Jeff Bezos looked set to keep his crown as the world's richest man after Amazon shares rebounded following a sharp fall following disappointing results on Thursday night.

At the start of the day, Mr Bezos had looked set to see his wealth fall by $7bn (£5.5bn) as shares in the online retailer tumbled, which would have wiped $80bn from Amazon's value and let Microsoft founder Bill Gates once again overtake Mr Bezos as the richest individual.

Mr Gates has been the wealthiest person on the Forbes rich list for 18 out of the past 24 years up until last year.

However, over the course of Friday, Amazon clawed back some of the losses as investors digested its results, leaving the shares down just 1.3pc.

Mr Bezos owns the biggest stake in the company with 58 million shares worth almost $100bn.

The rocky day of trading for Amazon came after the company revealed on Thursday evening that profits had fallen to $2.1bn during the three months to September - their first decline in more than two years.