Although Jeff Bezos briefly topped the list of the world’s wealthiest last week, he has now slipped to third place.
As of August 1, the 53-year-old Amazon founder fell behind Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Spanish businessman Amancio Ortega on Forbes’ list of billionaires. Bezos currently has a net worth of $84.7 billion, while Gates and Ortega have net worths of $89.9 billion and $85 billion, respectively.
When Bezos topped the list last week, on July 27, his net worth was $90 billion due to a surge in Amazon shares, enabling him to dethrone Gates at the top. But his standing plummeted, both literally and figuratively, shortly afterwards. Amazon’s earnings did not meet expectations. Bezos lost an estimated $6 billion in net worth overnight, according to CNBC. He fell into second place.
Now, one week later, he is in third, followed by Warren Buffett in fourth and Mark Zuckerberg in fifth. But, as evidenced by the shakeup last week, these rankings have recently been anything but steady.