Summary:
- Amazon stock rises to all-time high
- Tech company set to release latest earnings results after the closing bell
- Rise in the stock price means founder Bezos now richest man in the world
Earnings season is now in full swing in the US and tonight will see if Amazon can follow in the footsteps of tech giants Alphabet (parent company of Google) and Facebook in delivering impressive results. Ahead of this event investors are in a bullish mood with Amazon stock rising just under 2% on the open to trade at its highest ever level. The share price is now sitting on gains in excess of 40% year to date, as the meteoric rise seen in recent years has shown little by the way ending anytime soon.
Amazon has enjoyed an incredible rise from under 300 to above 1000 in the past three year
Amazon is expected to post quarterly revenue of $37.2 billion, a 22% rise from last year. These expectations are taken from an average of analysts asked by Bloomberg and earnings per share is forecast to be $1.42.
An interesting side story to the strong rally in Amazon is the increase in personal wealth that it has meant for founder Jeff Bezos. Seattle-based Amazon is 17% owned by Bezos and just this year that has accounted for a rise of $24.5B in his personal wealth. Today’s record high means that Bezos has in fact usurped Microsoft founder BIll Gates as the world’s richest person.
Amazon founder Bezos has now overtaken Bill Gates as the richest person in the world after Amazon shares reached a record high