Jeff Bezos Is World’s Richest Man Third Year In A Row

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has won the title of world’s richest man for the third year in a row, despite losing $36 billion worth of stocks in his divorce last year. 

Imagine losing $36 billion (£29 billion), and still having more money than everyone else in the world. Imagine having $36 billion! Hell, imagine having $36.

Bezos’ current net worth stands at $113 billion; an $18 billion drop from his total last year. The loss isn’t as dramatic as it could be, though, as he forked out $36 billion worth of his Amazon stock to his ex-wife MacKenzie Bezos as part of their divorce settlement last summer. It was estimated he could have had to hand over $68 billion.

His partial comeback is somewhat down to Amazon’s shares rising 15% since 2019.

The Amazon CEO seems determined to hang on to his wealth, and last month he faced criticisms after asking the public to donate to The Amazon Relief Fund, which was created by the company to assist its ’employees and partners’ who continue to work during this time.

At the time, one frustrated Twitter user wrote:

How is your company worth over a TRILLION dollars and you want the public to donate to an employee relief fund?! As if Amazon can’t pay their employees themselves!

Despite his $18 billion drop, Bezos is still miles ahead of Forbes’ runner-up Bill Gates, who has a net worth of $98 billion. Rounding out the top five billionaires are luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault with $76 billion, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett with $67.5 billion, and Oracle founder Larry Ellison with $59 billion.

Alice Walton, an heir to the Walmart fortune, is the world’s richest woman and ranked number nine overall with $54.4 billion.

Forbes initially calculated the net worths 12 days before finalising the list, and in that time 226 people lost their billionaire status.

The site explains:

As the [outbreak] tightened its grip on Europe and America, global equity markets imploded, tanking many fortunes.

As of March 18, when we finalized this list, Forbes counted 2,095 billionaires, 58 fewer than a year ago and 226 fewer than just 12 days earlier.

The billionaires who managed to hold on to their nine-figure net worths have also been hit, as 51% are poorer than they were last year. In ‘raw terms’, the world’s billionaires are worth $8 trillion; $700 billion less than 2019.

In spite of the loss, those who made the list still don’t really have much to worry about, considering they’re all still billionaires. The world may be going through some uncertain times at the moment, but I know a rich person when I see one.