Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin added $8.6 billion to their combined wealth on Thursday, thanks to better-than-expected earnings reports from two of the world's three most valuable internet companies.
Bezos picked up an additional $6.24 billion in value, which likely puts him ahead of Microsoft founder Bill Gates to make him the world's richest person. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Bezos was worth $83.5 billion earlier on Thursday, about $4.5 billion behind Gates at $88 billion.
Gates still owns 1.3 percent of Microsoft. His wealth also increased Thursday afternoon, by about $340 million, after the software maker's earnings topped analysts' estimates.
Page is $1.2 billion richer and Brin's fortunes increased by $1.15 billion after Alphabet's third-quarter profit blew past expectations. Prior to the results, they were worth $49.3 billion and $48.2 billion, respectively.
Technology leaders are climbing the ranks of the world's wealthiest people this year as their businesses outperform the rest of the market. Six of the top 10 names on the list are founders of U.S. tech companies.
Next up is Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who's ranked fifth on the list at $72.4 billion, according to Bloomberg. His company reports results on Nov. 1.
WATCH:Â Wall Street reacts to Amazon's big earnings beat
