Billionaires Jeff Bezos And Larry Ellison Battling For World’s 2nd Richest Person

Topline

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison have traded off the No. 2 spot on Forbes’ billionaire list Thursday, marking the latest exchange of the title between the two tech billionaires since September.

Key Facts

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Tangent

Meta co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has maintained his spot as the world’s fourth richest person as Ellison and Bezos have traded places. Zuckerberg, who boasts a $199.1 billion estimated net worth, remains firmly outside the range of Ellison and Bezos as Meta shares have failed to replicate the gains made by Oracle and Amazon in the past month. Meta’s stock is down more than 2% in that time.

Key Background

Ellison, Bezos and other billionaires like Musk and world-renowned investor Warren Buffett saw their net worths surge in the wake of the 2024 election. Ellison became $12 billion richer after Election Day while Bezos’ net worth spiked $7 billion. Oracle shares have jumped more than 77% on the year as the company reported a 21% jump in net income during its latest earnings report, besting analyst expectations. Amazon stock is up nearly 40% since January, when it traded at $149.43 per share. The e-commerce giant has been engaged in cost-cutting measures since its share price plummeted in 2022, laying off more than 27,000 employees and recently posting $158.9 billion in revenue—$1.7 billion above analysts expectations.

Further Reading

Amazon Earnings: Stock Climbs As E-Commerce Giant Beat Expectations (Forbes)

Jeff Bezos Overtakes Larry Ellison As Second Richest Person In The World (Forbes)