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Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos keeps shattering wealth records – first the richest man in the world. Then the richest man of our time. And now, the richest man in recent history – adjusted for inflation.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Bezos’ fortune just crossed the $150 billion mark. That’s $55 billion richer than Bill Gates, at number two.
Bezos became the richest man a year ago. Then in January, he became the richest man “ever” ( or at least in modern times) after his fortune reached $104 billion – topping Bill Gates’ all-time high of just above $100 billion in 1999.
But some wealth-watchers didn’t consider Bezos’ fortune truly larger than the Gates high, since Gates’ $100 billion in 1999 wasn’t adjusted for inflation.
Gates’ $100 billion fortune in 1999 would be worth about $149 billion in today’s dollars. So today, Bezos officially passed the inflation-adjusted Gates high.
Bezos' fortune has more than doubled over the past two years as Amazon’s stock has soared. Earlier Monday, Amazon shares hit an intraday all-time high of $1,841.95, and the company's market value now tops $890 billion.
But there is still one wealth measurement that Bezos has yet to achieve — the wealthiest ever, as a share of national GDP.
John D. Rockefeller, who was the nation’s first billionaire, was worth 2 percent of the entire GDP of America at his peak in the early 1900s. For Bezos to top that measure, his net worth would have to climb to over $350 billion.
In other words, give him a year or two.
