Jeff Bezos only needs $8 billion to overtake Elon Musk as world's richest person

Jeff Bezos is just $8 billion away from surpassing Elon Musk as the richest person in the world with a rise in Amazon stock this year and a decline in Tesla shares.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the founder and executive chairman of Amazon has seen a $20 billion increase in his estimated worth this year. 

That is mostly due to the 13% increase in Amazon shares this year, which has helped him jump to the second spot on the wealthy list with a $197 billion net worth.

By comparison, Musk's wealth has decreased by $24 billion to $205 billion, primarily as a result of a 24% decline in Tesla's shares.

The value of around 304 million stock options from Musk's 2018 compensation plan, which was just revoked by a Delaware court, is still included in Bloomberg's calculation, according to Microsoft Start.

As a result, Bezos's net worth is currently only 4% that of Elon Musk, and if Amazon keeps growing and Tesla keeps declining, he may soon overtake Musk.

At the end of December, Bezos had 988 million shares, or around 10% of Amazon; at Friday's close, his investment was worth $169 billion.

In the meantime, Musk is estimated to own 411 million Tesla shares, or around 13% of the company, for a total estimated value of $76 billion. The remainder of his wealth is derived from his holdings in SpaceX, Twitter, and other companies.

Remarkably, Bezos intends to divest up to 50 million Amazon shares, valued at $8.6 billion, by the end of January of the next year, as his company disclosed last week in its annual report. In November, he approved the trade arrangement.

From 2017 to January 2021, Bezos topped the Bloomberg index, while Musk had an approximately $10 billion advantage at $194.9 billion due to a spike in Tesla stock.

Bloomberg's rich list has been rearranged this year in part due to the recent disclosure of Big Tech earnings. Following a spectacular earnings report on Friday, Meta stock shot up 20%, bringing creator Mark Zuckerberg's net worth to $170 billion (up $28 billion) and soaring above all other wealth gains this year at $42 billion.