Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos announced their separation in January 2019. On the day of their separation (when Jeff still owned 16% of AMZN), his net worth was $150 billion. On April 4, 2019, Jeff and MacKenzie announced that they had reached an amicable resolution where he would hand over 4% of that 16% stake. Jeff’s net worth was immediately reduced to $115 billion, while MacKenzie instantly became one of the wealthiest people on the planet with a net worth of $36 billion. Jeff’s stake has since dropped from 12% to 11%. So, YES this is the first time Jeff’s net worth has topped $200 billion. But here’s the caveat – Had Jeff and MacKenzie never divorced, his net worth would have topped $200 billion for the first time back on June 8, 2020 when AMZN’s market cap topped $1.25 trillion for the first time. If you can do some simple math, you might see where I’m heading. Had Jeff and MacKenzie never divorced, today Jeff Bezos would have a net worth of:
$268 billion
Instead he has $202 billion, which easily makes him the richest person in the world. He is literally $77 billion richer than second-richest person in the world, Bill Gates, who has a paltry $125 billion net worth. But there’s a caveat with Bill Gates: Bill has given more than $50 billion away to charity already. Had he not done that, his net worth would be around $175 billion. Still less than Jeff Bezos’ $202 billion, but not quite as shockingly different. And while we’re talking about billionaires who have given away massive fortunes, Warren Buffet would have a net worth of $118 billion today (instead of $81 billion) had he not donated approximately $37 billion to various charities and foundations. As of this writing, MacKenzie is the richest woman in the world, with a net worth of $67 billion. How does Jeff stack up against the richest human beings of all time inflation adjusted? At $202 billion, Jeff is $17 billion richer than Anderson Cooper’s great-great-great-grandfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt, who had an inflation-adjusted peak net worth of $185 billion. He is $3 billion richer than Henry Ford’s $199 billion inflation-adjusted peak fortune. Unfortunately, Jeff still has quite a way to climb before he tops Andrew Carnegie’s $310 billion inflation-adjusted fortune and John D. Rockefeller’s $340 billion. He’s roughly 50% of the way to Mansa Musa’s $400 billion net worth. So he has some goals to hit still! Congrats to Jeff on hitting $202 billion. It’s honestly hard to fathom.
