Search icon

Business

27th Aug 2020

Jeff Bezos just became the first person worth $200 billion

Wayne Farry

jeff bezos net worth

Congratulations Jeff Bezos!

Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon, has just become the first person in the history of the entire world to have a net worth of $200 billion.

Bezos’ inspiring tale is just another chapter in a rags to riches tale for the richest man on earth, which saw him start his now world-eating company from nothing more than a garage and a $300,000 loan from his parents. Brings a tear to the eye.

At a time when the oceans are rising, millions of people are unemployed and in danger of falling into the depths of poverty, hundreds of thousands are dying due to a pandemic and homelessness rates rise to never before seen levels, I think we can all agree that it is heartening to actually see someone doing well out of all of this.

Bezos was already the richest man in the world prior to the pandemic, but thanks to some canny investments and the fact that the global economy is built in a manner which allows billionaires to accumulate wealth at even greater rates when the vast majority are struggling, he has managed to increase his net worth by $74 billion since the beginning of 2020.

The only question now is, what will Bezos do with his newfound wealth? Most people seem to assume that he will merely continue to hoard his wealth like Smaug in a tailored suit.

Us? We have a sneaking suspicion that he’s going to solve world hunger, homelessness and finally get around to paying his staff a wage that doesn’t require them to get a second job.

Because if there’s one thing we know about billionaires, it’s that they love doing nice things out of the kindness of their hearts.