Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Emerges As Second Richest Billionaire After Confirming Souq’s Acquisition

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has leapt past Zara’s Amancio Ortega and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett to become the world’s second-richest billionaire.

As per the real-time Billionaire index of Bloomberg, Bezos now has a total net worth of $75.6 Bn and gained $1.5 Bn as Amazon.com Inc’s share price rose $18.32 on Wednesday, after announcing its plans to buy Dubai-based online retailer Souq.com.

In November 2016, ecommerce giant Amazon had initially entered into discussions with ecommerce portal Souq.com. At the time, the deal was projected to have been valued at about $1 Bn.

Founded in 2005, Souq claims to attract more than 35 Mn visits to their catalogue of more than 1.5 Mn unique products in 30 different categories, including consumer electronics, household goods, fashion, watches, perfumes, toys, and baby products.

Microsoft’s Bill Gates stayed intact at the top of the list despite losing about $11.4 Mn, with a net worth of $86 Bn.

Warren Buffett slipped to third spot with about $700 Mn less than Bezos and a net worth of $74.9 Bn.

In September 2016, Bezos had emerged as the world’s third-richest man, according to a Forbes list. In his race to reach the bronze position of the world’s richest, he has pulled down billionaire investor and philanthropist, Warren Buffett and secured it for himself. The first two positions were occupied by Bill Gates of Microsoft and Amancio Ortega of Zara, respectively.

Earlier this month, Forbes also published its yearly Billionaire list. Jeff Bezos occupied the third position on the same, with a net worth of $72.8 Bn.