One of the world’s richest men, Jeff Bezos, just became slightly less rich (boo-hoo) after Amazon’s share price fell by up to 21 per cent. Bezos stands to lose up to $23 billion USD.

The reason for the crash was a result of Amazon announcing that it expected sales to slump in the normally very lucrative Christmas shopping period.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, if Amazon’s stock continues to follow this falling trend, Bezos could face the fifth largest one day decline in history. From $214 billion USD in July 2021 to $111 billion USD.

2022 hasn’t been a good year for Bezos as his net worth has already dropped $58 billion USD as a result of a wider technology stock slump. It has hit Amazon and also Meta, Facebook’s parent company.

In a statement, Amazon CEO, Andy Jassey, said, “It’s clear that particularly during these uncertain economic times, customers appreciate Amazon’s continued focus on value and convenience.

“We’re also encouraged by the steady progress we’re making on lowering costs in our stores fulfilment network, and have a set of initiatives that we’re methodically working through that we believe will yield a stronger cost structure for the business moving forward.

“There is obviously a lot happening in the macroeconomic environment, and we’ll balance our investments to be more streamlined without compromising our key long-term, strategic bets. What won’t change is our maniacal focus on the customer experience, and we feel confident that we’re ready to deliver a great experience for customers this holiday shopping season.”

As spending returns to pre-pandemic levels, Amazon has cut costs, announced a hiring freeze, and have halted new projects.