NEW YORK: A surge in Amazon.com Inc shares Thursday morning in advance of the online retailer’s earnings report has propelled founder Jeff Bezos past Bill Gates as the world’s richest person.Shares of the online retailer rose 1.8% to US$1,071.31 as of 9:30am in New York. If the gains hold through the close, Bezos, 53, could leapfrog Gates on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The 61-year-old Microsoft Corp co-founder has held the top spot since May 2013.Investors and analysts, in addition to watching Amazon’s progress in taking market share in categories such as apparel and groceries, will be scrutinising how many new subscriptions the retailer sold for its US$99-a-year Amazon Prime service, which offers delivery discounts and video and music streaming. 4, at US$74.5bil (RM318.7bil). - Bloomberg

Source: The Star July 27, 2017 14:18 UTC