Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

Isn't this a bit too coincidental, considering today is Amazon Prime Day (i.e. a boycott/protest of Amazon)?

What on earth, he just hit $100B like a couple quarters ago. How on earth did his worth go up by 150% in less than a year?

(Edit: up 50%, sorry you are right, I meant 150% of his previous net.)

Putin tops him. At these levels the dollar value is not a good measure. Bezos owns shares. If he started selling them their value would quickly drop. Monarchs (Putin) are different. They own things outright, or have such influence that they effectively own things that are legally in other people's names. The Saudi royal house has more wealth under their king's control, although not all in his name.

What is scary is the math when calculated in how many person-years someone like Bezos can buy. Divide his net worth by a reasonable cost for a soldier. Bezos could hire vastly more troops than Henry VII could have in his day.

$150,000,000,000 / $80,000 = 1,875,000 ... he could theoretically field an army large enough to sway any modern conflict. In person-buying potential, his wealth is on par with Genghis Kan or Stalin.

> "Gates would have had a net worth of more than $150 billion if he’d held onto assets that he’s given away, largely to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation."

Sorry Bezos, you've still got some catching up to do. Lifetime earnings are what really count, even if you give it all away to charity.

Hardly. He’s a pauper compared to John D. Rockefeller who died in 1937. At the time of his death his assets equaled 1.5% of America’s total economic output.

With a $20T GDP that would be a $300B net worth in today’s dollars or around 200% what Bezos is worth.

Don’t worry. This second gilded age that we are living in is on track to ensure we have a trillionaire in short order.