His net worth has increased by $40 billion in the last year. In other news, my own personal wealth has increased by -£6 today alone
A simple online bookstore was the original plan for Jeff Bezos and for Amazon when he was only 30-years-old, one of those ideas that now appears blindingly obvious until you remember there was simply nothing else like it around at the time.
The CEO's decision to leave his original job, a comfortable role at a New York hedge fund, has clearly paid off with his net worth now a reported $141 billion.
Not only does it make him the world's wealthiest man, but it also means he is now worth almost $50 billion more than old rival Bill Gates and is probably already texting him every night to say 'Windows has been shite since 1998 pal'.
He launched Amazon in 1994 and the company went public only three years later. Now the online giants have entered the Forbes 500 top ten for the very first time, climbing from 12th to 8th thanks to a revenue of $178 billion.
The only companies worth more than Bezos' brainchild are the likes of Walmart, Apple and Exxon Mobil.
It has not all been plainsailing for the entrepeneur however, as controversy surrounding the treatment and wages of his employees has resurfaced time and time again over the last few years as many of his workers have failed to benefit from his own meteoric progress, even as Amazon shares continue to hit record highs in the stock market.
