Amazon share price surge boosts Jeff Bezos' fortune by nearly $20b

Jeff Bezos earned more in one day than any individual ever. Photo / AP

Jeff Bezos added US$13b ($19.5b) to his fortune on Monday in what is believed to be the largest single-day wealth jump for an individual ever recorded.

The 56-year-old founder of Amazon's value grew US$74b this year to $189.3b, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.

It comes after an 8 per cent climb in Amazon's share price on Monday, the most since December 2018, following rising optimism about web shopping trends. Amazon's shares are now up 73 per cent this year.

The rally, which puts Bezos' net worth at a higher valuation than some of America's largest blue chip companies, was also driven by renewed optimism in Amazon from analysts, who forecast sustained growth for the business.

Jeff Bezos added $13B to his net worth on Monday

So @JeffBezos now has more money than the entire economy of Qatar. Next target: New Zealand w/ $206B nominal GDP

source: Bloomberg Billionaires Index & World Bank, Qatar data as of 12/31/2019, but you get the picture pic.twitter.com/1UzMGYrwkn

— Hilary (@queenofchartz) July 21, 2020

Heather Bellini, a Goldman Sachs analyst, increased the price target on the company's stock from $3000 to $3800, while boosting her projected estimates on the company's revenue for the year to $361.5b, up 3.4 per cent.

Stay at home measures that first came into effect at the start of the lockdown drove sales and deliveries of goods for Amazon globally, but Bezos has warned that the company is not immune to the impact of coronavirus.

In May, the Amazon chief executive claimed that the company would probably not make a profit in the second quarter of the year as it ramped up spending on Covid-related costs such as personal protective equipment, coronavirus testing and deep cleaning.

Bezos owns around 11 per cent of Amazon's stock, which accounts for the bulk of his wealth. The company's valuation now sits at about $1.59 trillion.

Mackenzie Bezos, his ex-wife, gained $4.6b Monday and is now the 13th-richest person in the world. On the same day, Tesla founder Elon Musk's wealth surpassed $74b, meaning he is now the fifth-richest person on the planet.

Read More

• Amazon share price surge boosts Jeff Bezos' fortune by nearly $20b - NZ Herald
• Amazon needs 100,000 extra staff to meet demand - NZ Herald
• Amazon's online sales soar, profit falls as coronavirus-related costs rise - NZ Herald
• Coronavirus: Amazon workers sound alarm over 'unsafe conditions' - NZ Herald

Other tech titans are also enjoying a surge driven partly by people forced to stay at home and helped by the boost given to markets by unprecedented stimulus efforts by governments and central bankers.

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has added almost $15b to his net worth so far this year, even as the company deals with brands boycotting ads on the social network.

Among the other winners from lockdown is Zoom founder Eric Yuan, whose wealth has nearly quadrupled to $13bn.

- Telegraph Media Group