Bill Gates overtakes Jeff Bezos as richest person in world

Bill Gates, the principal founder of Microsoft Corporation, reclaimed the top spot at Bloomberg Billionaires Index becoming the richest person of the world. Gates, with a net worth of $110 billion, surpassed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos who is currently at the second position with $109 billion net worth.

Short-lived top position

Last month, Bill Gates had briefly topped Amazon CEO after the third-quarter results of the latter's company showed a dip in the revenue and Bezos lost nearly $7 billion in stock value. On October 24, Amazon shares fell 7 per cent in after-hours trading which led to a significant drop in Bezos’ net worth. But Gates’ time at the top spot was short-lived as the fortune of Amazon CEO once again took a turn on October 25, and Bezos’ net worth soared to $109.9 billion.

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Pioneer of microcomputer revolution

At the age of 31, Bill Gates, who pioneered the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, became the youngest billionaire ever after he launched the first retail version of Microsoft Windows. Gates is also known for his philanthropy work through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In 1994, he donated some of his Microsoft shares to create the "William H. Gates Foundation" named after his father. Later, Gates and Melinda combined three family foundations and donated $5 billion of shares to create the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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Jeff Bezos divorce settlement affected net worth

Jeff Bezos’ net worth would have been way ahead of Bill Gates if not for the divorce settlement with her ex-wife Mackenzie. Bezos parted 19.7 million shares of Amazon (4 per cent holding which was valued at $38 billion) to MacKenzie as alimony amount. They finalised their divorce settlement in July which paved the for MacKenzie to get $38.3 bn which took her to 22nd place on Bloomberg Billionaire Index. But she decided to donate half of her alimony amount to investor Warren Buffett’s philanthropic campaign ‘the Giving Pledge’. 

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