New York – Amazon.com Inc Chief Executive Jeff Bezos has unseated fellow tech billionaire Bill Gates as the richest person in the world, profiting from the e-commerce company’s meteoric stock rise to reach a fortune of $90.6 billion, Forbes reported.
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Amazon shares jumped 1.6 percent at the start of trading on Thursday, boosting the net worth of Bezos – the company’s founder and largest shareholder – by $1.4 billion, according to Forbes, which tracks the world’s wealthiest.
The stock was up ahead of Amazon’s second-quarter earnings report after Thursday’s market close. Analysts expect the world’s largest online retailer will report that its sales jumped 22 percent to $37.2 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Bezos, a relative newcomer to the top of Forbes’ list, has benefited from the seemingly boundless expansion of Amazon into new markets. The once-bookseller plans to acquire Whole Foods Market Inc
Reuters could not independently verify the wealth of Bezos or Microsoft Corp’s