Just 10 days into the New Year, Amazon shares have risen 6.6%.

So it comes as little surprise Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos tops the list of the ultra-wealthy, making him the richest man the world has ever known.

Trumping Henry Ford, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Bill Gates and many more who had a bit of coin in their time, Mr Bezos has a net worth of $135 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Financial Review Rich List Editor John Stensholt speaks with Michael McLaren.

“Look, it was a bit of an underwhelming debut for [Amazon] here in Australia. But I’d caution that with ‘watch this space’.”

As for rich Aussies, Mr Stensholt says Anthony Pratt is at the top.

“$10.35 billion. We had him on the Rich List last year. 13 times less than Mr Bezos at the moment.

Mr Stensholt contributes some of Mr Pratt’s success to the fact that his company supplies cardboard boxes to Amazon.

“It’s an old industry, manufacturing boxes, but it’s part of that e-commerce game.”

Listen to the full interview below