Jeff Bezos Net Worth Jumps to $211 Billion, Making Him the Richest Person Ever

Leigh Vogel/Getty Leigh Vogel/Getty

While he may no longer be Amazon's CEO, Jeff Bezos continues to become wealthier.

The 57-year-old mogul, who founded the online retailer out of his garage 27 years ago this month, became the richest man in history when his net worth rose $8.4 billion to reach a record-breaking $211 billion on Tuesday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire's Index.

That places Bezos ahead of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose net worth is $181 billion as of Wednesday morning. Bernard Arnault, the chairman and chief executive of luxury goods company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, is in third with a net worth of $169 billion.

Bezos' milestone comes the same week he stepped down as Amazon's CEO, fulfilling his February 2021 promise to hand over the position to Andy Jassy, the now-former CEO of Amazon Web Services.

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In a press release at the time, Amazon confirmed 2020 had been a wildly successful year for the company, having grown from a net income of $11.6 billion in 2019 to $21.3 billion during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Tuesday, Amazon's shares jumped 4.7 percent to $3,675.74 after the U.S. government announced it had canceled a 10-year cloud computing contract given to competitor Microsoft in 2019, according to Barrons.

Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Vanity Fair Jeff Bezos

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The government instead said it would welcome bids from Microsoft and Amazon in future contracts for its cloud-computing needs, the New York Times reported.

By Wednesday morning, Amazon's shares were trading above $3,700, an all-time high.

Now that he is no longer running day-to-day operations at Amazon, Bezos — who is still executive chair at the company — is expected to shift his focus to the Bezos Earth Fund, his initiative to support scientists and NGOs helping to fight climate change, and Blue Origin, his aerospace company.

"I've never had more energy, and this isn't about retiring," he said in a letter to employees earlier this year. "I'm super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have."

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On July 20, Bezos and his brother, Mark, will be flying to space aboard the Blue Origin spacecraft, New Shepard.

"Ever since I was five years old, I've dreamed of traveling to space," Bezos wrote in an Instagram post announcing the trip. "On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend. #GradatimFerociter."