It’s probably been a week of mixed emotions for Jeff Bezos.

On the plus side, his personal fortune surpassed $200 billion, and in doing so, he became the first person in history to cross that mark.

Even if one adjusts for inflation, it’s probably still the richest a person has ever been in recent recorded history, with Bill Gates’ net worth back in 1999 (near the height of the dot-com bubble) equalling around $158 billion in today’s money.

Despite this pesky pandemic, and a global recession that jeopardises the livelihoods of billions, Bezos has seen his personal wealth rise by close to $60 billion since May alone.

No wonder, then, that people are a touch angry about Amazon’s working conditions, and its hourly wages, which led to protests outside Bezos’ Washington home.

More than 100 protesters gathered, and built a guillotine, with former Amazon warehouse worker Christian Smalls leading the charge.

Footage of said guillotine:

Protesters build a guillotine outside of Jeff Bezos’s house. Yesterday the Amazon billionaire was reported to become the first man worth $200 billion. pic.twitter.com/tY1wb0F1uj

— Nic Rowan (@NicXTempore) August 27, 2020

Protesters want Amazon’s $15 per hour wage doubled to $30 an hour, with Smalls pointing out that Bezos makes around $4 000 per second.

Aaaand another $4 000 in the bank.

Smalls was fired from Amazon after he raised concerns about the lack of adequate COVID-19 safety measures in place in the company’s New Jersey warehouses, and staged a walkout.

Amazon denies he was fired for his involvement in protest actions, although internal leaked memos show the company trying to paint him in an unflattering light.

By this stage, Bezos might be getting used to the presence of a guillotine outside his crib, given that these protests took place in late June:

DC protester says: “when they become threatened, and we have no voice, the knives come out.” In front of a guillotine set up in front of Jeff Bezos complex in DC pic.twitter.com/synjRwgD1H

— Drew Hernandez (@livesmattershow) June 28, 2020

Neither Bezos, nor Amazon, have publicly commented on the most recent protests.

It’s predicted that Bezos will become the world’s first trillionaire by 2026, so I’m sure there are many more guillotine sightings to come.

[source:usatoday]