Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was the richest man but just for few hours

By Team Asianet Newsable | First Published Jul 28, 2017, 8:25 AM IST

Bezos is the seventh person to hold the title of the world’s richest person.
Microsoft's founder Bill Gates retains the top spot with his personal fortune of $90.8 billion.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos hit headlines for becoming the richest man in the world, but it was short lived. Amazon has reported its second quarter earnings and there has been a dip in the profit compared to the same time a year ago due to Amazon's extensive investments.

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This also pushes Jeff Bezos down the ladder, but he was the richest man in the world for just a few hours. So, Microsoft's founder Bill Gates retains the top spot with his personal fortune of $90.8 billion. On the other hand, Bezos' personal fortune includes the $80 million shares in Amazon.

The 'richest man' title has previously been claimed by Mexico's Carlos Slim, Amancio Ortega and investor Warren Buffett. However, as we know, it has been Gates who mostly stays atop. So, we might for sure see more such fluctuations in the future.

TheVerge points out, "No one was really expecting Bezos to stay atop the list for long — and these kind of absurd proclamations tied to personal wealth are a bit of silly tech industry posturing when you take them at face value. But given the constant fluctuations in market cap for both Amazon and Microsoft, it’s highly likely the two billionaires will trade the title back and forth a number of times in the coming months as both Amazon and Microsoft continue to grow and amass influence in their respective sectors."

Bezos is now becomes the seventh person to hold the title of the world’s richest person and the third American.

The Forbes report explains, "Bezos would be nowhere close to being the world’s wealthiest person had Gates not given so much of his fortune to philanthropy. Gates, who created the Giving Pledge with Buffett to encourage billionaires to give at least half of their wealth to charitable causes, had given away $31.1 billion over the course of his lifetime through end of 2016."

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