Jeff Bezos net worth: How much is the Amazon founder worth?

A 1.6 per cent boost in Amazon’s shares today pushed Mr Bezos’s net worth ahead of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, according to Forbes.

The shift marks the first time Mr Gates has been surpassed on the rich list since Zara owner Amancio Ortega claimed the title for two days last year.

Mr Bezos, who owns 17 per cent of Amazon, has benefitted from the online retailer’s strong sales performance in 2017.

Amazon has grown by 40 per cent this year and is now worth a staggering £382.3billion ($500billion).

The company accounts for 43 per cent of all online sales in the US. But how much is Mr Bezos worth?

What is Jeff Bezos’s net worth?

Jeff Bezos is worth approximately £70billion ($91billion), according to Forbes’ 2017 real-time list of the wealthiest people on earth.

A boost in Amazon’s share prices when markets opened on Thursday instantly added £1billion ($1.4billion) to Mr Bezos’s fortune.

The 53-year-old is the seventh person to top the list and only the third American, after Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.

Mr Bezos founded Amazon as an online bookstore in 1994, after quitting his job as a New York hedge fund manager, and has watched it grow into one of the wealthiest companies on the planet.

At a shareholders’ meeting last year, he is said to have boasted Amazon was the fastest company in history to reach $100billion in annual sales.

Mr Bezos turned his attention to the stars in 2000 when he founded space travel company Blue Origin, which aims to develop a reusable rocket capable of carrying passengers through the earth’s atmosphere.

Then, in 2013, Mr Bezos entered the media market, purchasing the Washington Post for £191million ($250million).