New Delhi, Nation Now

The world’s richest person, Jeff Bezos, is wealthier than he’s ever been. Early Wednesday he crossed a milestone previously unseen in the nearly four decades Forbes has been tracking net worths: With Amazon stock edging up 2% as of Wednesday afternoon, Bezos’ net worth is up by $4.9 billion, making the 56-year-old the world’s first-ever person to amass a $200 billion fortune.

As of 1:50 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, the Amazon founder and CEO is worth $204.6 billion—nearly $90 billion more than the world’s second-richest person, Bill Gates, who’s currently worth $116.1 billion.

Even adjusting for inflation, Forbes believes Bezos’ fortune is the largest ever amassed. The person to come closest is Gates, who was the world’s first-ever centibillionaire. Near the height of the dot-com bubble, when Microsoft reached its then-peak in 1999, Gates’ net worth surpassed $100 billion, roughly $158 billion in today’s dollars.

BREAKING: Jeff Bezos is now worth $200 billion. He and his fellow billionaires have gained nearly $800 billion during the coronavirus crisis.@SenSanders‘ bill to levy a 60% tax on billionaires’ pandemic gains would raise $55 billion from Bezos alone.https://t.co/OTAsIj4Hlj

— For Tax Fairness (@4TaxFairness) August 26, 2020

forbes.com