Deep Dive: What made Jeff Bezos earn double of Dangote’s net worth in a day?

Jeff Bezos got a whole lot richer in one day than Africa’s richest man has methodically built himself to become over a lifetime. That is the news that got everyone reeling and Twitter users aggressively trending the billionaires’ name. How did the world’s richest man take a $13 billion dollar leap to further seal his spot as the world’s richest person in one 24hour day? For contrast, Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote is worth 7.8bn USD in total.

Hold your cup of shock that is full to the brim and watch as we make it overflow and runneth over.

Amazon shares surged 7.9% on Monday, the most since December 2018, based solely on rising optimism about web shopping trends. The company’s shares are up 73% this year alone, even as the United States, the country it is based in, slides into a depression.

Just at the end of January this year, the company had seen a 12% share value increase that positioned Jeff as the number one billionaire ahead of Bill Gates ($110.8 billion) and LVMH’s Bernard Arnault ($105.2 billion.) Jeff Bezos is currently worth $189.3 billion. Making him personally worth more than the market valuation of giants such as Exxon Mobil, Nike and McDonald’s.

Those are not sensationalist facts, they however are staggering facts that rightfully elicit exaggerated reactions from a world that continues to become richer and poorer in increasingly disproportionate parallels.

Beneath these facts however, lies a truth a lot of people either don’t know, or don’t care to know about what it means to be the richest person in the world, or to amass 13 billion dollars in one day. Particularly the latter. So let’s unpack that.

Contrary to what a lot of social media commentators imply, about hoarding and sitting on literal dollars stashed away in bank vaults and money beds, Bezos got 13b USD richer in what his shareholdings are worth at the close of trading Monday. Amazon’s share price surge of 7.9% is what swiftly added $13 billion to Jeff Bezos’ net worth. Other billionaires also saw an increase in net worth, his ex-wife Mackenzie Bezos included, whose own shareholdings shored up her net worth by $4.6 billion.

This didn’t happen overnight and for no reason, it comes as a response to the new lifestyle forced on the world by the global pandemic. Other tech titans continue to enjoy a surge driven partly by people forced to stay home and helped by the boost given to markets by unprecedented stimulus packages from governments and central bankers.

Amazon provides a service and provides it very well. But more than that, the multinational technology giant tells a story that pays off in trust. The company’s management repays that trust with excellent stewardship and all of these pay off in dollars.

It is only natural that the person who holds the highest shares in Amazon, at 11.2%, will reap the greatest reward of that payoff.

Theoretically speaking, Jeff Bezos has gotten $13 billion richer. And were he to choose to cash out today, that theoretical money could be in his bank account. But for a man with Jeff Bezos’ dedication to wealth expansion and service delivery, the chances of that happening are too close to zero for them to count.

It helps to know that Jeff Bezos, while widely known for his company Amazon, also has shareholdings in multiple other companies that are doing well and funnelling more dollars into his net worth. Among these are Google, Twitter, and Wholefoods.

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