9 Mind-Blowing Facts That Show Just How Wealthy Jeff Bezos, the World's Richest Man, Really Is The Amazon CEO is worth an estimated $121 billion.
By Katie Warren
This story originally appeared on Business Insider
Jeff Bezos is the richest person on the planet. Worth an estimated $121 billion, the Amazon CEO is $16 billion richer than the world's next-richest person, Bill Gates.
Bezos even retained his ranking as the world's richest person following his divorce from MacKenzie Bezos, after which she kept a 4% stake in Amazon worth roughly $35.7 billion, making her the third-richest woman in the world.
Although his annual salary is only $81,840, most of Bezos' wealth comes from his Amazon shares. The world's richest man makes $2,489 per second -- more than twice what the median U.S. worker makes in one week, according to calculations by Business Insider.
Here are nine mind-blowing facts that show just how wealthy Bezos really is.
Phillip Faraone / Stringer / Getty Images1. Bezos is worth $121 billion despite being paid an annual salary of just $81,840, less than what most U.S. representatives take home.
Of course, a large portion of Bezos' wealth is tied to Amazon stock, not his salary.
Business Insider previously calculated how much Bezos actually makes in a year, based on the change in his net worth year-over-year, and found it to be closer to $8.9 million.
What's even more impressive is if you break that down to how much Bezos makes every day, every hour, and even every second.
Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images2. Bezos makes $2,489 per second -- more than twice what the median U.S. worker makes in one week.
That's $149,353 per minute.
As Business Insider's Hillary Hoffower previously reported, that means that in just one minute, the Amazon chief makes more than three times what the median US worker makes in a year -- $45,552. These numbers were calculated shortly before the Bezos divorce.
AP Images3. After divorcing MacKenzie and giving up 25% of the Amazon stock co-owned by the couple, Bezos still kept his ranking as the richest person in the world.
MacKenzie, on the other hand, is now the third-richest woman in the world after L'Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and Walmart heiress Alice Walton.
MacKenzie, who was one of Amazon's first employees, is now worth an estimated $38.9 billion.
Getty/Michael Kovac4. With his $121 billion, Bezos could theoretically buy more than 30% of the top 100 U.S. college endowments.
The top three richest colleges in the U.S. -- based on the size of their endowments -- are Harvard University with $38.3 billion, the University of Texas system with $30.89 billion, and Yale University with $29.35 billion.
Bezos' fortune is greater than those three universities' endowments combined -- with more than $22 billion to spare.
Getty/Drew Angerer5. Bezos is so rich that an average American spending $1 is similar to Bezos spending $1.2 million.
The median net worth of an average U.S. household is $97,300. Dividing $121 billion by $97,300 comes to about $1.2 million, according to previous calculations by Business Insider.
Chris Jackson/Getty6. The Amazon CEO is nearly 38% richer than the British monarchy.
The British royal family is worth an estimated $88 billion, according to Forbes.
Nichole Sobecki for The Washington Post via Getty Images7. Bezos is worth about the equivalent of the entire GDP of Angola.
About half of Angola's $121 billion GDP comes from oil production,which accounts for more than 90% of the country's exports.
Maja Hitij/Bongarts/Getty Images8. Bezos' net worth is greater than the GDP of Iceland, Afghanistan, and Costa Rica -- combined.
Iceland's GDP is about $31.6 billion, Afghanistan's is $22.9 billion, and Costa Rica's is $64.8 billion.
Alex Wong/Getty Images9. According to the Social Security Administration, the average American man with a bachelor's degree will earn approximately $2.19 million in his lifetime. Bezos makes that in just under 15 minutes.
According to the SSA, the average American woman with a bachelor's degree will earn $1.32 million in her lifetime.
Bezos, who has a bachelor's degree from Princeton University, makes about$149,353 every minute, according to calculations by Business Insider.
