Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has overtaken Elon Musk to become the world’s richest person in the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, a title he hasn’t held since the fall of 2021. On Thursday, Bezos’s net worth soared to an impressive $197 billion, primarily fueled by his 9% stake in Amazon. Musk, the mind behind Tesla and SpaceX, is now number 3 on the list with a net worth of $192 billion, right behind Bernard Arnault, the French luxury titan behind LVMH, who holds the third spot with $195 billion.
The increase in Bezos’s wealth by $23.4 billion year-to-date is notable, with a significant $8.5 billion coming from his recent sale of 50 million Amazon shares. The sale was part of a prearranged trading plan allowing him to sell up to 50 million shares before January 31, 2025, yet Bezos completed this massive sell-off within just two weeks. Following Tuesday’s market close,
Bezos’s journey to wealth extends beyond Amazon. His portfolio includes Blue Origin, a space exploration endeavor launched in 2000, and The Washington Post, which he acquired for $250 million in 2013. His recent move from Seattle to Miami’s exclusive Indian Creek Island, dubbed “Billionaire Bunker,” alongside his fiancée Lauren Sanchez, is also strategic, leveraging Florida’s favorable tax environment.
This reshuffling of fortunes has dethroned Elon Musk from the richest person’s position he has maintained since 2021, despite his ambitious goals for Tesla, where he owns a 13% stake and serves as its most significant shareholder. Musk’s aspirations to increase his stake in Tesla to 25%, a move requiring over $80 billion in shares, highlight his commitment to advancing artificial intelligence and robotics. However, Musk’s net worth has been impacted by Tesla‘s share price volatility, witnessing a decline of more than 24% so far in 2024.
As the tussle for the title of the world’s richest person continues, the fluctuating fortunes of these billionaires underscore the dynamic nature of the tech and automotive industries they dominate.
