How Jeff Bezos became the richest person on earth

Jeff Bezos’s stake in Amazon.com has soared nearly 500 times since the online retailer’s public debut two decades ago and hit $88 billion Friday. The rise catapulted him past Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates as the world’s richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
 
Over the years, Seattle-based Amazon has expanded its product offerings and global footprint, introducing the Kindle book reader, adding cloud computing services, producing original television and film programming, selling home voice recognition product Echo and the August acquisition of Whole Foods. His stake in Amazon has increased 70 per cent in the past two years.
 
Bezos’s stake was valued at $178 million at Amazon’s 1997 initial public offering. His net worth increased by 419 per cent since he joined the Bloomberg index in April 2012. At the time, Bezos was ranked No 35 with $18 billion. His fortune doubled in 2015 and has increased by $35 billion since.

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