E-commerce giant Amazon’s founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is the world’s third richest man again pulling down Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett.
On Tuesday, Warren Buffett, CEO and Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. lost $1.3 billion as the fallout of Wells Fargo’s fake account scandal. The bank has been fined a combined $190 million by the California and federal regulators as it was alleged of illegally opening millions of unauthorized accounts to meet their aggressive internal sales goals. As a result, the bank’s stock dropped 3% in the trading session.
Amazon CEO Bezos is estimated to be worth $66.3 billion beating out Berkshire Hathaway’s top dog by about $800 million, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index.
The scandal dealt a huge blow to Buffett, who owns two million shares of Wells Fargo. Also, Berkshire Hathaway owns 10% of Wells Fargo, making up the bulk of Buffett’s wealth. Moreover, Buffett has been donating generously recently, decreasing his net worth.
An 8% rise in Amazon’s share price over the past week also earned Bezos the third place on the esteemed list. Its second annual Prime Day earlier this month aimed at boosting off-season sales and rake in more Prime members became the best sales day ever for the online retailer, leading to a solid surge in the share price.
The wealthiest person in the world continues to be Microsoft founder Bill Gates, with a net worth of $78 billion, followed by Zara founder, Amancio Ortega, who holds a net worth of $73.1.
Despite losses this week, Buffett has also grown his wealth this year by $3.2 billion while Berkshire’s stock has risen 10.5% in the same period.
Both those figures pale in comparison to how much Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth has risen in the past nine months: $10.1 billion. Zuckerberg is the world’s fifth richest, with $55.9 billion.
