JEFF Bezos’ stint as the world’s richest man has come to an end, after 24 hours.

The Amazon founder briefly dethroned long-time leader Bill Gates as the world’s wealthiest man on Wednesday.

But, by Thursday, the Microsoft founder returned to the top of the list.

Bezos’ ascend to the top came as Amazon’s stock rose 1.8 percent at 9.00 pm Malaysia time, lifting his net worth to USD90.9 billion, compared to Gates’ USD90.7 billion.

Bezos, who started the business by selling books from his garage 22 years ago, owns about 17 percent of the giant online retailer, a stake that has added USD24 billion to his net worth compared to this time last year.

He has technically been a billionaire for nearly 20 years, first obtaining the title in 1998 with a net worth of USD1.6 billion after Amazon's IPO.

By 2007, he was worth USD4.4 billion, and subsequently USD18.4 billion by 2012.

Given Amazon’s financial momentum, experts expect Bezos to mount a fresh challenge to Gates in the near future.

As a bonus, Bezos also has a shot at becoming the richest man ever.

During his peak as the richest man in history, Gates was worth USD90 billion.

The fortunes of Bezos, on the other hand, is widely touted to surpass the USD100 billion mark soon.