Jeff Bezos tops Forbes list of world’s richest

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Forbes Magazine has released its list of the 400 richest Americans on Tuesday with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos topping the list with a net worth of $179 billion.
• President Donald Trump’s ranking dropped as his fortune fell to $2.5 billion from $3.1 billion as hotels and resorts have suffered during the pandemic. 
• The list’s biggest gainer was Tesla CEO Elon Musk whose net worth rose to $48.1 billion.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos topped Forbes’ list of wealthiest Americans for three consecutive years with a fortune of $179 billion. President Donald Trump’s ranking dropped to No. 352 from 275 last year, the magazine said Tuesday.

The aggregate wealth of the Forbes 400 list jumped to a record $3.2 trillion, up by $240 billion from last year, as America’s billionaires continued to do well even though the pandemic has ravaged the economy and caused more than 1.8 million Americans to lose their jobs.

The chief executive officer of Zoom Video Communications, Eric Yuan, made the list as one of 18 newcomers with a net worth of $11 billion. Zoom has become popular among work-from-home employees during quarantine.

President Trump’s net worth dropped to $2.5 billion from $3.1 billion as hotels, resorts and office buildings have suffered during the pandemic. His business, the Trump Organization, owns property in all three categories.

Trump has long refused to release his tax records, and has been locked in a battle with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who subpoenaed the president for eight years of personal and corporate returns.

Forbes’ annual 400 list can serve as a way to track the richest people in the US who hold the most power, said Kerry Dolan, assistant managing editor of wealth at Forbes, in an interview with Reuters TV.

“As a society, we all should know who is behind the biggest companies and what they’re doing with their money,” she said.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is the list’s biggest gainer as his net worth jumped an astounding 242 percent, to $48.1 billion.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey also saw his net worth balloon by $2.6 billion, or 62 percent, on this year’s list.

Source: AOL