With a net worth of $105.1 billion, Jeff Bezos has officially replaced Bill Gates as the richest man in the world. Bezos surpasses Gates by around $12 billion, though we shouldn’t forget that Gates has given away loads of money to his charitable foundation over the course of his illustrious career. According to Bloomberg, had he kept it for himself, his fortune would come to more than $150 billion.
Logistics aside, here’s an at-a-glance snapshot of the Bezos empire, as compiled by Visual Capitalist:
His company, Amazon, has generated a 57 percent bump over the past year, with a 7 percent increase in 2018 alone. But as we all know, to be the richest man in the world, you need to have an empire. In addition to Amazon, he has his hands in news organizations, robotic companies and coupon sites. And did we mention Google, Airbnb and Uber? Because he’s an investor in those major companies, too:
Bezos is a man of acquisitions. Through Amazon, he’s acquired companies that include online shoe retailer Zappos, video streaming site Twitch, movie database IMDb and online marketplace LivingSocial. The biggest of all, however, was Whole Foods, which went for a cool $13.7 billion. Moreover, there’s Bezos Expeditions, which manages his venture capital and secondary market investments. These investments have included Twitter, Workday, Business Insider and Stack Overflow:
As if that weren’t impressive enough, he also invests his money on a personal level. Back in 1998, he was an angel investor in Google, investing $1 million in the company. He also invested $112 million in Airbnb and $37 million in Uber.
But wait, the Bezos empire only continues to get larger. He owns a private investment company called Nash Holdings, which bought The Washington Post in August 2013 for $250 million. The icing on the cake? Bezos wants to tackle outer space! He’s the founder of Blue Origin, a rocket company that hopes to start taking paying customers into space within the next 18 months—or by April 2019.
His competition? SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who also has plans to send two paying passengers to fly around the moon in late 2018.
We’re staying tuned to see who gets to space first!
About the Author
Chelsea is a freelance journalist based in New York City whose passion revolves around exploring the world, immersing herself in foreign cultures, and of course, eating and drinking everything delicious. She covers all things food, drink and travel and is always up for an adventure, whether that means an adrenaline-pumping excursion or trying a new cuisine. Follow her on Instagram at @cheycheyfromthebay and keep up with her latest work at www.chelseadavis.com and at her blog www.cheycheyfromthebay.com. More.
