Shooting For The Moon

Jeff Bezos and the Bungled Burglary

A group of three desperados tried to break into Jeff Bezos's house. Is targeting the house of the richest man in the world really a sound criminal masterplan?

He may be worth $138 billion at the last count, but no one likes having their stuff taken. So the good news for Jeff Bezos is that three bungling burglars who attempted to rob his Beverly Hills mansion fled empty-handed.

They might have guessed Bezos would have pretty strong security. Bezos, who launched his e-commerce book shop from a Seattle garage in 1994, is now officially the world’s richest man, eclipsing Bill Gates thanks to his 16% stake in Amazon which has seen a 40% rise in the year to date. Just last week he saw his wealth rise by $3.3 billion, according to Forbes.

Bezos may however be disturbed by how close the would-be robbers got to his property—TMZ reports that his home was targeted by three desperados who smashed a window on Wednesday night before fleeing.

The perpetrators are believed to be the same gang who led local cops ‘on a crazy car chase’ after a more successful raid on another nearby residence. Cops chased a car for 25 minutes but lost the suspects after they ditched the getaway car and fled on foot.

Gates and Bezos have been competing for the title of ‘World’s Richest Man’ since last year when Bezos initially pulled ahead before dropping back to #2, but he has now stepped back into the lead. However, Forbes says that Gates would be unquestionably in the top spot had he not given a huge chunk of change to charity. Forbes says Gates has given away $31.1 billion over the course of his lifetime with Bezos giving just $1billion to charity through the end of 2015.