Jeff Bezos Net Worth Up $12 Billion As Amazon Stock Price Surges 13%

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, already the world's richest individual, boosted his massive wealth by a further $12.6 billion Thursday after the company he founded saw its stock jump 13 percent following better-than-expected fourth quarter 2019 earnings.

Bezos was worth $116 billion before Amazon's Wall Street surge. He's now worth some $128.6 billion as of Thursday evening. He added $730 million to his already enormous net worth on Wednesday alone.

The Thursday jump saw Amazon's market cap settle at $927.5 billion after the stock closed at $1,870.68. Amazon first became a trillion dollar company on Sept. 4, 2018 and hit this milestone again in October. Amazon hasn't gotten to the trillion dollar mark so far this year.

On Thursday, Amazon's share price rocketed 13.3 percent to $2,113.35 in after-hours trading. The stock opened at $1,858.00 and reached a high of $1,872.86 during regular trading hours.

Amazon reported Q4 earnings per share of $6.47 versus expectations of $4.03 per share, according to analysts surveyed by Refinitiv. Revenue for the quarter stood at $87.44 billion compared to expectations of $86.02 billion (Refinitiv). Amazon said it now expects to report revenue between $69 billion and $73 billion.

Amazon Web Services (AWS), which provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, said its Q4 2019 revenue hit $9.95 billion. This larger than expected figure beat expectations of $9.81 billion, or a 32 percent growth rate, according to FactSet. AWS’ revenue grew 34.0 percent on an annualized basis in Q4 but compares unfavorably to the 34.7 percent revenue growth in Q3.

Although AWS represents only 11 percent of Amazon’s total revenue, it remains the company’s cash cow due to its status as market leader. Of the $3.88 billion in operating income Amazon earned this Q4, $2.60 billion, or 67 percent, came from AWS. The operating income from AWS compares favorably to the $2.45 billion consensus estimate among analysts polled by FactSet.

Analysts said AWS continues to grow faster than Amazon’s North America and International business segments. AWS' growth, however, is on the decline. Deutsche Bank said competitive pressures and a slower pace of big companies moving applications to AWS, “underscore increased risk of further deceleration at AWS.”

As for Amazon Prime, the company's paid subscription service, Bezos said “more people joined Prime this quarter than ever before.” He said Amazon now counts more than 150 million paid Prime members around the world compared to 100 million members in April 2018. Amazon Prime posted revenues of $14.2 billion in 2018.

Amazon’s physical-store sales consisting mostly of stories owned by its subsidiary, Whole Foods Market Inc., saw revenue slip 1 percent year-on-year to $4.36 billion. Amazon’s “other” category, which is mostly its advertising business, generated $4.8 billion in revenue during Q4, a 41 percent increase year-on-year.

Amazon is spending heavily to speed-up deliveries (especially same day deliveries). It's been boosting one-day and same-day delivery services over the past several months.