Bezos Who? Here's The Family Who's Still Much Richer Than The Amazon Founder

Jeff Bezos has made headlines around the globe as the richest man in the world—and the first to top a Forbes list with a net worth over $100 billion. As of Thursday, he’s worth nearly $156 billion.

That’s thanks to Amazon’s sky-rocketing stock and a worldwide shift toward buying more things online. But the heirs of Walmart founder Sam Walton together are still considerably wealthier, thanks in part to a stock bump after Walmart’s latest quarterly earnings report. 

Seven members of the Walton family possess a fortune worth about $174 billion, compared to Bezos’ $155.8 billion net worth as of 1 p.m. eastern on Thursday.  

The fact that the Walton fortune is still bigger than Bezos’ says something about the enduring nature of Walmart. Even in the era of e-commerce, Walmart reported earnings that pleased Wall Street on Thursday morning, sending the company’s stock up nearly 10% as of 1:15 p.m. That uptick in shares boosted the Waltons’ collective fortune by $13 billion on Thursday.

The strong earnings report also helped Alice Walton, the only daughter of Sam Walton, reclaim her title as the richest woman in the world, worth $46 billion, beating out L’Oréal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers. She and her brothers Jim, 70 (net worth: $46.4 billion) and Rob, 73 ($46.2 billion), all rank among the nation’s top 20 richest.  

In its earnings announcement, Walmart drew attention to an expanded online catalog and pointed to a rapid increase in its grocery business, a key battleground in its fight with Amazon, which a year ago bought Whole Foods to compete there. By the end of the year, Walmart said its grocery delivery service will be available in 40% of America, and its grocery pickup option is already in 1,800 locations.

If Walmart keeps this up, the Waltons may soon cross a threshold that absolutely no one else has. By our estimates, they’ll be the first $200 billion family in history.  

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