Bezos overtakes Slim as world's fourth-richest person

Jeff Bezos has edged past Carlos Slim to become the world’s fourth-richest person, buoyed by a 113% rally this year in Amazon.com Inc. The 51-year-old founder of the world’s largest online retailer passed the Mexican telecommunications tycoon Tuesday after Amazon rose $4.19 by the close of trading in New York. Bezos commands a fortune of $58.2 billion (AED 213.75 billion), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Slim, who was the world’s richest person as recently as May 2013, is now ranked fifth with $57.2 billion. He’s lost $15.4 billion in 2015, more than any other billionaire on the index. Bezos has increased his fortune 103.5% in 2015 as investors have cheered profits at Amazon and growth in its cloud storage business. His $29.6 billion year-to-date gain is the biggest of any billionaire on the Bloomberg index, a daily ranking of the world’s 400 richest people. Biggest Gains The second-largest gain belongs to Spain’s Amancio Ortega, the founder of Inditex SA, the world’s largest clothing retailer, who’s risen $12.7 billion, a 21% gain. US investor Warren Buffett is the world’s third-richest person with a net worth of $63.2 billion. Ortega ranks second with $73.7 billion. Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates remains the world’s richest, with a net worth of $85 billion, according to the index. Last month, Bezos surpassed brothers Charles and David Koch to become the the third richest in the US The brothers each have fortunes valued at $52 billion, according to the index. Together they control 84% of Koch Industries, the closely held conglomerate that owns Georgia-Pacific paper among dozens of other business lines. Bezos’s climb also reflects the strength of US mega-cap technology stocks, which have boosted the fortunes of other leading technology billionaires. Facebook Inc. founder Mark Zuckerberg is the world’s eighth-richest person with $47.1 billion and has increased his wealth by $12.6 billion this year. Alphabet co-founder Larry Page is the 10th-richest on the planet with $39 billion, and has added $9.3 billion in 2015. Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison is ninth with a $42.6 billion fortune. He’s slipped $6.2 billion this year. The world’s 400 richest people control a combined net worth of $4 trillion, more than the gross domestic product of every country on Earth except the US, China and Japan. By Brendan Coffey and Jack Witzig/Bloomberg