Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, has added another $20 billion (£14 billion) to his wealth after his firm Amazon reported its largest ever surge in profits.
Amazon sales increased by 38 per cent in the last three months of 2017, to more than $60.5 billion (£42.4 billion), according to its latest quarterly financial results.
For comparison, it took Amazon more than 14 years to make, cumulatively, as much profit as it did in the latest quarter alone.
The profits were driven by sales of its voice-activated Echo devices and an increase in the number of Prime members.
They were also helped by an increase in holiday shopping online and by Amazon’s cloud business, Amazon Web Services.
The surge in profits means Besoz is now worth more than $119 billion (£83 billion).
Having started life as an online shopping platform, the Seattle firm has become increasingly known for its hardware and software technology.
Its Amazon Echo line of smart speakers, which are powered by virtual assistant Alexa, have performed particularly well.
According to Amazon, the Alexa-enabled Echo Dot, along with the company's Fire TV Stick streaming device, were the best selling products across all of Amazon in 2017.
Bezos also attributed the rise of of the company's Alexa products as a key factor in the company's continued growth.
He said: 'Our 2017 projections for Alexa were very optimistic, and we far exceeded them.
'We don't see positive surprises of this magnitude very often — expect us to double down.'
The company introduced a range of new Echo devices in 2017, including a second generation Echo, as well as the smart home hub Echo Plus and the touchscreen-enabled Echo Show and Echo Spot.
Bezos added: 'We've reached an important point where other companies and developers are accelerating adoption of Alexa.
Bezos said the rise of of the company's Alexa products like the Echo (pictured) was a key factor in the company's continued growth. The Alexa-enabled Echo Dot, along with the company's Fire TV Stick streaming device, were the best selling products across all of Amazon in 2017
