Amazon (AMZN) had a surprisingly great third quarter, posting earnings of 17 cents per share, when analysts were expecting a loss of 13 cents.
And nobody benefitted from this more than Amazon’s largest shareholder, Jeff Bezos. The news sent Amazon shares soaring 10%, and with it, Bezos’ ranking among the wealthiest Americans. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the run-up in Amazon stock added roughly $5 billion to Bezos’ net worth, bringing his total wealth to more than $55 billion. “Bezos passes brothers Charles and David Koch, and ranks behind only Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in the U.S.” according to the report.
The move caps what has been an incredible year for Bezos’ net worth, as investors have piled into Amazon stock as a result of its successful cloud services business. Bezos has added $22 billion to his net worth in 2015, the most of anyone on Bloomberg’s list.