Jeff Bezos’ personal worth overtakes McDonald’s, Costco, and Nike

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“Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Jeff Bezos is now even richer!” Or something along those lines. Another day arrives, and there is more news that Amazon boss Jeff Bezos has increased his wealth even further. Overtaking commercial giants such as Nike, Costco, McDonald’s, plus a whole bunch of other private companies, news has broken this week that Bezos’ net worth has boomed to $186 billion. Which, quite frankly, is ridiculous.

Quite why Bezos needs all of this cash is a mystery. It isn’t like he can spend it. Or, rather, it isn’t like he does spend it. Or maybe he does, I don’t know, I haven’t seen his accounts. But whatever, this is a ridiculous amount of cash for one person to be worth. The very fact that he—personally—is worth more than huge, private, multinational companies should tell us he probably doesn’t need it all. But a surge in Amazon’s stock prices this year, to the tune of 65%, means that the richest man on earth has become even richer.

Scrooge McDuck

It is quite easy to imagine Bezos diving from great heights into piles of coins and 100-dollar bills. Swimming through his vast fortune like the proverbial pig in shit. Backstroking through bullion while millions of people across the globe starve to fucking death. It seems pretty unfair that one person should account for this much of the entire world’s wealth but, unfortunately, he does. You know, having all of that dollar in shares and bank accounts doing literally nothing has to be better for humankind than actually helping people with it. In case you didn’t get it, that last sentence was loaded with sarcasm.

Capitalizing on disaster

So what has led to this sudden surge in the Jeff Bezos’ coffers? Well, Amazon has done pretty well during this whole Covid-19 pandemic, hasn’t it? Think about it. So many of us have been sitting at home, buying things we need (and things we don’t need) on Amazon.

If you have been streaming TV series’ and movies during the lockdown, then the likelihood is that a lot of people headed to Amazon for their entertainment needs. Even if you like to read or listen to eBooks, the likelihood is that you have done so via a Kindle, Fire HD tablet, or via Audible which is an Amazon-owned company.

The rich get richer

We all know that money seems to follow money. Rich folk get richer while many of us are left scraping around to make the rent, or put food on the table, or heat our homes. It is unfair that so many people should be suffering while one individual just hoards cash in the bank.

With Amazon Prime Day having been postponed, the question we need to be asking ourselves is whether or not we’re comfortable with increasing the wealth of the company’s owner. Right now, though, it seems like we are.

What do you think? How do you feel about Jeff Bezo and his mountains of money? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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