Amazon`s Jeff Bezos becomes world`s richest person, replaces Bill Gates

New York: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has become the world’s wealthiest man, surpassing Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates after his shares surged on Thursday.

The Forbes magazine said its real-time tracking of personal fortunes showed Bezos with a net worth of USD 90.5 billion, ahead of the USD 90 billion for Gates.

Bezos owns around 17 per cent of the equity of Amazon, which has been expanding from its original mission as an online retailer to a diversified tech firm in cloud computing, online video, computing hardware and artificial intelligence.

With PTI Inputs