When Jeff Bezos took Amazon.com public in 1997, Wall Street was skeptical of the bookselling website founded in a Seattle garage. The year after Amazon’s IPO, Bezos made Forbes’ annual list of the 400 richest Americans for the first time thanks to his 42% stake in the company, worth $1.6 billion at the time.

Over two decades later, Amazon is one of the largest ecommerce companies in the world. And Bezos, who announced in February that he’s stepping down as CEO, has a fortune of more than $192 billion. Bezos is worth more than $190 billion, and has topped our annual World’s Billionaires list as the richest person in the world for three years in a row. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon net sales increased by 38% in 2020. The day Amazon announced Bezos will step down--but keep his 11% stake in the company--Amazon stock closed at $3,380 a share. His net worth will not be affected by his stepping-down.

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