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Jeff Bezos Passes Bill Gates to Become the World’s Richest Person
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- everdev 9y agoI thought this happened a while ago: http://time.com/money/4746795/richest-people-in-the-world/ http://time.com/money/4746795/richest-people-in-the-world/ > Amazon founder Jeff Bezos surpassed Bill Gates in July to become not only the world's richest man, but the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $90.6 billion.
- adamnemecek 9y agoIt was only briefly.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- yueq 9y agoThis kind of 'news' is garbage because it doesn't consider market depth... Bezos can't liquidate all his shares at that peak price.
- frozenport 9y agoBut Gates ain't getting richer.
- cocktailpeanuts 9y agoSame has been true for bill gates for a long time, so it's a fair game. I mean figuring out what's liquidatable or not for each individual is not really a feasible task anyway.
- markdown 9y agoIn Bezos' case it's more pronounced though... he is still personally responsible for Amazons high share value. Any sign of him selling would cause share values to plummet.
- gozur88 9y agoThe way it's normally done for those kinds of people is they take out a big loan secured by the stock, which is sold over time. So while it's technically true he can't liquidate all his shares, he can cash out if that's what he really wants to do.
- maxerickson 9y agoStill the best Amazon meme: https://twitter.com/ajlkn/status/885979129300078596?lang=en https://twitter.com/ajlkn/status/885979129300078596?lang=en
- BartSaM 9y agoSo we have memes on HN now?
- maxerickson 9y agoI do!
- vernie 9y agoMy favorite HN meme is unnecessary, zero-indexed citations [0] [0] See above.
- nikolay 9y agoRegardless, isn't Bezos the largest landowner in the US?
- wavefunction 9y agoHe doesn't even crack the top 25.
- nikolay 9y agoHe's exactly at #25 [0]. But I am surprised how many newcomers are on the list! [0]: http://www.landreport.com/americas-100-largest-landowners/ http://www.landreport.com/americas-100-largest-landowners/
- maxerickson 9y agoThat list doesn't count companies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weyerhaeuser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weyerhaeuser 13 million acres of timberlands (approximately the total of the top 9 listed there) Weyerhaeuser is a bit of an outlier being the largest private landowner in the US.
- tehlike 9y agoWhat about the value of the land?
- mullen 9y agoDoes anyone know why these super rich people buy so much land? Is owning that much land a real investment?
- iplaman 9y agoI wonder if that stands if he were to donate the same amounts that Gates foundation does
- ralmidani 9y agoI don't want to sound like a Marxist, but after a certain point (which depends on the person and their spending habits), additional money does not appear to have practical value except for being able to brag about holding a high score. I mean, does having $90B confer any benefits above what having, say, $20B does? Of course, that difference matters to companies; the more money you have, the easier it is to buy or destroy competitors. But for individuals, am I missing something?
- IslaDeEncanta 9y agoI do want to sound like a Marxist, but for individuals it grants them an inordinate amount of power. If you want power that's a very desirable fact.
- cocktailpeanuts 9y agoNah, you don't sound like a Marxist. But the only thing you're missing is how you're stating the obvious. Just Google what rich people say about being rich and you'll find that they say exactly the same thing. After a certain point it's all the same.
- ralmidani 9y agoThen why do they keep pursuing more wealth? If you like money primarily for the pleasure it can buy, why not spend more time enjoying it? Why kill yourself just so your descendants can be financially secure?
- mythrwy 9y agoWhat else do you do? You can't just walk away at that point. Gates appears to be trying to some extent but that much money takes on a life of it's own. You hire people and it keeps growing.
- gozur88 9y agoMoney is just a way of keeping score for people like Gates and Bezos. Anyway, if you have the personality that creates a company like Amazon, you can't just sit back and enjoy it. It's just not in your nature. I had an uncle like that - he kept starting companies long after it mattered financially. He'd sell the current one, tell everyone he was retiring, sit around miserably for a few months and then start another. "It's mostly just a hobby," he'd say, and sell it for ten million dollars a few years later and start the whole process over. Also, flooding your descendents with money isn't necessarily a good idea. People who grew up with more money than they could ever spend tend to be pretty unhappy. Warren Buffett claims he left his children enough money to do "anything they want to do, but not enough to do nothing." The rest he gave away.
- Dowwie 9y agoAugust 1994: https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!msg/mi.jobs/poXLCW8udK4/_GHzqB9sG9gJ https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!msg/mi.jobs/poXLCW8udK4/... How many programmers get messages like these every day now and how many do you even look into?
- justboxing 9y agoWow. This is an original job posting from Bezos. > and you should be able to do so in about one-third the time that most competent people think possible. I guess this explains their slave-driving work-culture.
- bitwize 9y ago"I hear that the best crackers in the world can break this in 60 minutes. I need someone who can do it in 60 seconds."
- mmgutz 9y agoI'm actually impressed Bill has stayed on top for this long with all his philanthropic work. Bill > Jeff in world enrichment.