Amazon boss earns more than 1 billion USD in one night

Jeff Bezos has surpassed investing legend Warren Buffett with a total fortune of 65.3 billion USD, increasing by 1.3 billion USD yesterday thanks to the increase in Amazon stock price.

During the trading session on July 28, Bezos's assets reached 66.5 billion USD. He replaced Buffett as the third richest person in the world, according to Forbes.

Bezos owns 18% of Amazon. Shares of the e-commerce giant rose 2% yesterday after Amazon’s revenue last quarter exceeded expectations, rising 31% year-over-year to $30.4 billion. The company’s profit was $857 million, up from $92 million in 2015.

Amazon is famous for reporting little or no profit each quarter, but the company's bottom line has been improving steadily since last year.

Jeff Bezos is currently worth $65.3 billion. Photo: Forbes

The company’s stock has risen 50% since February. Its Prime service—which offers free shipping and a host of other services for an annual subscription—has been growing impressively internationally. Amazon launched the service in India in June, tapping into the country’s large consumer market.

Amazon has also attracted Prime subscribers by offering a video streaming service that competes with Netflix. Prime Day, its annual online shopping festival earlier this month, also saw record sales.

Although Amazon does not release official figures, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners estimates that the number of Prime users in the US is around 63 million. On average, each person spends about $1,200 per year.

The company’s cloud computing business also saw strong growth. Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenue rose 58% to $2.89 billion, beating analysts’ forecasts of $2.83 billion.

It has also expanded its business, opening an online grocery store in the UK. Earlier this month, it announced a partnership with Wells Fargo to offer discounted student loans to Prime Student members.

According to VNE