Amazon founder Jeff Bezos – briefly – becomes world's richest man

[Deleted]

About time, I ordered from amazon again and again... yet it was never enough to boost him up there. My last order seems to finally have done it.

If you didnt stop ordering he still would be the richest guy.

[ranzino]

Ah yes, countries that have these super rich people, who become so rich in the end they think they might as well give to charity...

What about, wild idea here, you pay your 25-40% taxes like well-off countries (Europe), that way you do some real good for your country + you get to make a difference same time.

Depends on the governmental behaviour to spend it. Our german government is very bad at it and wastes usually a billion on nonsense. Not more than 25 % then.

[Yvaelle]

Who is the richest woman?
I believe the heiresses to L'Oréal and the Walton fortune are at the top.

The way divorce works, Melinda Gates is worth ~$45-91B

Edit: Not saying they are getting divorced, just saying in terms of rich and powerful women, it seems confusing to me how such lists always disregard 'the other half' of the most powerful men.

[Swalload]

1. Gates
2. Buffet
3. Bezos


This list says we aren't taxing the rich enough more than anything else I've seen.

Buffet said his house cleaner paid 15% in taxes while he paid 19%. It's not fair.

Wouldn't change shit, their worth is not exactly personal, it's their companies worth, since they own the company, it's their own wealth, but their salary is nothing close to that, they know how to pay themselves the right amount of avoid giving too much in taxes, they know how to spend the sompanies money well to make the most out of it, and send some extras to charity, etc. They don't have 90 billion in their personal bank account.

[Very Tired]

Bill Gates is the richest again? I thought that was from the old days and a dozen of other people were ahead of him.

[ranzino]

The way divorce works, Melinda Gates is worth ~$45-91B

Edit: Not saying they are getting divorced, just saying in terms of rich and powerful women, it seems confusing to me how such lists always disregard 'the other half' of the most powerful men.

Still not the likes of Melinda G. She cannot operate on her own, so somebody like L'Oreal heiress is more the type you would seek. For a german example it would be Susanne Klatten, daughter to Herbert Quant and she owns BMW together with her mom and brother. she's the wealthiest woman here at somewhat 18,5 bn $ worth. .

[Djuntas]

Depends on the governmental behaviour to spend it. Our german government is very bad at it and wastes usually a billion on nonsense. Not more than 25 % then.

Still, fuck these rich billionaires going philanthropy. If you want to make a difference you can just go donate to the local tax office. I also hope the people who think like me, but lives in the USA, are willing to pay more in taxes, else they are of course hypocrites, something I think many Bernie followers and moderates would be when it comes to paying there taxes.

[ranzino]

Still, fuck these rich billionaires going philanthropy. If you want to make a difference you can just go donate to the local tax office. I also hope the people who think like me, but lives in the USA, are willing to pay more in taxes, else they are of course hypocrites, something I think many Bernie followers and moderates would be when it comes to paying there taxes.

What difference ? Showering government with money without supervision ?

[helebelemon]

Amazing really. Once again a guy that started in his garage and is now sitting on an immense pile of money!

Your mistaking the garage analog and Jeff Bezos. Bezos is a former Wall Streeter with a CS background turned e-commerce founder. The garage has always meant minimalist and dire bootstrapping.

[Djuntas]

What difference ? Showering government with money without supervision ?

Where does the lack of faith in government come from in the USA? Sure in Denmark we have some pretty bad examples too (Selling part of energy giant DONG to Goldman Sachs who pulls out fast afterwards) and stuff like buying newer trains IC4..:But still, we are better off.

[I Push Buttons]

Ah yes, countries that have these super rich people, who become so rich in the end they think they might as well give to charity...

What about, wild idea here, you pay your 25-40% taxes like well-off countries (Europe), that way you do some real good for your country + you get to make a difference same time.

They do pay taxes that high though...

They just don't have anywhere near that much actual wealth and only "make" a couple tens to hundreds of millions of dollars per year. These $91 billion figures are based on the estimated value of their holdings... Which in the case of Gates and Bezos, are tied up primarily in two companies (Microsoft and Amazon respectively).

