Jeff Bezos Could Lose $23B Today

Amazon is the latest tech giant to report disappointing third-quarter earnings, with its Q3 results missing revenue estimates, per CNBC. The sales forecast for Q4 also fell short of analysts' expectations. After the report, Amazon stock plunged as much as 21% in after-hours trading after market close Thursday, Bloomberg reports. The company on Thursday reported Q3 revenue of $127.1 billion, which was a 15% year-over-year improvement but short of the $127.4 billion analysts were expecting. For Q4, Amazon anticipates revenue between $140 billion and $148 billion, which would be a 2% to 8% bump over last year; analysts were expecting $155.1 billion, reports the AP.

Forbes says that after the drop, shares were at "levels unseen in more than two years." And Bloomberg reports that if the drop carries into Friday when markets open, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is set to lose $23 billion, which it says would be the fifth-worst single-day wealth drop on record. Bezos' worth hit a peak of $214 billion in July 2021; it's already plummeted more than $58 billion this year amid the ongoing tech stock slump, and if he loses another $23 billion it will land at around $111 billion for now.

Per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index's tracking of the world's richest people, the only people who have experienced a bigger one-day wealth decline are Mark Zuckerberg, Changpeng Zhao, and Elon Musk. In a statement regarding the earnings report, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy acknowledged the "uncertain economic times." "There is obviously a lot happening in the macroeconomic environment,” he said. “And we’ll balance our investments to be more streamlined without compromising our key long-term, strategic bets.” (More Jeff Bezos stories.)