TheCable

Some global billionaires are seeing their wealth explode dramatically, and Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote is not left behind.

On Thursday, Jeff Bezos, CEO of the world’s largest online retailer, Amazon, saw $3.3 billion added to his wealth, following his company’s impressive performance.

Dangote, Africa’s richest man and president of the Dangote Group, also saw his fortune rise by $500 million (N152.5 billion) as one of his companies, Dangote Cement also recorded impressive growth in the first quarter of 2017.

According to Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Bezos is less than $5 billion away from becoming the world’s richest person in a bid to overtake Bill Gates. Bezos saw his fortune surpass $80 billion for the first time on Thursday.

As of Wednesday, Dangote was worth $9.91 billion, but climbed to $9.96 billion by the end of trading at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday.

The stock market gods also smiled on Bezos as Amazon shares added almost $50 after the company projected sales that may beat estimates in the current quarter.

This added to Amazon’s unbroken 20-year streak of double-digit revenue growth.

Amazon had first-quarter sales of $35.7 billion and earnings of $1.48 a share, beating Wall Street analyst expectations.

Bloomberg said Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin added $1.4 billion when shares of Google parent Alphabet Inc. rose as high as $938.18 on news that the smartphone ad business helped Alphabet post revenue of $20.12 billion and net income of $7.73 a share.

Gates added nearly $100 million with the same time frame, as Bezos ousted Warren Buffet, the legendary investor, to the third position on the world rich list.