With $150-bln net worth, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos becomes the richest man in the world

This year, Amazon’s (AMZN) Prime Day event seems to have brought mixed fortunes for CEO Jeff Bezos. The three-day sale, which attracts thousands of customers to the company’s website every year, lost its sheen after a section of workers in Europe called for a strike last week and urged customers not to visit the company’s e-commerce website.

On the other hand, the season turned out to be one of great significance for Bezos, who was on Monday declared the wealthiest man in the world. Yes, the 54-year old entrepreneur is currently worth more than $150 billion and that makes him the richest man in modern history, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. It is the first time an individual’s net worth growing to such staggering levels since the first wealth ranking was published more than 35 years ago.

Interestingly, nearly one-third of Bezos’ total wealth was acquired this year, and last month Forbes had declared him the richest man. Meanwhile, the continued growth of Amazon’s market value has made it the second-largest company on earth, next to Apple (AAPL).

Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft (MSFT) is currently lagging behind Bezos by about $55 billion. While Gates settles for the second position, Warren Buffett is in the third position with a net worth of $83 billion.

The continued growth of Amazon’s market value has made it the second-largest company on earth, next to Apple

Amazon employees in Europe have launched a massive strike in protest against what they call poor working conditions at the company’s warehouses. The workers kept away from work Monday when the Prime Day sale was kick-started. They also took this issue to social networking sites like Twitter (TWTR) and appealed to customers to boycott Amazon products until the company takes steps to make its facilities safe places to work.

If the workers have their way, it will be bad news for Amazon because the Prime Day contributes hugely to the company’s annual revenues. Amazon’s stock climbed more than 50% since the beginning of the year and continues in the upward trajectory to brighten Bezos’ fortune further. It gained 1.5% during the regular trading session Monday, moving closer to the $1,840-mark.