By Mona Chalabi
The number of billionaires is out of control. This special issue of the magazine examines what that means for the rest of us.
Data around billionaires’ true wealth is about as murky as swamp water. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try to wade through it! To visualize the enormous sums held by the ultrarich, I scoured the internet for any reliable figures around Jeff Bezos’ fortune — and came up against mostly question marks and educated guesses. Bezos’ net worth is so tied up in Amazon stocks that it can swing in a single minute by millions of dollars. But here are our best calculations of his wealth from financial publications’ reporting and the scant paperwork available. Let’s dive in!
1. DEEP DIVE
Hard cash is only a tiny fraction of Bezos’ enormous wealth.
Cash: $15.6 billionPrivate assets (e.g., Blue Origin): $9.15 billionPublicly traded assets (e.g., Amazon stock): $147.25 billion
2. LET THEM EAT CAKE
Jeff Bezos has given away only 1.2 percent of his wealth so far. That’s $2.1 billion. What could we accomplish if he gave away more of his cake?
0.7%Giving every Amazon employee $1,000.0.8%Emergency repairs to all U.S. roads and bridges.1.9%Pre-K for every U.S. child for a year.8.7%A year’s supply of insulin for U.S. diabetics.10.4%Free public transportation for every New Yorker for a year.11.4%Feeding 13.8 million food-insecure American households for a month.
3. CLOCKING IN
Bezos has enough money for several lifetimes. But how many lifetimes would it take the average Joe to accumulate?
The average full-time Amazon employee made $37,930 in 2020. In order to accumulate as much money as Bezos ($172 billion) …
… an employee would have had to start working in the Pliocene Epoch (4.5 million years ago, when hominids had just started standing on two feet!).
4. PUT IT IN PERSPECTIVE
The median U.S. household net worth is $118,200. Bezos has $172,000,000,000. So … how does that compare?MEDIAN WEALTHBEZOS’ WEALTH
The weight of a single peanut
A truckload of peanut butter* (*1,925 lbs. — nearly one ton!)The size of a white blood cellThe length of a finback whale
Fingernail dust* (*0.000117 cm.)A man who is 5-foot-7The height of a piece of TobleroneMount Everest (if you climb it five times)A single adult stride
A flight from New York to Louisville, Ky.The volume of a quiet libraryThe roar of a jet taking off
A flake in a snow globeThe Statue of LibertyA daisy petalEvery blade of grass on a small front lawnA microscopic dot of Champagne (14 bubbles)
A flute of Champagne (20 million bubbles)The diameter of an Oreo cookieMore than two times the width of the Grand Canyon
5. BEZOS’ WORLD
Bezos owns an estimated 420,000 acres of land. Here’s what he could fit into his metaphorical backyard.BEZOS’ LAND(420,000 acres)
Central Park(843 acres)
The Pentagon(1,100 acres)
Walt Disney World Resort(25,000 acres)
Land in the U.S. used to grow oranges(342,900 acres)
6. THE SWING OF THINGS
On any given day, the net worth of Jeff Bezos can wobble up or down. Often, the changes are enormous.
For example, on March 15, his estimated wealth was $166 billion in the morning when markets opened. By the end of the day, it was $172 billion.
7. TAKING THE TEMPERATURE
If wealth equaled heat, how hot would Jeff Bezos be?
Jeff Bezos$172,000,000,000The core of the sun27,000,000°F
Dolly Parton$350,000,000The heat of lightning50,000°F
Mitch McConnell$10,000,000A pizza oven900°F
Median U.S. household wealth$118,200Sweater weather52°FKeep scrolling.If this were to scale, it would take much, much longer — think whole minutes of scrolling — to make it down here. …
8. MORE IS MORE
A timeline of Bezos getting richer and richer and richer and richer and richer and richer and richer…
AUGUST 2013Bezos buys The Washington Post.2013JULY 2014Amazon introduces its first smartphone.2014JULY 2015First-ever Amazon Prime Day, to celebrate 20 years of Amazon.2015JUNE 2017Amazon acquires Whole Foods.2017MARCH 2020Pandemic.2020$200B$200B$150B$150B$100B$100B
9. IN THE TIMES IT TAKES
Bezos adds $500* to his wealth every single second. Here’s how valuable his time is.
*calculated from Bezos’ 2012-22 wealth gain
In the time it takes to make a bagel from scratch, 4.5 hours
he could buy every person in Brooklyn and Queens a bagel.
In the time it takes for a human to gestate, 40 weeks
he could reimburse everyone in the United States who got I.V.F. in the past two and a half years.
In the time it took for me to draw the illustrations you see in front of you, 95 hours
Bezos could buy a $169 million apartment on the 96th floor of 432 Park Avenue.
SOURCES: Bloomberg Billionaires Index, The Land Report, Amazon filings, Forbes’s America’s Top Givers 2022, Bezos’ net worth at end of business day on March 15, 2022.
Mona Chalabi is a writer and an illustrator in London. She specializes in all things data.
Additional design and development by Jacky Myint.READ 167 COMMENTS