Jeff Bezos' wealth hits a new high of $172 billion as Amazon stock soars, making him richer than he was before his divorce settlement

Jeff Bezos' wealth has reached new heights following a 4.4 percent surge in Amazon's stock value.

 

56-year-old Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, is now worth $172 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. This means he is richer now than he was prior to settling the most expensive divorce in history last year.

 

Bezos' ex-wife MacKenzie took 25 percent of his shares, which meant at the time her stake was worth more than $35 billion, according to Forbes.

 

However, Bezos remained the wealthiest person on the planet after the settlement and his wealth has continued to soar amid the coronavirus pandemic.

 

According to Comparisun, Bezos is on track to be the world's first trillionaire by 2026.

 

The business software comparison site used data collected from the last five years of the Forbes Rich List to calculate the yearly wealth growth rate of the world's richest billionaires.

 

Applying this annual growth rate over the coming years, the study concluded that Bezos could become the world's first trillionaire in 2026 or sooner.

 

Bezos' company, Amazon has been doing particularly well in recent months with the increased demand for online shopping due to the Coronavirus pandemic. As a result, the company's share prices has increased.