Jeff Bezos is once again the world's richest person after reclaiming the title from SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
Tesla business magnate Musk overtook Amazon chief Bezos on January 7 this year as his wealth rose to an astonishing £136 billion.
Bezos had previously held on to the title for three years but has now reclaimed his number one position with a net worth of $191.2 billion (about £137.98 billion), Bloomberg reports.
It comes after Tesla Inc. shares slid 2.4% on Tuesday, wiping $4.6 billion (£3.32 billion) from its chief executive officer’s fortune.
The bad news for Musk will have been softened by the fact his SpaceX business reportedly completed an $850 million (£613 million) fundraising round last week.
CNBC reports the fundraising round means the company will now have a valuation of around $74 billion (£53.4 billion).
Musk owned 48% of SpaceX prior to this latest funding round, Forbes reports, which means that if he held on to the same stake in the company it will be worth $32 billion (£23.09 billion) – up from roughly $20 billion (£14.43 billion) previously.
According to the report, Musk was worth $173.4 billion (£125.14 billion) as of market close on Tuesday, February 16.
Musk has seen his wealth increase hugely since the start of 2020 – when he was worth around $27 billion (around £20 billion).
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At this point, he was only just within the top 50 wealthiest people in the world.
Tesla's share price during this period has increased exponentially adding more than $150 billion (around £110 billion) to his net worth.
About three-quarters of his net worth is comprised of Tesla shares.
It comes following the news that Jeff Bezos will step down as the CEO of Amazon.
He founded the firm more than 25 years ago, but Amazon Web Services chief Andy Jassy will be taking over the role.
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Bezos, who has been CEO of Amazon since he founded it as an online bookseller in 1995, will become executive chairman during the summer.
Bezos said the role of executive chairman will allow him to "focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives".
He said it will also give him the "time and energy I need to focus on" other initiatives.
In an email to Amazon’s 1.3million employees, he said: "I’ve never had more energy, and this isn’t about retiring. I’m super passionate about the impact I think these organisations can have.
"Amazon couldn’t be better positioned for the future. We are firing on all cylinders, just as the world needs us to.
"We have things in the pipeline that will continue to astonish."
He added the firm is “widely recognised as one of the most successful companies in the world”.
He wrote: “How did that happen? Invention. Invention is the root of our success.
“We’ve done crazy things together, and then made them normal. "
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