Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has surpassed Amazon’s Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest person, reclaiming the distinction for the first time in more than two years.
As of Friday, the Bloomberg Billionaire Index reported the Gates’ total net worth comes in at a staggering $110 billion.
Gates’ was able to regain the title because Microsoft shares are up almost 48 percent this year and a recent gain of $485 million, helping bolster the tech company’s value.
Microsoft’s Bill Gates (left) has officially topped Amazon’s Jeff Bezos (right) as the richest person in the world with a total net worth of $110 billion
Microsoft also beat out Amazon for a lucrative $10 billion cloud-computing contract with the Pentagon. The contract – named Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI – includes Microsoft providing cloud storage of sensitive military data and technology for the Department of Defense over a 10 year period.
Awarding the contract to Microsoft was a huge loss for Amazon and marked another notch in the ongoing war between the two global tech giants.
World’s 10 richest people
The Bloomberg Billionaire Index lists the following:
1. Bill Gates – $110 billion
2. Jeff Bezos -$109 billion
3. Bernard Arnault – $103 billion
4. Warren Buffet – $86.6 billion
5. Mark Zuckerberg – $74.5 billion
6. Amancio Ortega – $67.6 billion
7. Larry Page – $64.3 billion
8. Sergey Brin – $62.4 billion
9. Charles Koch – 61.7 billion
10. Julia Flesher Koch – $61.7 billion
Source: Daily Mail
