Amazon shares are soaring and Jeff Bezos is a whole lot richer
The jump in shares in after-hours trading on Thursday, which carried into Friday, increased CEO Jeff Bezos' wealth on paper by $6 billion.
The gain increased his net worth to $60 billion, temporarily displacing Mexican mogul Carlos Slim as the fourth richest person in the world according to Bloomberg.
The earnings results showed that Amazon's cloud-computing business is driving its growth. The e-commerce giant's most profitable business saw a 64% year-on-year jump in revenues to $2.57 billion in the first quarter.
Amazon reported $1.07 in earnings per share, crushing the forecast for $0.58. Amazon typically invests in growth at a loss, and so this made the record quarter of profits even more of a big deal.
Revenues rose 28% year-on-year to $29.1 billion ($28 billion was expected)
Amazon's stock climbed to as high as $669.98 on Friday. It has gained 54% over the past 12 months, and was one of the best-performing stocks last year.
