Jeff Bezos Could Lose Title Of World's Richest Person After Amazon's Earnings Miss

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos saw his net worth drop $7 billion within minutes of the e-commerce giant reporting third-quarter results Thursday afternoon.

What Happened

Bezos' personal stake in the company he founded was recorded at 57.61 million shares in the most recent SEC filing, according to CNBC. The company caught investors by surprise by reporting an EPS miss in the third quarter coupled with warnings of higher spend on its delivery initiatives.

As of Oct. 24, Bezos' net worth was listed at $111 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index which represents a decline of $13.9 billion through 2019. If investors don't show up in large numbers to buy the dip in Amazon's stock on Friday, Bezos will no longer hold the title of the world's richest person.

Why It's Important

Bezos finalized in July terms of a divorce settlement with his ex-wife MacKenzie. The divorce calls for a transfer of nearly 20 million shares of Amazon's stock from Bezos to MacKenzie which will make her among the world's richest women.

Bill Gates will likely re-assume the title of the world's richest person. As of Oct. 24, he was worth $107 billion, $17 billion more since the start of 2019.

Amazon's stock traded lower by 6% at time of publication.

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Photo credit: DoD by Senior Master Sgt. Adrian Cadiz