Jeff Bezos was the first person to appear on a Forbes billionaire list with an estimated fortune above $100 billion, reaching that milestone in 2017.
Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 as an online bookstore and expanded it into a global technology and retail company. Amazon’s growth in e-commerce, cloud computing and digital services drove a dramatic rise in its market value, increasing the value of Bezos’s ownership.
Reports often place the milestone in November 2017, when Amazon shares rose during the holiday-shopping period. Bezos had already become the world’s richest person earlier that year, but crossing the $100 billion threshold was a separate landmark.
Net-worth milestones can be temporary because much of a founder’s wealth is held in shares. A falling share price can reduce the estimate by billions without the person selling anything. Later billionaires, including Elon Musk, reached much larger nominal fortunes.