Jeff Bezos speaking at the new New York Economic Club luncheon in New York on Oct. 27, 2016.
Now that Amazon's market cap has reached $1 trillion, the next question is: when will its founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, become a trillionaire?
Amazon's market cap soared past $1 trillion Tuesday, bringing Bezos' net worth to more than $168 billion. His gain on Tuesday alone is around $1.8 billion based on the stock he holds.
If Bezos doesn't sell more shares — which is unlikely since he's been selling small amounts to fund his space venture — Amazon stock would need to go above $12,600 for him to become a trillionaire. That may seem implausible or far-fetched, but a year ago, so was the idea of a $1 trillion Amazon.
Amazon shares were recently trading at about $2,035. Earlier Tuesday, shares of the e-commerce giant rose 2 percent to a high of $2,050.50. A stock price of $2,050.27 was needed to hit the $1 trillion mark, based on an outstanding share count of 487.7 million.
Bezos is already the richest man in the world, now well above his closest competitor, Bill Gates, with a mere $98 billion. But the pace of Bezos' gain is unprecedented. His wealth gain this year alone of $68 billion would make him the third richest American, passing both Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Ellison.
Bezos first became the world's richest man in July 2017, when his wealth topped $90 billion. He has since gone on to become the richest man in modern times — passing Bill Gates' record set back in 1999.