Its because of that, that in my opinion, Buffet is richer than both of them... Because his holdings are diversified and can easily be made liquid without losing much value.

While if Bezos, for example, just started rapidly selling off his Amazon stock... People would be like "Holy shit Bezos is selling all his Amazon stock!" and such an action is liable to drastically drop the value of the stock for fear of why he is divesting (problems in the company)... Hell that might even destroy the company.

[Independent voter]

So at 15%, Buffet pays his house cleaner somewhere between $9,325 to $37,950.

I hope that's a small house.

He's lived there for decades been married to the same woman most of his life too.

[ranzino]

Where does the lack of faith in government come from in the USA? Sure in Denmark we have some pretty bad examples too (Selling part of energy giant DONG to Goldman Sachs who pulls out fast afterwards) and stuff like buying newer trains IC4..:But still, we are better off.

Germany here and we dont trust government either. that's why i said "25 % and nothing more"

[Deleted]

IF i had that amount of money, i would give some out to charities etc, i mean, 1b is more than people think

[Deleted]

There are huge rewards for people who help change the world with companies like Amazon, Tesla, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, etc - and for those who risk their own money to fund those visionaries

That's what propels human excellence, that's why capitalism has been so successful at creating human prosperity and innovation despite wildly increasing inequality, and why communism and socialism have only led only to poverty and stagnation despite attempting to be more "humane"

Nonetheless, we need to find a solution to the weird inequality caused by a tiny minority of a few hundred people at the top of the ownership pyramid, holding enormous slices of the ownership pie in enormous, global companies

[ranzino]

I have heared an interesting statement on the radio this morning. The "net value" that is given for these people is not what they have in cash on their bank accounts. Most of the value is bound to assets, like their companies. The problem that comes with that is: You can't USE the value. If Bezos suddenly started to sell off his stakes in Amazon to turn some few billions into actual coin, the market would react immediately and devalue the shares massively, quickly. Not just because it would be flooded with the shares, but also because brokers would be highly confused about what is going wrong and why he would do this.

So yeah, Bill and Bezos might hold huge value, but they can't actually put it to any personal use. That certainly doesn't mean that they aren't living a VERY well padded life, but the calculations simply do not account for this effect, making them not false, but irrelevant for any practical purposes.

It was also stated that because of this effect, Warren Buffett should still be considered the richest one, because his assets are very diverse, which he could turn into cash a lot easier and with much less negative impact on the market and his cash flow.

Sort of
As soon your mansion is built and the private jet stored in hangar and the yacht docked in port, you are busy with maintaining status afterwards only. Just because your company drops a million here and there any month in your accounts, you do not erect a palace every next year.
They do not need a billion in liquid cash, not even 100 millions.

[Deleted]

They always jump over gates, but gates will always be the richest in the end.

- - - Updated - - -

I have heared an interesting statement on the radio this morning. The "net value" that is given for these people is not what they have in cash on their bank accounts. Most of the value is bound to assets, like their companies. The problem that comes with that is: You can't USE the value. If Bezos suddenly started to sell off his stakes in Amazon to turn some few billions into actual coin, the market would react immediately and devalue the shares massively, quickly. Not just because it would be flooded with the shares, but also because brokers would be highly confused about what is going wrong and why he would do this.

So yeah, Bill and Bezos might hold huge value, but they can't actually put it to any personal use. That certainly doesn't mean that they aren't living a VERY well padded life, but the calculations simply do not account for this effect, making them not false, but irrelevant for any practical purposes.

It was also stated that because of this effect, Warren Buffett should still be considered the richest one, because his assets are very diverse, which he could turn into cash a lot easier and with much less negative impact on the market and his cash flow.

That's why those gigantic share-sales happen when the markets are closed, so they can't react to it.

Not to mention at the end of the year companies pay out money to their share holders based on the amount of profit they made and how many shares they hold. I think it was stated somewhere that Gates gets around 6 billion annually based on that alone.

[Easo]

Ah, the usual rich people hate in the comments, how "refreshing"...