How Rich Is Jeff Bezos? Amazon Founder Hits Net Worth Milestone

Amazon Inc. founder and CEO Jeff Bezos was worth just over $80 billion in early September due in large part to his large holding in the online retail giant and after the $13.7 billion deal for Whole Foods. On Friday, Bezos' personal net worth grew by $2.35 billion, surging to $100 billion after Amazon shares jumped 2.58 percent on optimism over Black Friday sales.

Bezos, 53, who has 78.9 million shares of Amazon, has seen his net worth soar by close to $33 billion this year. He became the world's richest man in October and is now the first person to reach the $100-billion milestone since Bill Gates in 1999.

Aside from Amazon, Bezos also owns the Washington Post and for-profit space tourism company Blue Origin.

Gates, who co-founded Microsoft, is currently the second richest man in the world at $89.1 billion and is followed by investor Warren Buffet ($78.7 billion) and Spanish retail tycoon Armancio Ortega ($75.9 billion).

On news of Bezos' rapidly growing wealth, Bloomberg pointed out that the 500 richest people in the world are worth a combined $5.315 trillion.

With such great wealth also comes scrutiny for Bezos. Unlike Gates, who has donated over $28 billion to his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bezos has been the subject of criticism for his lack of philanthropy. In 2012, the Seattle Times described Bezos as a "minor player" in local philanthropy.

But in June, Bezos showed evidence of philanthropic interest by asking his over 222,000 Twitter followers for suggestions on how to give.