杰夫·貝佐斯成為現代歷史上最富有的人。

據彭博社的億萬富翁指數，上周一早上在紐約，亞馬遜公司（Amazon.com Inc.）的創始人貝佐斯的凈值突破1500億美元，比世界第二富的微軟公司（Microsoft Corp.）聯合創始人比爾·蓋茨的身價多出550億美元。

貝佐斯現年54歲，他的身價經過通脹調整后的計算，還是超過了蓋茨。蓋茨在1999年互聯網大熱期間身價達到大約1000億美元，大約相當于今天的1490億美元。這樣算來，亞馬遜的首席執行官確實富過地球上的任何人，至少自1982年算起是如此。

貝佐斯跨過1500億美元身價之際，正是亞馬遜準備推出其36小時夏季促銷活動Prime Day之時。亞馬遜公司的股價在紐約時間上周一上午11：10分達到每股1825.73美元，推動公司2018年收入增長56%，也使得貝佐斯的身價飆升至1508億美元。

貝佐斯的凈值在今年上漲了520億美元，該金額比最新登頂亞洲首富穆克什·安巴尼的全部身價都要高。貝佐斯的個人身價已非常接近沃爾頓家族的1515億美元，而沃爾頓家族是地球上最富有的家族王朝。

“難以置信的數字”

克萊賽特家族財富管理辦公室（Cresset Family Office）的CEO邁克爾·科爾說：“找不出誰可以與之相提并論的了，這個數字讓人難以置信。”

一份美聯儲的報告顯示，在2016年，最富有的1%的美國家庭控制了美國38.6%的財富，而最底層的90%的家庭僅擁有全美國22.8%的財富。去年，樂施會（Oxfam International）調研發現，超過80%的全球收入被納入到全世界最富有的1%的人的錢包。

在彭博指數榜上，排在貝佐斯后面的是蓋茨，身價955億美元，之后是沃倫·巴菲特，身價830億美元。

如果蓋茨沒有捐出他的一些資產，主要是那些捐給比爾及梅琳達·蓋茨基金會的錢，他的凈值也可能超過1500億美元。據一份公開的蓋茨捐贈款項分析報告，自1996年以來，蓋茨捐出了約7億股的微軟股票和29億美元的現金，還有一些其他資產。（財富中文網）

譯者：宣峰

Jeff Bezos is the richest person in modern history.

The Amazon.com Inc. founder’s net worth broke $150 billion in New York on last Monday morning, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That’s about $55 billion more than Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, the world’s second-richest person.

Bezos, 54, has now topped Gates in inflation-adjusted terms. The $100 billion mark that Gates hit briefly in 1999 at the height of the dot-com boom would be worth about $149 billion in today’s dollars. That makes the Amazon chief executive officer richer than anyone else on earth since at least 1982, when Forbes published its inaugural wealth ranking.

Bezos crossed the threshold just as Amazon prepares to kick off its 36-hour summer sales event, Prime Day. The company’s share price was $1,825.73 at 11:10 a.m. on last Monday in New York, extending its 2018 gain to 56 percent and giving Bezos a $150.8 billion fortune.

His net worth has soared by $52 billion this year, which is more than the entire fortune of Mukesh Ambani, the newly crowned richest person in Asia. It also puts Bezos’s personal fortune within spitting distance of the Walton family’s $151.5 billion, which is the world’s richest dynasty.

‘Staggering Number’

“It’s hard to even put it in perspective,” said Michael Cole, CEO of Cresset Family Office. “It’s such a staggering number.”

A Federal Reserve report found the top 1 percent of U.S. families controlled 38.6 percent of wealth in the U.S. in 2016, compared with 22.8 percent held by the bottom 90 percent. Last year, Oxfam International found that more than 80 percent of earnings went to the top 1 percent of the world population.

Behind Bezos on the Bloomberg index is Gates, with a $95.5 billion fortune followed by Warren Buffett with $83 billion.

Gates would have had a net worth of more than $150 billion if he’d held onto assets that he’s given away, largely to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He’s donated almost 700 million Microsoft shares and $2.9 billion of cash and other assets since 1996, according to an analysis of his publicly disclosed giving.