Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon.com Inc, has become the world’s third-richest person as of the market close for the first time, Forbes magazine said, passing Warren Buffett, the chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Mr Bezos’ fortune was $65.3 billion as on Thursday, compared with Warren Buffett $64.9 billion. Mr Bezos, 52, owns close to 18 per cent of Amazon.
Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates rema-ined the world’s richest person, at $77.7 billion, while Spain’s Amancio Ortega, who founded the Zara clothing chain’s owner Inditex SA, was second at $72.7 billion. Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was fifth, at $54 billion.
Amazon had developed a reputation for announcing little or no profit each quarter, but appeared to hit a turning point last year and has seen improving earnings sinc
Jeff Bezos
- Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1964
- Studied at Princeton University and worked on Wall Street
- Launched Amazon as online book retailer in Seattle in 1994
- Company expanded dramatically but struggled to make a profit
- A lifelong Star Trek fan, he launched Blue Origin spaceflight and aerospace firm in 2000
- Bought The Washington Post newspaper in 2013
- Reputation as a driven boss, intensely focused on customers
