Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Surpasses Bill Gates to become the World's Richest

Move over, Bill Gates, there’s a new richest person in town, and to no surprise, his name is Jeff Bezos.

Earlier this year we reported that the Amazon CEO was, at the time, the second richest man in the world, only behind Gates. But following Amazon.com’s recent rise in shares, Bezos’ wealth is now estimated at $90.6 billion USD, in comparison to the Microsoft co-founder’s $90 billion USD, according to Forbes.

As Amazon shares have continued to rise over the past year, Bezos has in turned raked in tens of billions of dollars. Currently, they are being traded at roughly $1,063 USD, by the way.

Bezos holds almost 81 million shares of Amazon, which equates to nearly 17 percent of the company. He also has other investments, including his ownership of The Washington Postand the rocket company Blue Origin, on top of cash from the sale of securities.

Gates, on the other hand, has been recognized as the richest man alive 18 out of the previous 23 years, as the majority of his wealth of course originates from Microsoft.