Jeff Bezos has a huge fortune, and the increase in the price of Amazon shares has made him the richest man on the planet. His wealth stood at $112 billion at the end of 2017. According to Bloomberg, as of March 7th, 2018, his wealth sits at $128 billion. Jeff Bezos is even richer than Bill Gates, whose wealth sits at $92 billion. In third place is Warren Buffett with close to $88 billion. The co-founder of Amazon has become so wealthy that he can be used as a unit to measure the wealth of some nations.
Superlative wealth
The median wealth of the American citizen is almost $56,000 which means that Bezos has a fortune equal to the wealth of 2.3 million people in the United States.
The median wealth in China is less than $6,700 which means that Bezos is as rich as 19 million Chinese residents. The wealth of Bezos is also equivalent to the wealth of 2.7 million Germans or 1 million Japanese. Clearly, the average person can only dream of having the fortune of the American businessman. According to ABC News, the wealth of Donald Trump is a little more than $3 billion which is less than 3 percent of the fortune of Bezos.
From manufacturing to IT
Clearly, we can see that Jeff Bezos is much more powerful than many politicians and that his wealth rivals the combined fortune of millions. The technological revolution that has taken place over the last few years has made many businessmen extremely rich and powerful.
It has created a new dimension of wealth. The two richest men on the planet are linked to information technology (IT). A powerful company like Amazon would have not been possible without the great advances in IT. This is a sign that the New Economy is extremely competitive and moves at the speed of light. The richest people on the planet aren't linked to traditional companies like Ford or General Motors.
We have moved from traditional manufacturing to IT.
From online trade to space exploration
Bezos owns a space exploration company, Blue Origin, and he plans to sell $1 billion worth of Amazon stock to fund his space company. This company is more focused on tourism and commercial uses but in the future, it could become a low-cost space platform that could potentially even rival the Internet.
Mankind advances fast but we also have to remember that there are great social problems and challenges that remain ahead. Africa, many nations in Latin America, and even the U.S. and Europe must grow faster in order to adapt.
