Jeff Bezos is just 5 Billion USD away from becoming The World's Richest person

Bezos saw his fortune surpass 80 billion USD for the first time, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The 53-year old has added 65.2 billion USD to his net worth since the index debuted in March 2012 and ended Thursday with a net worth of 79 billion USD. His net worth will surpass 80 billion USD on the index for the first time if the gains hold Friday.

Amazon shares added almost 50 USD after the company projected sales that may beat estimates in the current quarter, furthering an unbroken 20-year streak of double-digit revenue growth. Amazon had first-quarter sales of 35.7 USD billion and earnings of 1.48 USD a share, beating Wall Street analyst expectations. Shares closed at 918.38 USD Thursday and reached as high as 965 USD after hours.

The rise for Bezos beat the after-hours gains seen by Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The pair added 1.4 billion USD when shares of Google parent Alphabet Inc. rose as high as 938.18 USD on news that the smartphone ad business helped Alphabet post revenue of 20.12 billion USD and net income of 7.73 USD a share.

Page is now worth 44.7 billion USD and Brin 43.7 billion USD, the 11th- and 12th-richest people in the world Thursday.

Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates has been No. 1 on the Bloomberg index since May 17, 2013. His fortune slipped 200 million USD to 87.1 billion USD after hours as Microsoft presented mixed results and slowing tablet sales growth.