Prime Power

Quick: Name the richest person in the world. If you answered “Bill Gates” …  <annoying buzzer sounds> …. nope, sorry.  At #2, like Avis, he may try harder, but he’s not on top.  Likewise if you answered “Warren Buffett,” “Michael Bloomberg,” or any of the Walmart heirs (last name = Walton), yer outta luck.  As for Elon Musk? Leslie Wexner? POTUS #45?  Not even on the list!  The correct answer is “Jeff Bezos.” If you’d like a small window into WHY that is so, read on.  For those who care, the full list of the top 25 appears at the bottom of this post.

A year ago, a story from the NY Times’ Technology section like this one titled “Prime Power: How Amazon Squeezes the Businesses Behind Its Store” would not even have registered on my radar. What changed for me in the last year to make such a story relevant? Well, last Sunday I ordered two books online as gifts. And I signed up for a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime so I could get 2-day delivery before Christmas. Also, I now work in the “physical supply chain” end of a business (which shall remain nameless, but you can read all about it here) that has Amazon as one of its largest customers. And every day, as a well-compensated IT peon, I hear (over my shoulder) the business folks I serve muttering about Amazon. So, I know a smidgen whereof I speak.

 

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Here is the promised list. Note #24, Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife, who got 4% of his net worth in the divorce settlement. Not half bad for half a day’s work, eh?  <Yeah, I KNOW I’m gonna hear about that one!>

 

1. Jeff Bezos
2. Bill Gates
3. Bernard Arnault
4. Warren Buffett
5. Amancio Ortega
6. Larry Ellison
7. Mark Zuckerberg
8. Carlos Slim Helu
9. Larry Page
10. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers
11. Sergey Brin
12. Jim Walton
13. Alice Walton
14. S. Robson Walton
15. Mukesh Ambani
16. Steve Ballmer
17. Michael Bloomberg
18. Charles Koch
19. David Thomson
20. Ma Huateng
21. Jack Ma
22. Phil Knight
23. Sheldon Adelson
24. MacKenzie Bezos
25. Michael Dell