Business: Gates Joins Bezos in 12-Digit Club With $100 Billion

Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, once the world’s richest person, has again eclipsed the $100 billion threshold, joining Amazon.com Inc.’s Jeff Bezos in the exclusive club, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Gates’s fortune, now $100 billion on the nose, hasn’t reached such heights since the dot-com boom, when Bezos was only beginning his march up the world’s wealth rankings. The Amazon founder is now worth $145.6 billion, having added $20.7 billion this year alone, while Gates has gained $9.5 billion. These two fortunes underscore a widening wealth gap in the U.S., where those with the most capital are accumulating riches the fastest. It’s also a worldwide trend. France’s Bernard Arnault has an $86.2 billion fortune, equal to about 3 percent of his country’s economy. The net worth of Spain’s Amancio Ortega represents 5 percent of that nation’s gross domestic product. And then there’s Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose worth about a third of Georgia’s GDP.

The Gates and Bezos mega-fortunes may not last long. Gates has donated more than $35 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and said he intends to give away at least half of his wealth. Bezos, meanwhile, may be about to cede some of his fortune for a different reason: he and his wife Mackenzie are divorcing.

Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranks the world’s 500 wealthiest individuals. This year’s biggest losers in that group include Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk.

Nigeria Nigeria Latest News, Nigeria Nigeria Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Business Maverick: Jumia’s billion-dollar NYSE listing comes amid both good and worrying signsLater in 2019, the New York Stock Exchange will see the first listing of an African technology company to be valued at more than $1-billion, a real, actual dinkum unicorn. The company, Jumia, is Nigeria-based and is known as the African Amazon since it is primarily an e-commerce business. But is it a good investment?
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

BUSINESS MAVERICK OP-ED: Business schools are SA’s natural partner in the Fourth Industrial RevolutionSouth Africa is playing catch-up, and while it might aspire to become a leading light in the evolving global developments, realistically, the Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution has set its sights on achieving competitiveness and the need for inclusive growth. No
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »