Strong earnings
from Amazon and a boost to the company's stock have made its founder,
Jeff Bezos, the world's third richest person, according to Forbes. fortune to be $65.3bn (£49.5bn).
Amazon's revenue beat analysts' expectations, climbing 31% from last year to $30.4bn in the second quarter.
Profit for the e-commerce giant was $857m, compared with $92m in 2015.
According to Forbes estimates, Mr Bezos's fortune is only surpassed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, worth $78bn (£59bn), and the $73.1bn (£55bn) fortune of Zara founder Amancio Ortega.
Amazon had developed a reputation
for announcing little or no profit each quarter, but appeared to hit a turning
point last year and has seen improving earnings since.
Amazon shares have spiked 50% since February
Jeff
Bezos
•Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in
1964
•Studied at Princeton University and
worked on Wall Street
•Launched Amazon as online book
retailer in Seattle in 1994
•Company expanded dramatically but
struggled to make a profit
•A lifelong Star Trek fan, he
launched Blue Origin spaceflight and aerospace firm in 2000
•Bought The Washington Post
newspaper in 2013
•Reputation as a driven boss,
intensely focused on customers
Amazon's Prime membership, which
offers extra services including free shipping for an annual fee, saw impressive
international growth.
Prime Day, Amazon's annual
promotional shopping festival earlier this month, was the company's largest
ever sales day.
Sales
growth
Amazon does not release figures for
its Prime membership, but Consumer Intelligence Research Partners estimated US
membership to be close to 63 million. Members spend an average of $1,200 a
year, compared with $500 by non-members, according to the research firm.
Amazon's cloud computing unit also
spiked. Revenue for Amazon Web Services (AWS), climbed 58.2% to $2.89bn,
beating analysts' exceptions of $2.83bn.
Sales growth for the unit in North
America climbed 10% and 8% in the rest of the world.
Amazon has grown its market share in
cloud computing compared with rivals such as Microsoft and Google.
It introduced a new Asia Pacific
region for its cloud unit this quarter.
Amazon has also been looking to
expand its presence in other areas. The company has now launched its online
grocery store in the UK.
Earlier this month, it announced a
partnership with US bank Wells Fargo to offer discounts on student loans for
members of its Prime Student services.
In June, Amazon launched Prime in
India to take advantage of the country's large consumer market.
"It's been a busy few months
for Amazon around the world, and particularly in India - where we launched a
new [Amazon Web Services] Region, introduced Prime with unlimited free
shipping, and announced that Prime Video is coming soon, offering Prime members
in India exclusive access to Amazon Original Series and Movies - including
original content featuring top Indian creators and talent," said Mr Bezos.
Amazon has boosted Prime membership
by improving its video streaming offerings, an area in which it competes with
Netflix.
Source; BBC news