The stock market has been in the midst of what's sometimes called a "correction" lately. Friday's trading had an especially marked effect on the personal fortune of the current holder of the title of world's richest person: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. When the dust settled and markets closed, Jeff saw $14 billion wiped from his personal net worth.
That happened as Amazon saw a ten percent decrease in its stock value, which ended up leveling off slightly Friday with an overall decrease of a little under eight percent. The dip, which may be more accurately described as more of a "plunge," came on the heels of Amazon's quarterly earnings report, which showed some disappointing numbers for investors leading into the retailer's all important holiday season.
That was despite the positive spin Bezos himself attached to the report in a statement to the press:
"Amazon Business has now reached a $10 billion annual sales run rate and is serving millions of private and public-sector organizations in eight countries."
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The day before Amazon's earnings report came out, Bezos' net worth sat at a comfortable $138 billion, whereas at the low point of Amazon's recent stock performance was closer to $124 billion.
However, as always, it's important to keep in mind that these rises and falls in personal fortune are pretty much entirely theoretical, and it's a sure thing that Bezos is more than happy to see his own personal fortune tied to the financial performance of the biggest online retailer in the world, disappointing earnings report or no. And Amazon's stock would have to plunge quite a bit more for Bezos to even drop out of his current spot as the richest person in the world, since the second place slot is held by Bill Gates, whose net worth is well beneath Bezos' at $96 billion.
Jeff's net worth peaked in September 2018 at $175 billion.
