Amazon CO Founder Jeff Bezos becomes richest man in modern history, topping $150 billion

Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos becomes the richest person in modern history

The Amazon.com Inc. founder’s net worth broke $150 billion in New York on Monday morning, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That’s about $55 billion more than Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, the world’s second-richest person.

Bezos crossed the threshold just as Amazon kicks off its 36-hour summer sales event, Prime Day. The company’s share price was $1,825.73 at 11:10 a.m. in New York, extending its 2018 gain to 56 percent and giving Bezos a $150.8 billion fortune.

His net worth has soared by $52 billion this year, which is more than the entire fortune of Mukesh Ambani, the newly crowned richest person in Asia. It also puts Bezos’s personal fortune within spitting distance of the Walton family’s $151.5 billion, which is the world’s richest dynasty.