The Limited Times

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, ends 2019 as the richest person in the world

1/1/2020, 5:23:14 PM


Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, ranked first on the last day of the 2019 Bloomberg Billionaires Index with an estimated net worth of $ 115,000 million.

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(CNN) - Jeff Bezos is still the richest person in the world, even after losing $ 10 billion in a year.

The founder of Amazon ranked first on the last day of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index of 2019 with an estimated net worth of US $ 115,000 million. Microsoft founder Bill Gates follows him closely, with an estimated equity of US $ 113,000 million.

Bezos, Gates and French business mogul Bernard Arnault are the only three billionaires on the list whose net worth exceeds $ 100,000 million.

Jeff Bezos

Bezos was expected to lose first place in the billionaire index after a hectic year for his finances. As part of his divorce agreement with his ex-wife Mackenzie Bezos, he held 75% of the couple's shares in Amazon.

The rest went to the hands of his ex-wife, who also received a 4% stake in the company. That amounts to around US $ 37,000 million, making it the 25th richest person in the world.

Gates briefly overthrew Bezos in November after Amazon's earnings fell almost 28% over the previous year, while Microsoft shares soared 48%. But his time at the top was short lived.

Known faces complete the current top 10. Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg are in fourth and fifth place, respectively. The founder of Facebook added a staggering $ 26.3 billion to his personal wealth this year.

Julia Flesher Koch, widow of conservative businessman David Koch and the only woman in the top 10, has an estimated fortune of US $ 62,000 million.

Jeff Bezos