Think of ‘the richest man in the world’ and your thoughts immediately turn to Bill Gates.
The Microsoft founder and philanthropist made a fortune in the software business and has since turned his attention to philanthropy, spearheading several world heath initiatives through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, particularly one to eradicate polio.
Gates stepped down as chairman of Microsoft in 2014. He’s been top of the Forbes list of billionaires for 18 of the last 23 years. Today, Amazon founder, chairman and CEO Jeff Bezos overtook Gates to become the richest man in the world.
Forbes’ real-time list of billionaires ticked over today following a surge in Amazon share prices, putting Bezos’ estimated wealth at $91 billion, with Gates on an entirely respectable $90 billion.
Bezos owns 17% of Amazon shares, whose share price has been steadily rising throughout the month of July. Unlike Gates and other billionaires, Bezos hasn’t signed the Giving Pledge, in which billionaires pledge to leave at least half of their wealth to philanthropy.
Recently, though, Bezos put out a tweet asking for philanthropic ideas on how to contribute “at the intersection of urgent need and lasting impact”.
Request for ideas… pic.twitter.com/j6D68mhseL
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) June 15, 2017
