov. 23 in time for Black Friday sales.
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