Jeff Bezos rises to become world's second-richest with Amazon surge

Technology and retail entrepreneur Jeff Bezos. Photo / AP

Jeff Bezos has leapt past Amancio Ortega and Warren Buffett to become the world's second-richest person.

Bezos, 53, added US$1.5 billion (NZ$2.1b) to his fortune as Amazon.com rose $18.32m (NZ$26m) on Wednesday, the day after the e-commerce giant said it plans to buy Dubai-based online retailer Souq.com.

Bezos has a net worth of $75.6b (NZ$107b) on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, US$700m (NZ$995m) more than Berkshire Hathaway's Buffett and US$1.3b (NZ$1.8b) above Ortega, the founder of Inditex SA and Europe's richest person.

Amazon's founder has added US$10.2b (NZ$14.5b) this year to his wealth and US$7b (NZ$10b) since the global equities rally began following the election of Donald Trump as US president on November 8.

The rise is the third biggest on the Bloomberg index in 2017, after Chinese parcel-delivery billionaire Wang Wei's US$18.4b (NZ$26b) gain and an US$11.4b (NZ$16.2b) rise for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Buffett, who's added US$1.7b (NZ$2.4b) in 2017, has shed US$4.7b (NZ$6.8b) since his fortune peaked at US$79.6b (NZ$113b) on March 1. Ortega is up US$2.1b (NZ$3b) year-to-date.

Bezos remains US$10.4b (NZ$14.7b) behind Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, the world's richest person with US$86b (NZ$122b).

- Bloomberg