After leapfrogging Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos recovered his status as the world’s richest person. Just as fast as he surged in the rankings, Musk surrendered back the title of world’s richest person to Bezos. Bezos had been the richest man in the world since 2017 until last month.
World’s richest person again
The Amazon founder’s wealth, primarily made up of Amazon stock, has risen in tandem with the company’s share price in recent years. Bezos has proceeded to amass ever-increasing fortunes. Last August, he became the first person in history to have a net worth of more than $200 billion, and his wealth reached $150 billion in 2018, making him the world’s richest man in recent history.
According to CNBC, as he prepares to depart his role later this year, Bezos has once again become the world’s richest person. Bezos stated earlier this month that he would hand over the reins to Andy Jassy, Amazon’s senior cloud executive. Bezos is likely to maintain an eye on the firm created. Still, he will have more time to devote to other projects, such as his Blue Origin rocket company, The Washington Post and the Bezos Earth Fund, and the Amazon Day 1 Fund, humanitarian ventures.
Amazon started small
Amazon.com, once a platform for selling books, evolved out of a garage with a potbelly stove in its early phases. Bezos put $10,000 of his own money into the company he created with his wife and two programmers, and he held most of his meetings at the local Barnes & Noble. In the first month after its launch in July 1995, Amazon sold books in every state in the US and 45 countries around the world.
Bezos tried to raise money during Amazon’s first year by forecasting $74 million in sales by 2000, considerably underestimating the reality: $1.64 billion in revenues in 1999 alone. After exhausting his family’s contributions, mostly from his parents, who provided a significant amount of their life savings, he secured $1 million in early capital from angel investors.
The initial 20 investors in Amazon each invested roughly around $50,000 for a 1% stake. Each investment would now be worth around $16.71 billion, indicating a 334,200-fold return. Bezos paid $250 million for The Washington Post in August 2013., the Investopedia posted.
Amazon’s stock price reflects the company’s incredible expansion. From January 2016 to January 2021, the stock soared by more than 450 percent and more than 75 percent from January 2020 to January 2021 alone. As of 2021, Bezos owns nearly 11 percent of Amazon, making it his primary source of wealth.
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