Amazon chairman, Jeff Bezos, already the world’s wealthiest man, on Tuesday set a new record for personal net worth by topping $211 billion.
Bezos, 57, gained $8.4 billion in net worth on Tuesday alone, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as Amazon stock soared 4.7 percent on the Pentagon’s announcement that it is canceling the $10 billion JEDI contract with Microsoft.
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It vaulted Bezos above the previous record of $210 billion, held briefly in January by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has seen his fortunes decline and now holds a mere $181 billion, putting him in distance second after Bezos.
While Tesla stock has declined nearly 10 percent so far this year, Amazon shares have continued to soar, adding 15.4 percent since January 1.
French luxury goods magnate Bernard Arnault is third at $168.5 billion.
Bezos’s record haul is even greater than during a 2020 Amazon stock surge when his net worth topped out at $206.9 billion as the pandemic turbocharged the company’s price.
Bezos officially stepped down as Amazon’s chief executive officer this week after a 27-year run. He still owns about 11% of the company and serves as the firm’s executive chairman.
The Pentagon said Tuesday it was scrapping a $10 billion cloud-computing contract awarded in 2019 to Microsoft after several years of wrangling between the government and some of the biggest U.S. tech companies over the deal. The decision indicates it planned to split the work between Microsoft and rival Amazon.
MacKenzie Scott, Bezos’s ex-wife and the 15th-richest person in the world saw her wealth jump $2.9 billion Tuesday, eclipsing the $2.7 billion she’s given away so far this year. It’s just a reminder that some billionaires can’t give their money away faster than they make it.
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