NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG, AFP) - The wealthiest person on the planet, Jeff Bezos, just got a whole lot richer.
Shares of his Amazon.com surged 12 per cent to US$2,100 in extended trading on Thursday (Jan 30), after the largest US e-commerce giant reported fourth-quarter results that smashed Wall Street estimates.
Mr Bezos added US$13.2 billion (S$18 billion) to his fortune in about 15 minutes. At the current price, his net worth would be about US$129.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Mr Bezos, 56, owns about 12 per cent of Amazon's outstanding stock, making up the bulk of his fortune. The late stock surge on Thursday added more than US$90 billion to Amazon's market value, pushing it above US$1 trillion.
His ex-wife, MacKenzie Bezos, 49, also has reason to celebrate, as she owns about 4 per cent of the Seattle-based retailer. She started the day as the world's 24th-richest person, with a US$37.1 billion fortune.
Amazon's profit in the final three months of last year rose 8 per cent from a year ago to US$3.3 billion as revenue as net sales grew 21 per cent to US$87.4 billion.
A record number of people signed up in the quarter for an Amazon Prime service that provides perks from one-day deliver to streaming television and music, according to Mr Bezos.
"We now have over 150 million paid Prime members around the world," he said.
Amazon has expanded from its original mission as an online retailer and now is a major force in cloud computing, and its AI-powered digital assistant Alexa has been incorporated into thousands of consumer products.
It also operates one of the largest streaming video services and recently announced that its streaming music service has won more than 55 million subscribers, closing in on Apple Music.
Amazon has also been spending big on original content for its Prime service, which faces Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+ and other rivals in an increasing competitive streaming television market.
The strong earnings report defied investor concerns about Amazon pouring money into shortening Prime delivery times to a single day, and the momentum of its money-making cloud services businesses being slowed by being denied a major contract with the US government.
Amazon Web Services, its cloud division, took in nearly US$10 billion in revenue in the quarter, up from US$7.4 billion in the same period a year earlier.
The company has been expanding globally, and Mr Bezos promised to invest at least US$1 billion in India in a high-profile visit to the country earlier this month. His three-day visit sparked protests in New Delhi and other cities by traders who accuse Amazon and its main US-owned rival Flipkart of killing off India's army of street traders.
Amazon's earnings update showed it had 798,000 full-time employees worldwide, up 23 per cent from a year ago amid a continued global expansion and ramping up of its logistics networks for speedy deliveries.
