Jeff Bezos might have stepped down as CEO of Amazon, but his fortune is still directly tied to the company.
Bezos’s net worth fell $13.5 billion after the retailer posted earnings Thursday afternoon that fell short of analyst expectations. That drop, which represents 58% of NASA’s budget for fiscal 2021, erases most of the gains Bezos has seen this year.
Amazon shares are down 7% in early trading Friday. That takes his net worth, as ranked on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, from $207 billion to $193.6 billion. Even with the dip, however, he remains the world’s richest person, ahead of Elon Musk.
On Thursday, Amazon posted revenues of more than $100 billion for the third consecutive quarter. It fell short, though, of analysts’ top-line projections and offered a weak third-quarter guidance, which has caused the stock dip.
Bezos’ interest these days, seems more focused on spaceflight than commerce. Following his historic flight to the edge of space earlier this month, he has shifted his attentions to growing that company. While it was already sold over $100 million worth of tickets to future passengers, Blue Origin is now offering to cover up to $2 billion in costs to build a lander that would take astronauts to the moon in exchange for a contract to build the device.
Bezos has held the title of “world’s richest man” for months after trading the top spot with Musk at the start of the year. (He still holds an $8 billion lead over the Tesla founder.) Despite stepping down as CEO of Amazon, Bezos still owns about 11% of the company and serves as the firm’s executive chairman.
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