Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos $7 billion richer; company now worth more than Walmart

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After yesterday’s announcement from Amazon that second quarter net sales increased 20 percent to $23.18 billion, compared with $19.34 billion in second quarter 2014, company shares rocketed in 18% in after hours trading on Thursday, making it the most valuable retail company in the world.

Incredibly, many international media outlets are reporting this meant Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, became a staggering $7 billion richer in a mere 45 minutes last night.

He said: “The teams at Amazon have been working hard for customers. We unveiled Amazon Business, opened Amazon Mexico, launched Prime free same-day, rolled out our ninth Prime Now city, broke our Black Friday record with the first-ever Prime Day, received 11 Emmy nominations for Transparent, debuted six new kids pilots, brought Echo to general availability, introduced the Alexa Skills Kit and Alexa Voice Service, opened FBA Small and Light, continued to double down on our fastest growing geography — India, launched 350 significant AWS features and services so far this year (ahead of last year’s pace), introduced AWS Educate, and entered into agreements for new solar and wind farms — enough to exceed our 2016 goal of 40 percent renewable energy.”

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More than 2 Billion Items Sold Through Amazon in 2014

The company was valued as high as $267 billion, around $30 billion more than what was the world’s largest retailer, Walmart. The Amazon Web Services has offered a strong contribution to its $92 million net income, a surprisingly outcome considering many were predicting a loss.

Operating cash flow increased 69% to $8.98 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $5.33 billion for the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2014. Free cash flow increased to $4.37 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $1.04 billion for the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2014.

Amazon.com opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 after Jeff Bezos began an online bookstore out of his Seattle garage in 1994. The company is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire phone, Fire tablets, Fire TV, and Amazon Echo are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon.

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