Jeff Bezos: Amazon founder overtakes Bill Gates to become world’s richest individual - for less than a day

Mr Bezos, who founded the company in 1994, owns around 17 per cent of Amazon’s shares. They’ve gained around 40 per cent of value so far in 2017

Mr Bezos, who is also chairman and chief executive of the Seattle-based company, was worth almost $91bn after Amazon’s share price rose more than 1 per cent in morning trading in New York (Getty)

A rally in e-retail behemoth Amazon’s share price on Thursday propelled founder Jeff Bezos to the top of a list of the world’s richest individuals—for less than a day.

Mr Bezos, who is also chairman and chief executive of the Seattle-based company, was worth almost $91bn (£70bn) after Amazon’s share price rose more than 1 per cent in morning trading in New York.

That put his fortune ahead of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates'. The latter has a net worth of around $90.7bn and has been at the top of Bloomberg’s rich list since 2013.

But Mr Bezos slipped back into second place later in the day.

Amazon is due to report quarterly earnings later on Thursday.

Amazon’s share price has endured a meteoric rise in recent years, surpassing the $1,000 apiece mark, partially helped by its Prime shopping club, media streaming services and the launch of products like the Alexa home assistant.

Back in April, the company reported that net sales rose 23 per cent to $35.7bn for the first quarter of 2017.

On Thursday, analysts and investors will particularly be monitoring the performance of the company’s cloud-computing division, Amazon Web Services, which accounts for about 10 per cent of revenue, as well as how Prime has progressed.

Mr Bezos, who founded the company in 1994, owns around 17 per cent of Amazon’s shares. They’ve gained around 40 per cent in value so far in 2017 helping Mr Bezos’s net worth increase by over $24bn.