Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is one of the world’s wealthiest people. So wealthy that some social media users claim he could make everyone else a billionaire and still rank among the richest individuals.
If Bezos’ net worth reached $1 trillion, a photo shared Sept. 14 on Facebook claimed, “he could literally end world poverty and give everyone $1 billion and he will still have $91.5 billion left.”
This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
Although sharing is caring, this claim doesn’t calculate Bezos’ wealth distribution correctly. And it’s not the first time we’ve seen this kind of math about Bezos’ wealth. Let’s take a look at these latest numbers.
First, the Facebook post assumes Bezos’ wealth amounts to $1 trillion. This is not accurate. As of Sept. 15, Bezos’ net worth was about $149.5 billion, according to Forbes — about $850.5 billion away from trillionaire status.
A 2020 analysis conducted by Comparisun, a content platform serving small- and medium-sized businesses, predicted Bezos would become the world’s first trillionaire by 2026. The photo in the Facebook post shows a New York Post tweet referring to this prediction.
The claim also assumes there are 7.5 billion people in the world, but the U.S. Census’ world population clock puts the number closer to 7.9 billion as of Sept. 15.
Even if Bezos was worth $1 trillion, the claim’s math still doesn’t add up.
In order for the world’s 7.9 billion people to each receive $1 billion and for Bezos to keep $91.5 billion for himself, the tech mogul would need to be worth more than $7.9 quintillion.
$1 billion x 7.9 billion people + $91.5 billion = $7,900,091,500,000,000,000
If the wealth distribution is calculated accurately based on how much money Bezos currently has, every person, including Bezos, would end up with just under $19.
$149.5 billion / 7.9 billion people = $18.92
Our ruling
A Facebook post claimed that if Bezos’ net worth reached $1 trillion, “he could literally end world poverty and give everyone $1 billion and he will still have $91.5 billion left.”
This math doesn’t work out. If Bezos shared his wealth of $149.5 billion equally across the globe, each person would receive about $19.
We rate this claim Pants on Fire!
CORRECTION, Sept. 19, 2022: This fact-check has been updated to fix the numerical version of $7.9 quintillion. The rating is unchanged.
RELATED: A claim about distributing Jeff Bezos’ billions gets the math wrong
Truth-o-meter Ruling
IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT
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A Facebook post used bad math to claim that if Jeff Bezos’ net worth was evenly distributed, everyone would receive $1 billion and Bezos would still have $91.5 billion left for himself.
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If Bezos’ fortune of $149.5 billion was shared among the world’s population, each person would actually get about $19.
Statement
Context
a photo on FacebookSpeaker/Target
Statement Date
Our Sources
Facebook post, Sept. 14, 2022
Forbes, "The Real-Time Billionaires List," Sept. 15, 2022
U.S. Census Bureau, "U.S. and World Population Clock," Sept. 15, 2022
Comparisun, "The Trillion Dollar Club," accessed Sept. 15, 2022
PolitiFact, "A claim about distributing Jeff Bezos’ billions gets the math wrong," Oct. 28, 2021
CNBC, "Could Jeff Bezos really become the world’s first trillionaire by 2026?," May 15, 2020
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