Topline
Amazon stock had its best day in eight months Friday after its earnings report revealed far greater profits than Wall Street anticipated, making the Seattle-based conglomerate’s centibillionaire founder Jeff Bezos an even wealthier man.
Jeff Bezos tacked on billions to his net worth Friday.
Key Facts
Shares of Amazon skyrocketed 5.8% to $128, registering their largest single-day gain since February 2 and second-largest gain of the year.
The rally came a day after the company reported 59% higher third-quarter profits than analysts forecasted and said it expects fourth-quarter profits to come in higher than analyst projections.
Bank of America analysts led by Justin Post wrote in a note to clients that renewed optimism about artificial intelligence was also contributing to the bullishness on Amazon, predicting growth in its AWS cloud computing unit will be the “next driver” for the stock.
Bezos, who transitioned from Amazon CEO to its executive chairman in 2021, became $8.1 billion richer Friday thanks to the stock surge as his net worth ballooned to $150.6 billion, according to Forbes’ estimates.
Key Background
Bezos is the third-wealthiest person in the world, trailing only Tesla CEO Elon Musk ($221.9 billion net worth) and LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault ($173.1 billion net worth). Amazon stock accounts for roughly 85% of Bezos’ fortune, according to Forbes’ latest calculations. Bezos remains by far Amazon’s largest individual shareholder, owning 9.7% of the company, according to FactSet. The next largest shareholders are Bezos’ billionaire ex-wife Mackenzie Scott, who owns about $31 billion worth of Amazon stock, and Bezos’ CEO successor Andy Jassy, who holds a roughly $250 million stake in Amazon. Bezos was the richest man on the planet in Forbes’ annual ranking of the world’s wealthiest people from 2018 to 2021 before losing the mantle to Musk.
Big Number
$87 billion. That’s how much market capitalization Amazon tacked on Friday, swelling its valuation to $1.3 trillion—making it the world’s fifth largest publicly traded company.
Tangent
Amazon stock’s post-earnings boost came as many of its big tech peers suffered significant losses after reporting their respective quarterly results. Tesla shares sank 9% the day after reporting earnings last week, Alphabet stock tumbled 10% following its Tuesday report and Meta shares slipped 4% after its Wednesday earnings.
Further Reading
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/10/27/amazon-stocks-7-post-earnings-rally-makes-jeff-bezos-8-billion-richer/