On a day when the S&P 500 fell the most since October, the world’s richest person got $7.9 billion richer. Jeff Bezos’s fortune swelled to $124.2bn Friday as shares of his Amazon.com surged 7.4 per cent, a day after the largest U.S. e-commerce company stunned investors with a fourth-quarter profit that far exceeded Wall Street estimates. His net worth climbed $9.3bn through the first month of the year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Bezos, 56, owns about 12 per cent of Amazon’s outstanding stock, making up the bulk of his fortune. His ownership of closely held Blue Origin accounts for about $6.2bn. Friday’s surge pushed Amazon’s market value to $999.96bn. His ex-wife, MacKenzie Bezos, 49, owns about 4 per cent of the Seattle-based retailer. The world’s fifth-richest woman now has a net worth of $40bn. Bezos wasn’t the only tech titan whose net worth changed dramatically this week. Elon Musk’s swelled by $2.7bn since Wednesday, after shares of his Tesla surged on better-than-expected results and an accelerated timetable for the electric-vehicle maker’s new Model Y crossover SUV. Mark Zuckerberg’s fortune tumbled $5.9bn on the week after Facebook posted its slowest-ever quarterly sales growth.
