He is ahead, but it is a fight that can be lost.
With Amazon’s share price surging this morning after its earnings report, Bezos’ wealth shot up to more than $90 billion, according to calculations by CNBC and data from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That put Bezos past Bill Gates to become the richest man in the world.
Gates also added to his fortune this morning with the rise in Microsoft stock after its earnings. But his gain of about $550 million put his fortune at $88.5 billion – not enough to stay ahead of Bezos.
It will be a horse race throughout the day, however. If Microsoft goes up more, or if Amazon slips after the stock starts trading, Bezos could fall back to No. 2.
This isn’t Bezos’ first time as No. 1. He became the richest man for the first time in July, but his reign lasted only a day. On July 27, Amazon’s share price topped $1,050 and Bezos’ paper fortune soared past $90 billion. But after Amazon’s share price slipped, Bezos fell back to second place behind Gates.