Boss Jeff Bezos briefly overtook Bill Gates as the world's richest person on Thursday following a surge in the online retailer's shares ahead of its earnings report, before the stock fell back again.

The e-commerce magnate, who was the fourth richest person at the beginning of the year, overtook Microsoft co-founder Gates earlier in the day after Amazon shares rose 1.8pc to $1,071 (£820).

However, shares later dropped back, closing down 0.7pc at $1,046, meaning the 53-year-old Bezos has not yet replaced Gates as number one on the Forbes Billionaire's list. Bezos is now worth $88.5bn.

The share price move came hours before Amazon posted quarterly earnings in which it said profit had fallen 77pc on a year earlier. This was due to it ramping up investment spend on video content and international expansion.