After more than two years, Jeff Bezos, the mind behind Amazon, has climbed back to being the world's wealthiest person.
His fortune now stands at a staggering $200 billion as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. This resurgence is fueled by a significant uplift in Big Tech stocks, driven largely by the recent excitement around artificial intelligence. The last glimpse of Bezos atop the wealth charts was back in 2021.
Amazon's stock has witnessed a sharp rise, escalating 17% since the start of the year and almost doubling over the past twelve months. Despite a slight dip of 0.4% in its shares to $177.58 on Monday, the upswing in Amazon's value has directly benefited Bezos, who holds a 9% stake in the company.
Beyond Amazon, Bezos's investment in his aerospace firm Blue Origin also contributes to his hefty net worth.
A Shuffling of the Wealthy
The latest rankings see Bezos surpassing Tesla's Elon Musk, who had maintained the lead for the past nine months. There was a time when Musk's wealth outpaced Bezos by as much as $142 billion, according to Bloomberg's figures.
Bezos first snatched the title of the world's richest individual from Microsoft's Bill Gates in 2017. Musk then overtook Bezos in 2021, thanks to Tesla's stock performance surge.
The race remains tight among the uber-rich, with Elon Musk and Bernard Arnault, the head of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, now trailing closely behind Bezos.
Musk's fortune is valued at $198 billion, with Arnault's at $197 billion.
This year has been tough on Tesla's stock, which has seen a decline of 24% so far, further aggravated by a 7% drop on Monday after reporting decreased sales in China for February.
