Bezos was, very briefly, the richest person in the world

Move over Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos is taking his turn as the world’s richest person. If only for a few minutes. 

The New York Times reports a 1 percent pop early in the day in the shares of Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) – the internet company Bezos founded, which accounts for the vast majority of his wealth – was enough to bump him over the Microsoft co-founder.

Bezos hit $90.6 billion, just over Gates' $90 billion, but slid back as Amazon shares dropped later in the afternoon.

Forbes magazine tracks the fluctuation on its real-time list of billionaires and predicts the back and fourth could continue as stock prices change. 
According to an April filling with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bezos holds nearly 81 million shares of Amazon — almost 17 percent of the company. AMZN was trading around $1,046 a share at the time.

According to the New York Times, Gates has topped the annual list for 18 of the last 23 years. 

Read more from the New York Times.