Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos briefly became the world’s richest man Thursday in Forbes magazine’s tracking of wealth, as stock in his e-commerce company hit an all-time high.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates reclaimed the lead by afternoon, as Amazon’s stock fell nearly 1% for the day to $1,046.
Amazon shares have been trading at a record high. They hit $1,083.31 at about noon Thursday. According to securities filings, Bezos owns about 80 million shares, or 17%; those shares were valued at more than $87 billion at the peak. Bezos also owns The Washington Post through a holding company.
Forbes said Bezos’ net worth was about $90.6 billion when the market opened Thursday. Gates had $90.1 billion. Forbes said Gates would have been the undisputed leader had he not given billions of dollars away to various philanthropic causes. Bezos issued a request for philanthropic ideas in a tweet in June, just before Amazon announced a $13.7 billion deal for organic grocer Whole Foods.
