Dangote, Adenuga gain as Bezos overtakes Bill Gates as world’s richest person

The President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote saw his net worth increase by $162m to $16.2bn on Thursday, as the Founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, briefly overtook Microsoft’s Bill Gates to become the world’s richest person.

According to a real-time billionaires’ index compiled by Forbes, the net worth of the Chairman of Globacom, Dr. Mike Adenuga, also rose by $7m to $6.2bn.

The net worth of the Founder and Executive Chairman, Famfa Oil Limited, Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija, was unchanged at $1.6bn.

Bezos leapfrogged Gates, who has been the richest man on the planet since 2013, after a rise in the share price of Amazon ahead of its latest results due later on Thursday.

According to the Forbes’ index, the rise pushed the value of Bezos’s fortune to $91bn, compared with Gates’ wealth of $90bn.

But as Amazon shares fell back, Gates regained the top spot.