Amazon is now worth $1.1 trillion after its shares hit a record high Tuesday amid surging online orders during coronavirus lockdowns. 

As of Tuesday afternoon Amazon’s stock was up more than four per cent closing at $2,283.32 per share. That topped the online retail giant’s previous high of $2,170.22 per share on February 19.

With stocks rocketing, Bezos, who currently owns an 11.2% stake in Amazon, saw his fortune grow by $6.4billion to $138billion yesterday, according to a Forbes estimate.

The company’s founder was last week named the world’s richest person for the third year running – despite his divorce last year which cost him a quarter of his stake in the tech giant.

Bezos, 56 – who founded the e-commerce company out of his basement in Seattle, Washington, in 1994 – gave $36billion worth of stocks to ex, Mackenzie.

The economic damage from the outbreak has been widespread and severe after only a few weeks into the shutdown. The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that the world economy will suffer its worst year since the Great Depression.

But for Amazon a surge in demand for online orders from those under lockdown has seen it’s stock price rise.

Amazon stock surged 5.6% on Tuesday, hitting a new record high of $2,290 per share, up over 20% so far this year, at a time when the benchmark index, the S&P 500, which is down over 12%.

The online retailer is the first major company to rebound from the coronavirus market sell-off, which started in late February.

The company said on Monday it would hire 75,000 more people for jobs ranging from warehouse staff to delivery drivers.

That’s on top of the 100,000 positions it advertised earlier which they say have already been filled, and the new jobs are in addition to that.

Amazon said Sunday it will begin to put new grocery delivery customers on a wait list and curtail shopping hours at some Whole Foods stores to prioritize orders from existing customers.

But the pandemic has not been without its controversies for Amazon.

There have been a spate of protests across the United States as workers call for more protections as the virus spreads.

Source: DailyMail.co.uk