Has Amazon’s Jeff Bezos become a trillionaire during the coronavirus pandemic?

Consumer demand during Covid-19 lockdown puts America’s richest retail boss on course for trillionaire status

As Jeff Bezos’ wealth accumulation accelerates amid the coronavirus pandemic, commentators have taken notice of one study that says the Amazon CEO could soon become the world’s first trillionaire.

Mr Bezos’s name trended on Twitter on Thursday thanks to the suggestion he could become a trillionaire before 2026.

Before the pandemic began, website Comparisun estimated the Amazon boss could become a trillionaire within six years. Now, that could happen much sooner.

The billionaire Amazon boss, who is already the world’s wealthiest person, has profited from the pandemic as shoppers demand more delivered products to their homes.

Amazon reported $75.5 billion (£62b) in revenue for the first quarter of 2020. At the same time, around $18 billion (£15b) has been added to Mr Bezos’ net worth in the past three weeks alone.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates that the Amazon CEO’s net worth now stands at $143 billion (£117b).

But as American unemployment claims near 30 million during the Covid-19 crisis, the comparison between Mr Bezos’ circumstances and ordinary workers has become more acute.

Meanwhile, Amazon’s own workers have reported concerns over coronavirus dangers at the company’s distribution centres.

Democrat congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman said on Twitter on Thursday that Mr Bezos’ wealth represented “atrocious greed”.

“Jeff Bezos is expected to become the 1st trillionaire as he consolidates the retail market during coronavirus,” wrote Ms Coleman. “Now Amazon is telling its workers (who have faced significant risk) that it’ll be ending their hazard pay at the end of MAY!”

Amazon said on Wednesday that it would end both wage increases and double overtime pay for workers at the end of this month, after introducing the benefits in March.

An Amazon spokesperson told CNBC: “We are grateful to associates supporting customers during a time of increased demand, and are returning to our regular pay and overtime wages at the end of the month”.

It is not clear how many Amazon employees have contracted coronavirus or died from the Covid-19 disease, although a small number of cases are known.