Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos reportedly amassed US$7.9 million in just one day on January 31. Amazon’s stocks surged to more than 7% and closed above US$2,000 compared to January 30’s close at US$1,870.
Bezos owns more than 57.5 million Amazon shares that he has the power to sell – which is about 12% of the company.
Amazon 4th Quarter growth
The online retail company beat analysts’ predictions on its fourth-quarter results which grew by double digits largely driven by Amazon Web Services (AWS). Analysts expected US$9.81 billion in the service’s revenue but AWS grew to US$9.95 billion in the fourth quarter instead.
Amazon joined the ranks of Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet as company valuation crossed the US$1-trillion threshold on January 31, 2020.
Other billionaires’ wealth growth
The last week of January saw other billionaires such as Elon Musk and Bill Gates gaining in better-than-expected results.
Musk, the founder and chief executive of Tesla Inc., added US$2.3 billion in under an hour, on January 29. Tesla stock jumped 12% after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings of US$105 million which is worth 56 cents a share.
Tesla’s total revenues in 2019 increased to US$7.4 billion, significantly higher than its reported revenues in 2018 at US$7.2 billion. The company is also confident that it is able to sell 500,000 vehicles in 2020 alone.
Microsoft Corp
Microsoft Corp traded 3% higher on January 29, after its quarterly revenues rose by 13.7% year-over-year or US$36.91 billion.
According to Investopedia, the growth across all major Microsoft product lines – except for Xbox – is the contributing factor to the stock surge. Microsoft’s Xbox, however, is scheduled to launch a new console, the Xbox Series X during the 2020 holiday period.
Facebook’s dip in growth
One billionaire, however, did not enjoy the same luck as others. Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth slipped by US$4 billion as Facebook Inc shares dropped 5.7% on January 29. Facebook had reported a 51% rise in expenses.
The social media giant has also seen challenges with regulatory fines by many countries.
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