In Prime position! Amazon’s Jeff Bezos comes top of Forbes richest Americans list with his $160billion fortune overtaking Bill Gates who has had a 24-year reign in first place
- Jeff Bezos surpassed Bill Gates on the Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans list
- Gates has been the veteran title-holder of the well-heeled lineup for 24 years
- The Microsoft founder trailed the Amazon chief with a net worth of $97billion
- Bezos topped the chart at $160billion an astounding leap from last year
- The retail giant chief was named the richest man in modern history in July
- Berkshire Boss Warren Buffet came third, while Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg fourth and Oracle Co-Founder Larry Illison fifth
Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos dramatically surpassed Microsoft Founder Bill Gates on the Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans list released early Wednesday.
Gates, who has been the veteran title-holder of the well-heeled lineup for the past 24 years, trailed Bezos in 2018 with reported net worth of $97billion. Last year, his net worth was listed at $89billion.
As expected, Bezos topped the chart at $160billion – an astounding leap from his 81.5billion in 2017.
The retail giant CEO had already been dubbed the richest man in modern history back in July, when his net worth was $150billion.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (pictured in Maryland in September) surpassed Microsoft Founder Bill Gates on the Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans list
Gates (seen in Washington in April) has been the veteran title-holder of the well-heeled lineup for the past 24 years. He trailed Bezos in 2018 with reported net worth of $97billion
The mark broke the record once held by Gates – who at the height of the dot-com boom, was worth $149billion after adjusting for inflation.
Furthermore, Berkshire Hathaway Boss Warren Buffet landed third on the Forbes list at $88.3billion, up from last year’s $78billion.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg followed Hathaway at $71billion, compared to his 2017 net worth of $61billion.
Net worth of the top five Forbes 2018 wealthiest in America
1. Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, $160billion
2. Microsoft Founder Bill Gates, $97billion
3. Berkshire Hathaway Boss Warren Buffet, $88.3billion
4. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, $71billion
5. Oracle Co-Founder Larry Illison, $58.4billion
Oracle Co-Founder Larry Illison came fifth on the list at $58.4billion. Last year, $59billion.
Forbes Media assistant managing editors, Luisa Kroll and Kerry Dolan, said in a statement they are ‘seeing more billionaires than ever before, thanks in part to the strong stock market and continuing tech boom.’
The statement said: ‘For the first time, more than a third of US billionaires were too poor to make this elite list of the nation’s 400 richest.’
Also interesting, Donald Trump stooped a a whopping 138 spots on the list since 2015, when he first kicked off his presidential campaign.
The president fell 11 spots since last year – landing No. 259 on the wealthiest in America.
For the first time in history, Forbes scored prospects on philanthropic efforts.
The report said: ‘For the first time, we scored each Forbes 400 member on their philanthropic giving, with scores ranging from 1 to 5, 5 being most philanthropic.’
Tesla CEO Elon Musk topped the philanthropy chart. He was listed No. 24 on the wealthiest.
Forbes said their estimates for the list overall ‘are a snapshot of the fortunes of America’s wealthiest people using stock prices from September 7, 2018.’
Berkshire Hathaway Boss Warren Buffet (above in NYC in September) landed third on the list at $88.3billion
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (pictured in Paris in May) followed Hathaway at $71billion
Oracle Co-Founder Larry Illison (shown in California in October 2017) came fifth on the list at $58.4billion
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