Bill Gates beats Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to reclaim world's richest man title

- Bezos ended Gates' 24-year run as the richest man in 2018

- Gates regained the lead on Friday, November 15

- This was after Microsoft stock went up nearly 48% in 2019 increasing his stakes

- Gates debuted on Forbes' first-ever billionaire list in 1987 with a net worth of 452,190,929,310.00 Nigerian Naira

- On the other hand, Bezos first joined The Forbes 400 list of richest Americans in 1998

Billionaire Bill Gates has officially surpassed Amazon Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jeff Bezos at world's richest person on earth with a net worth of $110 billion (11.2 trillion)

The Amazon founder ended Gates' 24-year run as the richest man in 2018 with a net worth of $160 billion. Bill gates beats Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to reclaim world's richest man title- IKO SAWA

Bill gates beats Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to reclaim world's richest man title- IKO SAWA

Gates may have never relinquished the top spot were it not for his philanthropy. He has donated more than KSh 3.6 trillion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Photo: Getty Images.
Source: Getty Images

However, the Microsoft co-founder regained the lead on Friday, November 15, after Microsoft stock went up nearly 48% in 2019, helping boost the value of his stake in the tech giant, CNN reported.

The rest of his wealth is derived from share sales and investments made over the years by his family office, Cascade.

Gates had briefly topped Bezos as the world's richest man in October 2019, after Amazon's lacklustre Q3 results resulted in Bezos losing nearly $7 billion (713.7 billion )in stock value.

Bill gates beats Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to reclaim world's richest man title

Bezos would be far richer if he and MacKenzie Bezos had not divorced in January 2019. Photo: Getty Images

The index, which tracks the wealth of the richest 500 people, is updated each trading day after U.S. markets close. Europe’s richest person, Bernard Arnault, is third with $102.7 billion.

Gates debuted on Forbes' first-ever billionaire list in 1987 with a net worth of $1.25 billion (KSh 127.5 billion).

Bezos first joined The Forbes 400 list of richest Americans in 1998, one year after Amazon went public, with a net worth of $1.6 billion (163.1 billion).

Bezos would be far richer if he and MacKenzie Bezos had not divorced in January 2019, with MacKenzie receiving a quarter of their Amazon holdings in July 2019.

Gates, on the other hand, may have never relinquished the top spot were it not for his philanthropy.