Jeff Bezos Just Dethroned Bill Gates as the Richest Man in the World Bezos surpassed Bill Gates after a surge in Amazon’s shares propelled the online retailer’s CEO’s net worth to $90.4 billion as of Thursday morning, according to Forbes. Gates held the top spot since May 2013, according to Bloomberg. It’s been a steady climb for the Amazon chief as he started the year as the fourth-richest person