Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has seen his wealth increase by £10 billion ($13bn) in just a single day - and it's all down to coronavirus.
Already by far the world's richest person, the 56-year-old entrepreneur saw his personal wealth jump to an unprecedented £148.5 billion ($189bn) on Monday alone.
The huge swell is down to the Seattle-based tech company's soaraway share price thanks to hundreds of millions of people desperate to be entertained during lockdown, reports the Guardian.
Amazon's shares have increased by 70 percent since the start of 2020, with the share price skyrocketing by eight percent to a record $3,197.
Bezos started the multinational firm selling books from his garage in 1994 and still owns 11 percent of the shares, as well as Blue Origin and the Washington Post, with his personal wealth having grown by $74 billion since January.
Monday's increase is the biggest single-day rise in anyone’s net worth since Bloomberg began tracking daily changes in 2012.
But it's been met with a mixed response.
Global charity Oxfam has labelled the level of Bezos' moneymaking "truly shocking", with the pandemic having left many people in need of support.
Though portfolio manager at investment fund RWC Partners Equity Income said the company's runaway share price should make it "a candidate for the eight wonder of the world".
Bezos has donated $100m to a food bank charity to help struggling Americans, while Amazon itself is also pumping $25m into an Amazon Relief Fund to help its delivery drivers and seasonal workers.
Last Wednesday Bezos' Twitter page was among those targeted by hackers who stole almost £100,000 worth of cryptocurrency.
Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Kim Kardashian and the world's second richest person Bill Gates were among the victims of the four-hour attack on Wednesday.
Hackers infiltrated Twitter's internal systems and posted fake tweets from the famous accounts asking people to send Bitcoin.
