when markets opened on july 27, 2017, bezos briefly became the world's richest person, surpassing bill gates with a net worth of just over $90 billion. he lost the title later in the day when amazon's stock dropped, returning him to second place with a net worth just below $90 billion. on october 27, 2017, bezos again surpassed gates on the "forbes" list as the richest person in the world.