Amazon's Jeff Bezos gains $102B in one month, becomes world's second-richest person

His net worth reached $370 billion as of Oct. 1, according to Forbes, marking his highest position on the publication's wealth ranking since May 2025. As of Oct. 11, his fortune had climbed further to an estimated $380.8 billion.

The surge was driven largely by rising valuations of his privately held space company Blue Origin and artificial intelligence startup Prometheus, rather than gains in Amazon shares.

Blue Origin, which Bezos founded in 2000, was valued at approximately $140 billion following its first funding round involving outside investors, Bloomberg reported.

The new valuation alone added an estimated $87 billion to his fortune, placing him behind only Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk, whose wealth stood at approximately $1.02 trillion.

Amazon and Blue Origin founder, Jeff Bezos. Photo courtesy of Blue Origin

Investment firm Coatue Management contributed approximately $4 billion to Blue Origin's funding round, according to PitchBook data. Bezos invested another $2 billion, bringing his total investment in the company since its founding to approximately $30 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. He retained a 93% stake following the funding round.

Blue Origin competes with Musk's SpaceX in rocket launches, space transportation and lunar exploration. SpaceX, which went public in June, had a market capitalization of approximately $2.23 trillion.

Another contributor to Bezos' growing wealth is Prometheus, an AI startup he co-founded with Vik Bajaj, a former chief scientific officer at Google's life sciences company Verily.

The startup raised $12 billion in June at a valuation of $41 billion, according to Axios. Forbes estimates that Bezos owns approximately 20% of Prometheus, valuing his stake at $8.2 billion.

The company is developing AI technology to help engineers design and manufacture physical products faster, potentially shortening development processes that currently take years. It also marks Bezos' return to active company leadership after stepping down as Amazon's chief executive in 2021. He remains the e-commerce giant's executive chairman.

Amazon, which he founded in 1994, remains a major source of his wealth. Bezos owns approximately 8% of the company and has sold more than $49 billion worth of its shares since its 1997 stock market debut.

However, his stakes in privately held companies have become the fastest-growing part of his fortune, outpacing his Amazon holdings. Blue Origin and Prometheus together now account for more than a third of his estimated net worth, according to financial news site TheStreet.