How Much Is Amazon Worth? A Look At Jeff Bezos' Retail Empire

Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos became the world’s richest man in 2017, with his wealth the result of an online retail company that has a staggering market capitalization of over $880 billion.

As Amazon’s largest shareholder, Bezos has a net worth of $145 billion, according to Bloomberg. The New Mexico native started Amazon out of the garage of his Washington home in 1994.

Last year around this time, Amazon (AMZN) shares were trading near about $1,000. Now, they are valued at over $1,820. Bezos holds 78.9 million shares of Amazon stock. The publicly traded company’s shares went up 1.4 percent on Monday, increasing its CEO’s net worth by $1.4 billion.

In February, Amazon’s market value surpassed that of Microsoft’s, making it the third most valuable company in the world. Only Apple and Google’s Alphabet are ahead of Amazon, according to Fortune. The Seattle-based retailer’s revenue hit $178 billion in 2017.

Meanwhile, as Amazon continues to dominate the e-commerce space, it is expected to rake in even more income this week as its Prime Day starts on Monday. The company's annual shopping holiday provides discounts on everything on the site from electronics to cleaning supplies. However, it is exclusively for those who hold Amazon’s Prime membership.

"Every year, Amazon’s Kindle devices are heavily promoted, and this year, we expect more of the same, augmented by similar promotions on Alexa devices," Wall Street analyst Charles O’Shea said in a statement.

"This is where we believe the true value of Prime lies – the kind of content it offers members. Anyone can offer cutthroat shipping promotions if they have the stomach (and shareholders!) willing to absorb the costs, but excluding the likes of Apple, no one in retail can match the content ecosystem of Prime."

About 100 million people have reportedly signed up for the subscription service. It includes free expedited shipping along with the ability to stream music and movies. In May, the company raised the membership fee from $99 to $119.