Jeff Bezos' net worth slumped by $5 billion in a single day after the FTC sued Amazon
- Amazon founder Jeff Bezos saw his personal fortune drop by $5 billion on Tuesday.
- The decline was sparked by the FTC suing Amazon over alleged anti-competitive business practices.
Jeff Bezos saw a hefty $5 billion wiped from his personal fortune in a single day, after the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Amazon.
US antitrust authorities are suing the e-commerce giant over alleged anti-competitive business practices. The news helped send Amazon shares down 4% on Tuesday, and they fell another 0.5% in early trading on Wednesday.
The lawsuit erased $55 billion from Amazon's market cap – which is more than the entire value of Ford, worth $50 billion. As a result, Bezos' personal fortune slid by an estimated $5.2 billion, Insider calculations show.
Bezos owns about 990.5 million Amazon shares, per a filing from June – meaning the ex-CEO's wealth is inextricably tied to that of the company he founded.
Amazon stock took a hit after Lina Khan, chair of the FTC, said yesterday that the firm uses "punitive and coercive" tactics to maintain its dominance.
"The complaint sets forth detailed allegations noting how Amazon is now exploiting its monopoly power to enrich itself while raising prices and degrading service for the tens of millions of American families who shop on its platform and the hundreds of thousands of businesses that rely on Amazon to reach them," she said.
"Today's lawsuit seeks to hold Amazon to account for these monopolistic practices and restore the lost promise of free and fair competition."
Despite the eye-watering drop, Bezos's net worth remains up $43 billion this year at $150 billion thanks to Amazon's stock price rally, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
He is part of a wider group of tech billionaires who have seen their fortunes skyrocket following the boom in demand for AI-related stocks.
One of the biggest wealth drivers this year has been the rally in technology companies, fueled by investor exuberance over the rise of artificial intelligence. Nine of the 10 billionaires who have added the most to their net wealth are from the tech sector.