One estimate has Amazon Web Services controlling almost half of the cloud-computing industry-institutions as varied as General Electric, Unilever, and even the CIA rely on its servers. More product searches are conducted on Amazon than on Google, which has allowed Bezos to build an advertising business as valuable as the entirety of IBM. Today, Bezos controls nearly 40 percent of all e-commerce in the United States. Indeed, it is without precedent in the long history of American capitalism. The scope of the empire the founder and CEO of Amazon has built is wider. Yet Rockefeller largely contented himself with oil wells, pump stations, and railcars Gates’s fortune depended on an operating system.

From past philanthropy projects to splashy real estate purchases, here's how one of the world's richest people spends his wealth.To hear more feature stories, see our full list or get the Audm iPhone app.Īt 55, Bezos has never dominated a major market as thoroughly as any of these forebears, and while he is presently the richest man on the planet, he has less wealth than Gates did at his zenith. In November, Bezos announced plans to donate the majority of his fortune to charity, a commitment he had until recently shied away from. He's also been busy trying to get his $500 million under-construction megayacht past a historic Dutch bridge and enjoys traveling the globe with girlfriend Lauren Sanchez.

Nowadays, the 58-year-old is focused on his other endeavors, including his space exploration company Blue Origin that recently flew actor William Shatner to the edge of space as well as The Washington Post, which he bought in 2013. Recent years have brought him a high-profile divorce, a trip via spaceship to the edge of space, his firm's skyrocketed share price during the pandemic, and his departure from the role as CEO of the company he founded 28 years ago. It often indicates a user profile.īillionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has become one of the wealthiest and most recognizable figures in the tech world. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.