E-commerce giant Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos became the world's richest man for a brief moment, when Forbes magazine's tracking of wealth, as stock of his company hit an all-time high. However, Microsoft founder Bill Gates reclaimed the lead by afternoon the same day as Amazon's stock fell nearly 1 per cent for the day to $1046. Forbes said Bezos' net worth was about $90.6 billion when the market opened last Thursday. Gates accounted for about $90.1 billion.
Amazon shares have been trading at a record high, they hit $1083.31 at about noon. Securities Filings suggest Bezos owns about 80 million share or 17 per cent. Those shares were valued at over $87 billion at the peak. He also owns The Washington Post through a holding company. Changes in his fortune coincided with Amazon's report of a 77 per cent decline in quarterly profit on heavy spending. Shares fell another 2 per cent in after-markets trading as the company missed Wall Street's expectations on profit.
The company said it earned $197 million, or 40 cents per share, in the second quarter, down from $857 million, or $1.78 per share, a year ago. Revenue grew 25 per cent to $38 billion, compared with $30 billion a year ago, topping expectations of $37.2 billion. However, Amazon has long been known for investing the money it makes back into its businesses. For the second quarter, Amazon reported operating expenses of $37 billion, a 28 per cent increase from a year earlier.
Part of Amazon's spending involves opening new warehouses and filling them with employees. Amazon said it plans to hire thousands of warehouse workers on the spot at job fairs across the country. Nearly 40,000 of the 50,000 jobs will be full time, and most of them will count toward Amazon's previously announced goal of adding 100,000 full-time workers by the middle of next year. And Amazon would be spending even more to buy Whole Foods if the deal goes through, as expected.
