Amazon’s Bezos The Richest Man Alive With $100B Fortune After Black Friday Sales Blowout
Jeff Bezos has just joined a very exclusive club. The Amazon founder is the newest member of the $100 billion club after increasing his fortune by $2.4 billion to $100.3 billion. Shares of the world's largest online retailer jumped more than 2 percent on the expectation that Amazon will report a big uptick in Black Friday sales figures, compared to prior years. In doing so, Bezos' own net worth went up as well.
Early indications point to optimism on the part of investors as being justified. According to data from Adobe Analytics, online purchases on Black Friday collectively jumped 18.4 percent year-over-year. With Amazon being the top destination for online shopping, it is the web-based retailer took a significant chunk of online dollars.
Topping $100 billion makes Bezos the first billionaire to amass a 12-figure fortune since Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates achieved the feat in 1999. It has been a great year for Bezos, who increased his net worth by $32.6 billion in 2017 (so far). That is the biggest annual increase ever on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which tracks the world's 500 wealthiest people and updates them daily.
All eyes are now on Bezos to see what he decides to do with his fortune. Gates, who was the richest person in the world before Bezos passed him earlier this year, has committed to giving away at least half of his fortune to philanthropic causes as part of the Giving Pledge. Same goes for Warren Buffet, the US investor who is the third richest person with $78.9 billion. More than 160 billionaires have signed the Giving Pledge, though Bezos is not one of them.
That said, Bezos is starting to focus a bit more on philanthropy. Over the summer, he tweeted a request for short-term philanthropic ideas aimed at helping people in the here and now.
Thumbnail Image Source: Flickr (James Duncan Davidson)
Early indications point to optimism on the part of investors as being justified. According to data from Adobe Analytics, online purchases on Black Friday collectively jumped 18.4 percent year-over-year. With Amazon being the top destination for online shopping, it is the web-based retailer took a significant chunk of online dollars.
Topping $100 billion makes Bezos the first billionaire to amass a 12-figure fortune since Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates achieved the feat in 1999. It has been a great year for Bezos, who increased his net worth by $32.6 billion in 2017 (so far). That is the biggest annual increase ever on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which tracks the world's 500 wealthiest people and updates them daily.
All eyes are now on Bezos to see what he decides to do with his fortune. Gates, who was the richest person in the world before Bezos passed him earlier this year, has committed to giving away at least half of his fortune to philanthropic causes as part of the Giving Pledge. Same goes for Warren Buffet, the US investor who is the third richest person with $78.9 billion. More than 160 billionaires have signed the Giving Pledge, though Bezos is not one of them.
That said, Bezos is starting to focus a bit more on philanthropy. Over the summer, he tweeted a request for short-term philanthropic ideas aimed at helping people in the here and now.
Thumbnail Image Source: Flickr (James Duncan Davidson)
