How Much Money Does Amazon Make Every Minute

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, announced Wednesday that he's getting divorced.
Bezos' current net worth is around $137 billion.
We calculated how much Bezos makes in one year, month, week, day, hour, minute, and second using net worth figures from 2017 and 2018.

Jeff Bezos, the richest person in history, announced on Wednesday that he and his wife of 25 years, MacKenzie Bezos, are getting a divorce.

In 9 US states, including the Bezos' home state of Washington, divorce laws state that everything acquired throughout the marriage from real estate to income is considered joint property.

Bezos' current net worth is around $137 billion.

Read more: Jeff Bezos is the richest person alive — here's how he makes and spends his billions

We calculated the Amazon CEO's annual earnings by finding the difference between his 2017 and 2018 net worths (calculated in October of each year) as provided by the Forbes 400 list. But what does that translate to per month, or even per second? From his annual earnings, which we determined to be $78.5 billion, we then calculated how much Bezos makes in smaller time frames.

Business Insider previously calculated Bezos' annual and hourly earnings using Forbes' annual billionaire's list, published every March, but we've updated these calculations using the latest Forbes 400 list, published on October 3.

This estimation of Bezos' wages are being used for the sake of comparison. A large portion of his wealth is tied to Amazon stock, which can increase or decrease in value at any given time. This calculation is also not reflective of Bezos' exact salary from Amazon.

At the annual earnings rate Business Insider calculated — again, an estimation based on the change in his Forbes net worth year-over-year — Bezos has earned $6.54 billion a month, more than $1.5 billion a week, and more than $215 million a day in the last 12 months.

Per hour, he makes a whopping $8,961,187 — that's roughly 315 times Amazon's $28,466 median annual worker pay. An Amazon worker earning the $15 minimum wage would need to work about 597,412 hours, or 24 hours a day for about 68 years, just to earn what Bezos makes in one hour.

But neither Amazon's recent minimum wage increase to $15, nor the median annual worker pay is close to how much Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos makes.

Bezos' rate is equivalent to $149,353 a minute. To put things in perspective, Bezos makes more than three times what the median US worker makes in year — $45,552, according to data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics — in one minute.

In one second, Bezos also makes more than twice what the median US worker makes in one week — $2,489 compared to $876, respectively.

For Bezos, time is money — a lot of it.

Read more:
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, announce they are divorcing
A look inside the 25-year marriage of the richest couple in history, Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos — who met at work, were engaged in 3 months, and together owned more land than almost anyone else in America
We did the math to calculate how much money Jeff Bezos makes in a year, month, week, day, hour, minute, and second
See inside the secretive Seattle suburb that's home to Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, where streets are lined with opulent waterfront mansions behind tall gates and security cameras

Hillary Hoffower

Correspondent, Millennial Wealth

Hillary reports on the intersection of youth culture and wealth, looking at the business, lifestyle, and financial behaviors of millennials. She covers trends in how high-net-worth millennials are living and spending, profiles millennial entrepreneurs, and examines how the economic environment millennials grew up in shaped them and their money habits. She also dives into the luxury landscape. She's investigated the French Riviera's pandemic party problem, explored Israel's luxury real estate market, and looked at how the ultrarich are reeling in flashiness in the name of safety. Here's a sampling of her work: — The world's youngest self-made billionaire hopes to power every future self-driving car with a technology that Elon Musk says is 'doomed' — Tiffany and the Trumps: Insiders describe how the president's younger daughter has charted what they say is a distant relationship with her father and come to terms with having America's most divisive last name — Yachting insiders detail the rampant sexual harassment aboard million-dollar ships, where crew members are promised a glamorous lifestyle and can instead find themselves trapped at sea with no one to turn to — Millennials came limping out of the Great Recession with massive student debt and crippled finances. Here's what the generation is up against if the coronavirus triggers another recession. — Class of 2020: A look at Gen Z as it graduates into chaos — How the American millennial is overcoming debt, the dollar, and the economy they were handed — College is more expensive than it's ever been, and the 5 reasons why suggest it's only going to get worse Hillary joined Business Insider in 2018 reporting on personal finance. Let her know what millennials are doing with their money by reaching her at hhoffower@businessinsider.com. Follow her on Twitter @hillary_tweets.