Amazon boss Jeff Bezos adds an astonishing £22bn to his fortune during coronavirus crisis as demand for online deliveries surges
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos has added an astonishing £22 billion to his fortune during the coronavirus crisis as demand for online deliveries has surged.
It means the 56-year-old is now worth £110 billion, ahead of Bill Gates’ £84 billion, and is the world’s richest man.
Bezos’s fortune was £89 billion one month ago, according to Bloomberg’s billionaires index.
A nice earner: Jeff Bezos is now worth £110 billion and is the world’s richest man
But, under lockdown, the American tycoon is among a handful of people benefiting financially from the crisis. It has prompted Amazon to hire some 175,000 extra staff – mostly in the US – and increase the pay of warehouse staff, including those in the UK.
In contrast to Bezos, the Bloomberg billionaires index said the world’s 500 richest people had lost about £441 billion so far this year. Bezos has an 11.2 per cent stake in Amazon, which he founded in 1994. and its shares have risen by 35.2 per cent, or $594.17, to $2283.32 (£1,818) over the past month.
He pledged £8 billion to causes helping to fight climate change in February. Elsewhere, he has spent money on his space rocket company Blue Origin, his purchase of the Washington Post newspaper, cancer research and college scholarships for immigrant students. And he bought the Warner Estate in Beverly Hills, for a record £131.6m two months ago.
Dubbed ‘one of the most beautiful properties in the world’, it was designed during the 1930s for former Warner Bros film mogul Jack Warner and features huge gardens, guest houses, tennis court and a golf course.