Amid Covid-19, Jeff Bezos Becomes World's First Person to Hit Net Worth of $200 Billion

Amid a pandemic which has hurt businesses and economies alike, CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos on August 26 became the first-ever individual to hit a net worth of $200 billion.

The e-commerce platform stocks continued to soar even as the United States became the worst-affected country due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

On August 26, Amazon’s share price climbed 2.3 percent to $3,423 per share, helping Bezos enter the $200 billion net worth territory in the process.

Bezos’ net worth is more than Nike, McDonald’s and Pepsi, all three companies are valued between $139 billion and $191 billion, The Wrap’s report said.

Amazon’s CEO and also the world’s richest man is worth $204.6 billion as of August 27. He is $90 billion richer than Bill Gates, who is the world’s second-richest person, currently worth $116.1 billion, as per a Forbes report.

Amazon stock has rallied nearly 80 percent since the beginning of 2020, adding that Bezos’ roughly 11 percent stake in Amazon makes up more than 90 percent of his fortune.

The founder of Amazon also owns major American newspaper Washington Post, aerospace company, Blue Origin and has a host of other private investments.

Bezos had sold shares worth $3.1 billion in the e-commerce company earlier in August. During the first two working days of August, Bezos sold 1 million shares as part of a previously announced trading plan, according to the filings.

It is worth noting that Bezos would have hit the $200 billion mark earlier had he not gone through the world’s biggest divorce settlement in 2019.

Bezos and wife MacKenzie Scott finalised their divorce on July 5 to the tune of a $38 billion settlement – the biggest divorce settlement in history.

Bezos’ private life was thrust into the spotlight with the announcement in January 2019 that he and his wife were divorcing after 25 years of marriage and the revelation by an American tabloid newspaper National Enquirer that he had been having an affair with a former news anchor, Lauren Sanchez.

Bezos and Scott married in 1993 and have four children. Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in his Seattle garage in 1994 and turned it into a behemoth that dominates online retail globally.

From modest beginnings as an online bookseller, Bezos has helped Amazon branch out into almost every product category available, ending up taking on established retail giants such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc.