New York, Jul 17 – Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has surpassed Bill Gates as the richest person after Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimated his net worth reaching $150 billion (Sh15 trillion).
Bezos’ net worth has risen following the significant gain of Amazon’s shares which closed at $1,822.49 on Monday.
At $150 billion, Bezos is now the richest person in recent history topping Gates’s $100 billion net worth in 1999, which adjusted to inflation is $149 billion.
The latest ranking sees Bezos open a $55 billion gap between the Microsoft co-founder, Gates, who has a net worth of $95 billion and has occupied the top spot for nearly two decades.
According to Bloomberg, Gates might have crossed the $150 billion net worth but he has given away a substantial amount of his wealth to charity and research mainly through his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.