Jeff Bezos overtakes Bill Gates on Forbes’ list of richest Americans

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• Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has taken the No. 1 spot on Forbes’ list of the 400 richest Americans.
• In taking this spot, Bezos bumped Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates down to second place. 
• Bezos became the richest man in modern history earlier this year, and has a net worth of $160 billion; last year, his worth was $81.5 billion.

Since becoming the richest man in modern history earlier this year, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has taken the No. 1 spot on Forbes’ list of the 400 richest Americans — a shift that bumped Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates to second place. 

Bezos’ net worth jumped from $81.5 billion on last year’s list to this year’s $160 billion. He’s the first person to surpass a net worth of $150 billion since Forbes began tracking the richest Americans over 30 years ago, and the first person to bump Gates out of the No. 1 spot on the list for 24 years.

Following Bezos and Gates is Warren Buffett, with $88.3 billion; Mark Zuckerberg, with $61 billion; and Larry Ellison with $58.4 billion. 

However, there’s one aspect on the list where Gates still beats Bezos: philanthropy. This is the first year Forbes has included a “philanthropy score,” which measures and scales the billionaires on the list based on their generosity on a scale of 1 to 5. Bezos received a philanthropy score of 2, while Gates received the highest score of 5. 

Bezos became the richest person in modern history earlier this year, at a time when Amazon was criticized for poor working conditions and when a group of its workers were on strike. Amazon just recently announced plans to raise the company’s minimum wage in the US to $15, which will take effect on November 1. Amazon will also increase wages for employees outside the US as well, according to a company spokesman.

To see Forbes’ list of all 400 of the richest Americans this year, click here. 

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