Amazon’s share price has continued to surge amid the coronavirus pandemic as people across the world opt to shop online rather than hit the high street.
On Monday, the e-commerce company’s shares soared by 8 per cent, taking Bezos’s estimated net worth to $189.3 bn (£149bn).
Jeff Bezos, already the world’s richest man by a wide margin, added $13bn (£10bn) to his personal wealth in a single day.
The 56-year-old has seen his fortune swell by around $74bn (£58bn) in 2020 alone, according to an analysis by Bloomberg.
The publication said Monday’s rise was the biggest ever recorded on its Billionaires Index, first launched in 2012.
Bezos’s personal wealth is around nine times greater than Britain’s richest man James Dyson, whose fortune totals £16bn, according to the Sunday Times rich list.
He is also now worth more than the UK’s largest company, AstraZeneca, which is valued at £118bn on the London Stock Exchange.
Bezos’s wealth continues to grow despite an expensive divorce from his ex-wife MacKenzie last year.
She received 4 per cent of the company as part of the settlement and saw her personal wealth shoot up to around $62bn (£48.7bn) – making her the world’s 13th richest person.
In 2018, Bezos launched a $2bn (£1.5bn) fund focused on education programmes for homeless people and earlier this year pledged $10bn (£8bn) to tackle climate changes.
But critics have accused Bezos of donating far less money than other philanthropists, such as Warren Buffet and Bill Gates.
Mr Buffet, CEO of US conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, has given around $34.5bn (£27bn) to charity since vowing to donate all of his shares in the company.
Meanwhile, estimates suggest that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $46bn (£41bn) to charitable causes around the world.
