Roommates, Bill Gates may be worth billions of dollars, but he was not here for Jeff Bezos topping him in the category of the richest person in the world. But, like #Beyonce said, the best revenge is your paper!
According to CNN, Bill Gates has officially surpassed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and can once again call himself the richest person in the world. His net worth now sits at a whopping $110 billion.
After two years of sitting in the number two spot, Bill has regained the lead as Microsoft’s shares have increased by nearly 48% this year. Jeff Bezos also had to pay out a large portion of his Amazon earnings to his estranged wife MacKenzie Bezos, who divorced Bezos after 25 years.
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Jeff and MacKenzie announced their split back in January, and the former Mrs. Bezos received a quarter of their Amazon fortune, a whopping $35 billion! Some say Jeff would be a lot richer if it weren’t for his divorce.
Both Bill and Jeff have experienced some sort of backfire for the amount of money they have amassed as business owners, but Bill has definitely caught most of the heat. He recently found himself commenting on how he would respond to a wealth tax opposed by some Democratic political candidates like Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
He said he paid for than $10 billion in taxes already, and he would be fine with paying up to $20 billion. He says he draws the line, however, at having to pay $100 billion in taxes. Although the number seems like just small portion of what Bill has in his bank account, he says a tax bill that large would prompt him to “do a little math about what I have left over.”
Bill Gates gave up the top spot for two years, but for good reason. Due to his philanthropic efforts, Bill dropped in the ranks. He has reportedly donated more than $35 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation since 1994.
