Move over Bill Gates: Amazon boss becomes richest person in the world

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos has unseated fellow tech billionaire Bill Gates as the richest person in the world, profiting from the e-commerce company's meteoric stock rise to reach a fortune of $113.7 billion ($US90.6 billion).

Amazon shares jumped 1.6 per cent at the start of trading on Thursday, boosting the net worth of Bezos – the company's founder and largest shareholder – by $US1.4 billion, according to Forbes, which tracks the world's wealthiest people.

Bezos, a relative newcomer to the top of the Forbes' list, has benefited from the seemingly boundless expansion of Amazon into new markets.

Amazon.com Inc chief executive Jeff Bezos has unseated fellow tech billionaire Bill Gates as the richest person in the world. Source: Amazon

The once-bookseller plans to acquire up-market US supermarket Whole Foods, at the same time it is making strides in the fashion business, Hollywood, enterprise computing and general retail from India to Mexico.
Amazon's arrival set to shake up Australia's retail industry

Amazon, the world’s biggest online retailer, has also turned its eyes to Australia with plans announced last year it would open up a store the size of five MCGs somewhere in Australia.

The Amazon store is set to sell everything from books and movies to clothes and groceries at a 30 per cent discount in a move expected to shake up the local market.

“Retailers have started to evolve very strongly in the online area and I think you will see more of that occur,” Australian Retailers Association executive Russell Zimmerman said in November last year.

“I think (Amazon’s arrival) will certainly give retailing a little bit of strong competition and that’s certainly something that many retailers are aware of.”

In April the company said in a statement it was "excited to bring thousands of new jobs to Australia, millions of dollars in additional investment, and to empower small Australian businesses through Amazon Marketplace".

"Amazon Web Services launched an Australian region in 2012, we launched a Kindle store on amazon.com.au in 2013 and we now have almost 1000 employees in the country," Amazon said.

Whether Amazon would be located in Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney has yet yo be revealed.

Analysts expect the online bohemeth online retailer will report that its sales jumped 22 per cent to $US37.2 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

Reuters could not independently verify the wealth of Bezos or Microsoft Corp's co-founder Gates.

A philanthropist, Gates has given $US31.1 billion to charitable causes through 2016 and has a net worth of $US90.1 billion, Forbes said.