Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the richest man of modern history - Bloomberg Billionaires Index

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the wealthiest man in modern day history with a fortune of $150bn. 

As indicated by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Mr Bezos' fortune is $55bn ahead of the second most extravagant man, Microsoft's Bill Gates. Gates hit the $100bn mark in 1999 at the height of the dot-com boom, which would be worth $149bn in today's money. It means Mr Bezos is richer than anyone else on earth since at least 1982, when Forbes first published a wealth ranking.

Soaring technology stocks have fuelled huge growth in the worth of entrepreneurs such as Mr Bezos and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who at 34 is number four on the Bloomberg list after investor Warren Buffett.

Mr Bezos, 54, founded Amazon in 1994 when it began as an online bookshop before it expanded into selling a massive variety of products. He smashed the wealth record as Amazon was preparing to start its 36-hour summer sales bonanza, Prime Day.

History :

20 years ago : $ 1.6 bn

10 years ago : $ 8.2 bn

5 years ago   : $ 28.9 bn

2 years ago   : $45.2 bn

1 year ago     : $72.8 bn

Now               : $150 bn

Top ten wealthiest people:

1. Jeff Bezos (Amazon founder, $151bn 

2. Bill Gates (Microsoft) $95bn 

3. Warren Buffet (business magnate) $83bn 

4. Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) $82bn 

5. Amancio Ortega (Founder of Inditex fashion group) $74.8bn 

6. Bernard Arnault (LVMH luxury goods company) $74.7bn 

7. Carlos Slim (business magnate) $63.1bn 

8. Larry Page (co-founder of Google) $57bn 

9. Sergey Brin (co-founder of Google) $56bn

10. Larry Ellison (co-founder of Oracle Corporate) $54.8bn