- Bill Gates has become the richest person in the world again as of the market closing on Friday
Bill Gates has become the richest person in the world again after surpassing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Friday. The last time Gates was the richest person in the world was over two years ago.
One of the reasons why Microsoft’s stock increased is due to the Pentagon awarding a $10 billion cloud computing contract last month. Amazon lost out on that deal. After Microsoft’s shares increased 4%, it gave Gates a $110 billion net worth according to Bloomberg. Amazon’s stock went down after losing the Pentagon deal thus causing Bezos to hit a $108.7 billion net worth.
Gates had temporarily passed Bezos on an intraday basis last month after Amazon reported its first profit drop in two years. The third, fourth, and fifth richest people on the Bloomberg index include Bernard Arnault, Warren Buffett, and Mark Zuckerberg, respectively.
Besides Gates’ 1% stake in Microsoft, he also generates wealth through investments made through his family office called Cascade.
When Jeff Bezos divorced his wife MacKenzie, they agreed to her receiving a quarter of their Amazon holdings. As of Friday, MacKenzie Bezos has a net worth of $35 billion. And Gates donated over $35 billion through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation since 1994.
