Some global billionaires are seeing their wealth explode dramatically, and Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote is not left behind.
On Thursday, Jeff Bezos, CEO of the world’s largest online retailer, Amazon, saw $3.3 billion added to his wealth, following his company’s impressive performance.
Dangote, Africa’s richest man and president of the Dangote Group, also saw his fortune rise by $500 million (N152.5 billion) as one of his companies, Dangote Cement also recorded impressive growth in the first quarter of 2017.
According to Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Bezos is less than $5 billion away from becoming the world’s richest person in a bid to overtake Bill Gates. Bezos saw his fortune surpass $80 billion for the first time on Thursday.
As of Wednesday, Dangote was worth $9.91 billion, but climbed to $9.96 billion by the end of trading at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday.
The stock market gods also smiled on Bezos as Amazon shares added almost $50 after the company projected sales that may beat estimates in the current quarter.
This added to Amazon’s unbroken 20-year streak of double-digit revenue growth.
Amazon had first-quarter sales of $35.7 billion and earnings of $1.48 a share, beating Wall Street analyst expectations.
Bloomberg said Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin added $1.4 billion when shares of Google parent Alphabet Inc. rose as high as $938.18 on news that the smartphone ad business helped Alphabet post revenue of $20.12 billion and net income of $7.73 a share.
Gates added nearly $100 million with the same time frame, as Bezos ousted Warren Buffet, the legendary investor, to the third position on the world rich list.
