Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos has climbed the Bloomberg Billionaires Index to emerge as the second richest person in the world after shares in the company surged on the back of a deal to buy Middle East online retailer Souq.
Bezos leapfrogged Zara founder Amancio Ortega and Warren Buffet with a fortune of $75.6 billion.
Just this year Bezos saw his net worth climb by $10.2 billion, largely due to a sharemarket rally after the election of US President Donald Trump.
Yesterday the 53-year-old added another $1.5 billion to his wealth when Amazon shares rose $18.32 to over $874 after the deal to buy souq.com was announced.
The rise in Bezos's net worth was the third largest on the Bloomberg Index this year, behind Chinese parcel-delivery billionaire Wang Wei’s $18.4 billion jump and the extra $11.4 billion pocketed by Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ.FB.NASDAQ) founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates remains the richest man in the world, $10.4 billion ahead of Bezos with a fortune of $86 billion.
Third place went to Warren Buffett, who is $700 million behind Bezos with a net worth of $74.9 billion.
Amancio Ortega has grown his fortune by $2.1 billion so far this year but trails both Bezos and Buffet with his $74.1 billion.