So this may deter from IT service and technology talk. If it does, then please forgive me. But there are 7.71 billion people in the world today. Of those, around 2,800 are billionaires. Then of those, only 145 are worth over $10 billion. Guess how many of those 145 are worth over $100 billion: Only two. These are the two centi-billionaires. Here is the common denominator.
So the common denominator is IT support. The two centi-billionaires are Amazon king Jeff Bezos and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. This is according to a recent Bloomberg report. Jeff Bezos became the first centi-billionaire of all time back in 2017. And in 2018 alone, he made another $9.6 billion (Neither he nor Amazon paid a dime of it in taxes…grrrr!). But now, Bloomberg estimates his overall wealth to be at $146 billion.? Gates is the second man to make the $100 billion mark. In 2018, he made $9.5 billion, despite him retiring from his own company back in 2014. But this was enough to make him the second centi-billionaire of all-time. Bill Gates’ net worth now stands past that mark.
What is the common denominator? Well, they’re both innovators in the computer technology world. In the 1970s, Gates founded Microsoft, and developed software that changed the world. In the 1990s, Bezos sold things through his new website Amazon from his Seattle basement. He changed the way we do retail and commerce forever. Maybe not for the best, if you ask most retail store leaders, but it did change. This goes to show you what an impact computer technology and e-commerce has had on the world. But these two men may not be centi-billionaires for long. Because Gates pledged to give away more of his wealth to worthy causes. This is admirable. Then you have Jeff Bezos, you know, the one going through a divorce. Will he be a centi-billionaire after his soon to be ex-wife gets through with him?