Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has overtaken Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet and fashion brand Zara's founder Amancio Ortega to become the second richest man in the world. His net worth stands at $75.6 billion ahead of Warren Buffet ($75.5 billion) and Amancio Ortega ($74.1 billion).
Amazon Web Services and Amazon Prime have taken the company on a roll and its stock prices have skyrocketed and soared more than 50 per cent in the past one year. Jeff Bezos owns more than 17 per cent stake in the company which is worth $473 billion and it will be little surprise if the company reaches the trillion mark in a short span of time.
Jeff gained $1.5 billion in Wednesday's trade as Amazon shares soared higher on increasing the target to cross $1000 and future predictions by analysts. Bill Gates still stands tall on the number one spot with $86 billion.
Apart from Amazon, Jeff owns a stake in 'Blue Origin' that plans to make 'space tourism' easy and launching commercial satellites. His other subsidiaries are 'WOOT', 'Mobipocket', 'INOVA' and 'Junglee'.
Amazon revenue has grown 30% year-on-year which stands at approx $136,000 million in 2016, and gross margin has risen 15% over the last ten years and stood at 35 per cent last year. Operating cash flow has grown 12-fold to $16,500 million over the last decade and they have kept their operating margin steady at 3-5 per cent.
Amazon plans to invest another $3 billion in expanding its services in India. That would take its total investment to $5 billion. Amazon introduced its Prime membership service in India to compete with Netflix and hopes to repeat the success it has had with it in worldwide.
Amazon invests a lot in shipping and places its concern on logistics. It is testing drones to deliver everything at your doorstep, making your experience better.
Amazon also announced Amazon GO at the end of 2016, a grocery and food store which will turnaround the shopping experience. It will automatically track the items you pick from the store and will bill those items to you online.
With such new innovative ideas and heavy investment in logistics, it will be little surprising if Amazon falters from here. Jeff Bezos may inch closer to Bill Gates and his company Amazon might be one of the first to reach a trillion dollar mark.
BW Reporters
The author is a correspondent with BW Businessworld with keen interest in HR and employee welfare.
