The World’s Billionaires 2017 list has a new king and its Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos.
Jeff Bezos took the top spot on The World’s Billionaires 2017 list this morning when the stock markets opened. AMZN stock was up at the start of trading today and that was enough to push him beyond Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) founder Bill Gates.
Bill Gates has remained a near-constant at the top of The World’s Billionaires 2017 list that it maintained by Forbes. However, his recent dethroning isn’t the first time that someone else has taken the top spot. Other billionaires have overtaken him before, but he has always come back ahead.
While the win is surely a good one for Jeff Bezos, it is unknown how long it will last for. There’s also the fact that Bill Gates would still be above him on the list, had he not given so much of his wealth to charity over his lifetime. That’s not to say that Bezos isn’t charitable, but he hasn’t given near as much as Gates.
The World’s Billionaires 2017 list celebrates the 30th anniversary of Forbes’ list. It got its start in 1987 and there have only been seven different billionaires that have taken the top spot on the list. Of those seven, three have come from the United States.
Amazon isn’t Jeff Bezos’ only business. The founder of the online retail giant is also behind Blue Origin. Blue Origin is a company that hopes to offer commercial space slights in the next few years. Bezos has actually been using $1 billion worth of AMZN stock each year to fund the effort.
As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
