It could take some time to get used to but Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates, is no more the name to call when asked who the richest person is; that’s Jeff Bezos now.
With a net worth now standing at a staggering $91.4 billion, the Amazon founder has gone past Gates on the ultimate rich list by a ‘mere’ $1.4 billion.
According to Forbes, 53-year-old Bezos now ranks top of the richest person in the world list after stocks of his company rose to 1.6% on Thursday.
And Bezos owns about 17% of shares in the online retail company which is now worth $500 billion.
On Wednesday night, Forbes had released a publication that Bezos was less than $1 billion away from overthrowing Gates.
For the first three months of this year, Amazon’s sales jumped 23% to $35.7 billion. The company expects a rise of 16% to 24% for the quarter to June.
Soaring technology stocks have fuelled huge growth in the worth of entrepreneurs such as Bezos and Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, who is now worth $72.6 billion according to Forbes.
Bezos first featured on the 400 richest Americans list in 1998, a year after Amazon went public, with a $1.6 billion fortune.
Meanwhile, Gates’ first inclusion in the billionaires’ list was in 1982, and has been number one for 18 of the past 23 years.