Bezos back to third richest in the world after Amazon stock surge

On Friday, Jeff Bezos returned to the third spot in the global wealth ranking after Amazon shares jumped by more than 14 percent – the largest single-day gain in over four years. The rally followed the release of a quarterly financial report that significantly exceeded Wall Street expectations, adding approximately $32 billion to Bezos's net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The surge allowed the businessman to overtake Google co-founder Sergey Brin, leaving only Elon Musk and Larry Page ahead of him. According to Forbes' estimate as of August 1, Bezos's wealth stands at "$278.1 billion," while Bloomberg calculates it at approximately "$290 billion."

Amazon reported second-quarter revenue of "$200.6 billion" – a 20 percent year-over-year increase, significantly surpassing analyst forecasts of about "$196.5 billion." The main surprise came from the Amazon Web Services division, which reported revenue of "$42.2 billion" – a 37 percent increase, its fastest growth since 2021.

AWS's operating profit reached "$16.6 billion," well above the consensus forecast of "$13.6 billion." According to CNBC, the division now provides nearly "61%" of Amazon's total operating profit. CEO Andy Jassy announced that areas related to artificial intelligence and the company's own chips are already together generating an annual revenue run rate of over "$25 billion" each.

According to Reuters, thanks to the rally, Amazon's market capitalization increased by about "$300 billion" in just one trading session.

Amazon raised its capital expenditure forecast for 2026 – from "$200" to "$220 billion," explaining this primarily by rising prices for memory components and skyrocketing demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure. Jassy noted that even at such a level of spending, the company will not be able to meet all customer demand this year.

The scale of investments in artificial intelligence across the technology sector has sparked skepticism among investors, who question whether such significant spending will pay off. However, the AWS results provided a strong counter-argument – an operating margin of "36.8%" and accelerating growth show that the expenses are driven by real customer demand rather than speculation.

In recent weeks, Bezos and Brin have repeatedly swapped positions in global wealth rankings – fluctuations in tech company stock prices and sentiment surrounding artificial intelligence have continuously reshaped the fortunes at the top. Friday's jump, fueled by one of the most impressive quarterly results in Amazon's recent history, gave Bezos a decisive advantage – at least for now.