He’ll see himself on the silver screen as an alien extra in the new Star Trek movie, he announced his space company Blue Origin had a successful rocket landing and oh, he became the world’s third richest person.
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Bezos’ rise to the number three spot on the billionaire rankings is powered by Amazon’s strong stock performance-and Buffett’s philanthropy.
The Amazon.com founder’s net worth was $US65.05 billion ($87 billion) Thursday, topping Mr Buffett by $US32 million on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Bezos’s wealth comes from primarily from Amazon, which is the fifth most valuable company in the U.S.
Bezos’ net worth could grow even more next week, when Amazon reports its quarterly earnings, which most analysts expect to be another blowout quarter. The shares are up 54 per cent since hitting a low of US$482.07 on February 9.
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Buffett’s fall to fourth place was assisted by his donation last week of $2.9 billion worth of Berkshire stock to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and four Buffett family foundations, Forbes said. That’s only $3 billion less than Buffett. The world’s richest person is still Microsoft’s Bill Gates, with a net worth of $89 billion (Rs 5.9 lakh crore), followed by Spanish magnate Amancio Ortega, who controls $73 billion (Rs 4.9 lakh crore). Carlos Kirjner of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. set his Amazon price target at US$1,000 in May, 34 per cent above Thursday’s close of US$744.43. Since then, Amazon stock has risen almost 50%, adding $19.8 billion to Bezos’ fortune.
