The fortune of Bezos better after earnings reports

The fortune of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos surged by as much as $6.6bn (£5bn) in extended trading on Thursday after the retailer reported third-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates.

If the gains hold through on Friday, Mr Bezos will probably overtake Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates atop the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world’s 500 richest people. Amazon climbed 8.5 per cent to $1,055.01 at 4:30 pm in New York.
Mr Gates ended Thursday with a net worth of $87.9bn, about $4.5bn ahead of Bezos. Mr Gates has been the world’s richest person since 2013, though he briefly slipped behind Mr Bezos during intraday trading on 27 July Gates ended that day on top.

Page is $1.2 billion richer and Brin's fortunes increased by $1.15 billion after Alphabet's third-quarter profit blew past expectations. Prior to the results, they were worth $49.3 billion and $48.2 billion, respectively.

Technology leaders are climbing the ranks of the world's wealthiest people this year as their businesses outperform the rest of the market. Six of the top 10 names on the list are founders of U.S. tech companies.

Next up is Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who's ranked fifth on the list at $72.4 billion, according to Bloomberg. His company reports results on Nov. 1.

Mr Gates, 61, has given away almost 700 million Microsoft shares and $2.9bn of cash and other assets since 1996, according to an analysis of his publicly disclosed giving. He would be worth about $150bn if he hadn’t made the donations.