Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has overtaken Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to become the World's Richest Person.
According to Bloomberg's billionaire tracker, Bezos' net worth now stands at $105.1 billion, while Forbes has put the net worth to $104.4 billion. On the other hand, the Microsoft founder's net worth is pegged at $91.9 billion by Forbes and $93.3 billion by Bloomberg.
Earlier, Bezos had grabbed the title of World's Richest Person, but only for a short period of time. In July 2017, the jump in the share price of Amazon had made him the richest person, but lost the spot in less than 24 hours.
Here are 7 things to know about Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos:
He worked at McDonald's
Amazon's chief executive officer Jeff Bezos' first job was at McDonald's. He started working at the American hamburger and fast food restaurant chain as a teenager because he needed a summer job. Interestingly, his father also worked at McDonald's.
"My first week on the job, a five-gallon, wall-mounted ketchup dispenser got stuck open in the kitchen and dumped a prodigious quantity of ketchup into every hard-to-reach kitchen crevice. Since I was the new guy, they handed me the cleaning solution and said, 'Get going!'
"I was a grill man and never worked the cash registers. The most challenging thing was keeping everything going at the right pace during a rush. The manager at my McDonald's was excellent. He had a lot of teenagers working for him, and he kept us focused even while we had fun," he told author Cody Teets.
He invested in Google
According to New Yorker, Bezos was among the first four investors in Google. In 1998, he invested around $250,000 of personal funds. When he was asked why he invested in Google, he replied, "There was no business plan...They had a vision. It was a customer-focused point of view. I just fell in love with Larry and Sergey."
He owns Washington Post
In 2013, he ventured into news and bought the Washington Post for $250 million. Since then the daily newspaper has grown rapidly. The daily newspaper reportedly invested more than $50 million by and large on digital and newsroom plans, GeekWire reported.
"I understand the critical role the Post plays in Washington, DC and our nation, and the Post's values will not change," he said in a statement in 2013.
His cameo appearance in the Star Trek Beyond film
Bezos is a Star Trek fan since childhood and his dream came true when he got the opportunity to make a cameo appearance in the film. In July 2016, he shared a behind-the-scenes video that shows him wearing prosthetic head of the Starfleet Official, the role he plays in the film.
He described his cameo in the film as a "bucket list" experience. "Bucket list. Cast, crew and Justin Lin @trailingjohnson were amazing. #StarTrekBeyond," he tweeted along with a video of him eating and drinking wearing the prosthetic head.
"Great thing about making Trek is having passionate people drop by, like @JeffBezos. Here he is with Lydia Wilson," director Justin Lin tweeted.
Bucket list. Cast, crew and Justin Lin @trailingjohnson were amazing. #StarTrekBeyond https://t.co/VJ95D8pQeK
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) July 20, 2016
His neighbours are Obama and Ivanka Trump
Earlier this year, Bezos bought a former Textile Museum, a 27,000 square-foot property, aiming to convert the museum into a family home, according to The Washington Post. The property is in the Kalorama neighbourhood of Washington D.C.
Bezos' neighbours include the former president Barack Obama and his family and Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner.
His obsession with outer space
The billionaire has been obsessed with outer space ever since he watched Neil Armstrong walk on the Moon and this led him to start a space venture company Blue Origin in 2000. The company is focusing on making space tourism affordable.
"Basically what I am doing right now is taking my Amazon winnings and investing them. Every time you see me sell stock on Amazon, it's send more money to the Blue Origin team," Bezos said in an interview in 2016.
"[I]f I'm 80 years old, looking back on my life and the one thing I have done is make it so that there is this gigantic entrepreneurial explosion in space for the next generation. I will be a happy, happy man," he added.
Jeff Bezos' amazing 10,000-year clock
Bezos has also invested around $42 million in the Long Now Foundation's project of building a large mechanical clock in the middle of the desert in Texas that will last for millennia. The clock that would run for 10,000 years is designed to survive weather erosion and earthquakes.
"We humans have become so technologically sophisticated that in certain ways we're dangerous to ourselves," Bezos told the Wall Street Journal in an interview in 2012. "It's going to be increasingly important over time for humanity to take a longer-term view of its future."
