Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have ping-ponged over who is the wealthiest for years
Jeff Bezos has dethroned Elon Musk to become the world’s richest human being.
The Amazon founder, 60, has a thumping net worth – what is owned minus what is owed – of $230,000,000,000 (about £158,000,000,000).
This beats the $198,000,000,000 (£156,000,000,000) net worth of Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, by a pitiful £1,600,000,000.
Bezos now once again has the most zeroes in his bank account of anyone in the world for the first time since late 2021, a title previously held by Microsoft’s Bill Gates.
Bezos has gained some £18,000,000,000 so far this year, while Twitter owner Musk, 52, has lost £24,000,000,000, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 wealthiest people.
The two tech tycoons’ wealth gap was once as wide as £112,000,000,000 but has been steadily closing as Amazon and Tesla shares move in opposite directions.
The Amazon founder’s wealth took a dent following his split with Lauren Sanchez (L) (Picture: Karwai Tang/WireImage)
Both companies count their founders as their biggest shareholders.
Bezos’ fortune bloated despite selling 50,000,000 Amazon shares, worth roughly $8,000,000,000 last month. He still has a 9% stake in the e-commerce behemoth.
Musk managed to edge out Bezos for the title for the first time in 2017, partly due to Bezos’ philanthropy and divorce.
Musk, who is also divorced, has seen shares in his electronic automotive company slump 50% since its record peak in 2021.
Tesla shares took another hit as recently as Monday when data suggested shipments from its Shanghai factory were the lowest in almost a year.
Another chunk of the X owner’s wealth could soon be taken out after a Delaware judge voided his £43,440,000,000 compensatory pay package – which helped make him the world’s richest person – at Tesla last month.
Amazon has seen record growth, bolstered by online sales driven by the pandemic.
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