JEFF Bezos earned $13 billion in just 17 minutes after stocks in Amazon soared on the back of huge Christmas sales.
At 3.59pm on Thursday the world's richest man was worth $116bn, however by 4.16pm that figure had jumped to $129bn.
Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos is already the world's richest manCredit: AP:Associated Press
The surge came after the online sales giant revealed it earned $87bn in sales in the last three months of 2019 - well ahead of industry expectations.
The news sent the firm's share price rocketing by around 12 per cent, reports Bloomberg.
If prices hold the rise will return Amazon's market valuation to above $1 trillion, joining Microsoft, Apple and Google.
Bezos, 56, owns 12 per cent of Amazon's stock and his ex wife Mackenzie owns about four per cent of the Seattle-based giant.
As part of the couple's divorce settlement last year, she got about 19.7 million shares, worth a $36bn at the time.
The Sun Online reported on Wednesday how she had sold $370 million worth of the company's stock.
It was the first time MacKenzie - the 24th wealthiest person in the world - had moved any of her Amazon shares.
MacKenzie and Bezos announced their separation in January last year, shortly before his love affair with Lauren Sanchez was exposed.
The pair's divorce was finalized in April 2019, with Jeff keeping 75 per cent of the couple's stock - then worth about $105bn.
Since splitting, MacKenzie has stayed away from the limelight, while her former husband has become a fixture in the tabloids with Sanchez.
Last May, MacKenzie signed a commitment to give away more than half of her wealth to philanthropy and charitable causes either in her lifetime or after her death.
Her ex husband has so far not signed the pledge, though he does routinely donate some of his wealth to charitable causes.
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