We could expect to replicate the same story over and over again: Jeff Bezos beating Elon Musk as the richest man in the world and vice versa. And it is that the two individuals are the ones who are competing for that first place at this moment, but there does not seem to be a definitive winner who stands as the greatest millionaire on the planet. Only yesterday Bezos, who – in fact – recently announced his retirement, was able to regain first place from him after some losses from Tesla.
Jeff Bezos returns to number 1
On Tuesday, February 17, Elon Musk lost about $ 4.5 billion after a 2.4% drop in Tesla shares, helping Bezos regain first place as the world’s richest man. according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. According to CNN, the drop was due to the overall stock market “losing ground” and while Bezos’s losses weren’t that high (losing roughly $ 372 million), Musk’s did drop quite a bit. causing his arrival back to 2nd place.
At the moment, the index that Bezos presents is 191 billion dollars, which exceeds Musk by one billion, who has 190 billion. Recall that Bezos held the title of richest man in the world for three years, until six weeks ago, at the beginning of January, when Tesla shares were growing considerably. According to the information, the 170 million shares of Tesla increased in value by 106 billion dollars throughout 2020 as its shares grew 763% throughout that year.
Bezos has not done things wrong, having huge growth during 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic that prompted people to use the Amazon platform more and more, which led to an increase of 75 billion, which probably helped to convince yourself to step down from your CEO role and take over as chairman of the board, which will reduce your responsibilities while leaving a stable business.
On the other hand, Jeff Bezos seems to be taking the example of Bill Gates by focusing on actions against climate change, spearheading The Climate Pledge initiative that seeks to reduce carbon emissions to zero when we reach the year 2040. Man seeks that other companies join this initiative, and commit to making regular reports to measure and declare their emissions of gases that cause greenhouse effect, in addition to establishing measures aimed at achieving zero emissions. “Right after announcing his retirement, Bezos ended Musk’s six weeks as the richest man in the world,” says a statement from the organization, which has already been joined by IBM and Acciona Infraestructura, a company focused on sustainable solutions.
And just speaking of Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder who retired a few years ago and who is currently focused on philanthropic work and taking action against climate change, he is third on the list of the richest men in the world. However, the man seems comfortable with his position and no longer pretends to reach first place. The current value of it is $ 130 billion.
Of course, it is quite likely that Elon Musk will make a quick recovery and can take Bezos first place. Considering the growth of Tesla and the presence of Space X we would not be surprised if he takes it again, and that at other points Bezos takes it back again.