Jeff Bezos Breaks Elon Musk's Wealth Record, Clocking $211B: Bloomberg

The net worth of Amazon.com Inc.’s AMZN founder Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person, touched $211 billion after shares of the e-commerce giant rose 4.7% on Tuesday.

What Happened: The rally in Amazon shares raised Bezos’ fortune by $8.44 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. It also enabled Bezos to widen his lead over Tesla Inc. TSLA CEO Elon Musk, the world’s second-richest person.

Amazon.com’s shares surged after it was reported that the Department of Defense canceled the $10 billion JEDI cloud contract that triggered a legal fight between Amazon.com and Microsoft Corp. MSFT.

Musk remains in second position on the billionaires’ list with a net worth of $181 billion. However, his net worth fell by $4.7 billion on Tuesday after a fall in Tesla’s shares.

See Also: The Amazon Stock Breakout Is Real Says Josh Brown

Why It Matters: Bezos, who officially stepped down as Amazon’s CEO earlier this week, holds more than a 10% stake in the e-commerce giant.

Bezos and Musk were engaged in an intense tussle for the top spot on the Bloomberg wealth index earlier this year. Musk dethroned Bezos as the world’s richest person in January this year and his fortune touched a record high of $210 billion in the same month.

Bezos regained the title of the world’s richest person in February after a fall in Tesla’s shares eroded Musk’s wealth and has now broken his wealth record of $210 billion, which was previously the highest-ever record by Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Price Action: Amazon.com shares closed almost 4.7% higher in Tuesday’s regular trading session at $3,675.74 and further rose 0.1% in the after-hours session to $3,680.00.

Read Next: Amazon Remains Dominant Player In Cloud, But It's Losing Grip To Rivals

Photo by NASA Robotics Competition on Flickr