Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos became the world’s first person ever to hit a net worth of $200 billion on Wednesday, as the tech giant’s stock continued a steady climb that kicked off in mid-March, as the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S.
By midday Wednesday, Amazon’s share price had climbed 2.3% to $3,423 per share — helping push Bezos past the $200 billion threshold in the process. For comparison, Bezos is personally worth more than Nike, McDonald’s and Pepsi, which are all valued between $139 billion and $191 billion.
Amazon’s stock price has been on a tear over the last few months, as millions of people have been forced to stay inside and order more products online; the company’s share price has surged more than 100% since March 16, when it was trading for less than $1,700 per share.
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Bezos already held a substantial lead on the next closest rich guy, Bill Gates, who entered Wednesday with a net worth of $123 billion, according to Bloomberg. The bulk of his fortune stems from a 10.9% stake in Amazon — or about 54.5 million shares — which Bezos founded in Seattle in 1994.
It’s also worth pointing out Bezos would’ve hit the $200 billion mark sooner had he not finalized a divorce last year. His ex-wife, MacKenzie, is worth more than $64 billion after getting 20 million Amazon shares in the divorce settlement.
Overall, Amazon is worth $1.72 trillion — making it the second most valuable company behind Apple, which has a market cap of $2.16 trillion
