Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos now worth $100 bn

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is now worth $100 billion, which makeshim the world's richest man.

Bloomberg reported that he is the first to reach the $100 billion milestone since Bill Gates did in 1999.

Bezos officially earned the title in October when he surpassed Gates, a feat he also briefly accomplished in July.

The top spot was held by Gates since May 2013, before July.

Gates held the top spot since May 2013.

At the start 2017, Bezos was the fourth richest person in the world and surpassed both Inditex founder Amancio Ortega and Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffet this year as well. Bezos' increase in net worth this year is partly due to an exceptionally profitable year for Amazon, which saw the acquisition of Whole Foods.

The Amazon founder's fortune surpassed $100 billion after increasing $2.4 billion this week, thanks to an increase in Amazon's stock price tied to expectations for booming Black Friday sales.

While the top spot has seen a Gates vs Bezos contest, for some time, Gates' charity initiative in which he gave away 5 per cent of his net worth (roughly $4.6 billion) in August, made it easier for Bezos to surpass him.

Gates, with a current net worth of $86.8 billion, is estimated to have had a net worth of $150 billion had he not given much of his fortune to charity.

Commentators point out that Amazon's upswing  followed Friday's broad market push that saw the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index hit another record at 2602, the first time it has closed above 2600.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 32 points to 23,557.99, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index closed higher at 6889.

They further point out that markets are approaching the end of 2017 fueled by robust earnings, a rare harmony among growing world economies and bullishness over possible US tax reform.