Bill Gates regains richest tag, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos is number 2

San Francisco: Amazon chief Jeff Bezos’ short reign as the richest person in the world came to an end within hours as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates piped Bezos to regain his tag by the end of the trading day. Meanwhile Amazon, in its statement, reported that its profit shrank in the recently ended quarter despite surging sales as it poured money into growth, said that net sales increased 25 per cent to $38 billion when compared to the same period last year, but that profit plunged 77 per cent from a year ago to $197 million.
Investments, depreciation of equipment, share buys and other expenses ate into revenue in a familiar pattern of Amazon putting long-term growth ahead of short-term profit.

“Our teams remain heads-down and focused on customers,” Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos said in a release. “It's energizing to invent on behalf of customers, and we continue to see many high-quality opportunities to invest.”Amazon has been expanding from its original mission as an online retailer to a diversified tech firm in cloud computing, online video, computer hardware and artificial intelligence. The company also recently announced plans to acquire Whole Foods, which could help Amazon expand in that sector.