Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos tops Forbes' list of 400 richest Americans

NEW YORK: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has taken the No 1 spot on Forbes' list of the 400 richest Americans, a shift that bumped Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to second place.

Amazon CEO's net worth jumped from $81.5 billion on last year's list to this year's $160 billion. He's the first person to surpass a net worth of $150 billion since Forbes began tracking the richest Americans over 30 years ago, and the first person to bump Gates out of the No 1 spot on the list for 24 years.

Jeff Bezos Just Became the Richest Person in Modern History As of Monday morning, the Amazon CEO was worth more than $150 billion. The achievement even takes into account inflation when Microsoft founder Bill Gates was worth $100 billion in 1999. That wealth would equate to about $149 billion today.

Bezos and Gates continually swap spots on lists of the world's wealthiest people. The top spot between Amazon and Microsoft depends on how well both companies perform.