How Mark Zuckerberg became the world's second-richest person

By: Shawn
Mark Zuckerberg has just become the world's second-richest person for the first time in history, and he may be on his way to the top. 

The Meta CEO surpassed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos by $1 billion to enter second place on Thursday, with a net worth of $206 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. He now trails only Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has a net worth of $256 billion.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Zuckerberg's wealth is primarily connected to his 13% share in Meta, and it has increased by around $78 billion this year alone due to stock gains. That is more than any other billionaire on the list, including Jensen Huang, CEO of the hot chipmaker Nvidia.

Meta shares have surged this year, ending at a record high of $582.77 on Thursday. On Friday, the stock traded even higher at $590, up roughly 70% year to date.

Meta's stock jumped in February after the company announced its first quarterly dividend and a $50 billion stock buyback, which satisfied investors. Since then, Meta's stock has risen on the back of higher-than-expected second-quarter sales and the company's push into artificial intelligence. 

After investing billions in Zuckerberg's metaverse vision, the company's Reality Labs subsidiary lost less money than predicted in the second quarter. The division has also been instructed to cut its spending by 20%, most of which will apparently occur this year. Those cuts, combined with an unanticipated boost from the company's announcement of soon-to-be released augmented reality glasses, dubbed Orion, that contain the company's AI, have propelled the company's stock even higher as investors appreciate its ingenuity.

Over the last three years, Zuckerberg's push for efficiency and flattening of the company's corporate structure has boosted the stock. 

While the difference between Musk and Zuckerberg appears to be large, tech fortunes can fluctuate dramatically, and it is not impossible for the two to swap places in the future. As of June, Musk's net worth was lower than Zuckerberg's. For years, the Tesla CEO has been in and out of the top slot, vying with billionaire rivals like as Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault of LVMH. 

Tesla's price has recovered from earlier this year's volatility, increasing Musk's fortune, much of which is related to his investment in the company. Tesla shares are now around two times higher than the 52-week low seen in April. Musk's wealth was also increased after Tesla shareholders accepted the reinstatement of the CEO's $45 billion pay plan in June. 

While Musk and Zuckerberg battle for the title of richest person, their feud has recently gained public attention. Musk challenged mixed martial arts enthusiast Zuckerberg to a cage battle in a post on X last year. Zuckerberg agreed and was eager to arrange up the event before Musk bailed.

"If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me," he said in a post on his X-like website, Threads.

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING!

YouTuber MrBeast makes $700 million a year but says he's not rich: 'I've reinvested everything to the point of stupidity'

Image
There is no doubt that MrBeast makes a lot of money. The YouTuber, actual name Jimmy Donaldson, earns hundreds of millions of dollars with his YouTube channel and Feastables food line. But, despite earning between $600 million and $700 million every year, Donaldson says he is not wealthy. Jimmy ' MrBeast ' Donaldson. Michael Tran/AFP/Getty Images His enormous channel has 239 million subscribers, and his videos consistently receive more than 100 million views. "Each video does a couple million in ad revenue, a couple million in brand deals," he told Time Magazine, adding that businesses spend between $2.5 million and $3 million for a mention in a video. However, that money is not deposited into his bank account. And even if it did, the 26-year-old asserts he does not have access to it. "I don't have access to any of my bank accounts," he said. "I have a CFO and everything, but [my mom is] the one who has access to the master bank account...
Read more

Elon Musk's net worth exceeds $400 billion — a historic first

Image
Elon Musk has become the first person to exceed $400 billion in net worth, marking the latest achievement for the world's wealthiest people. The most recent cause was an insider share sale of his privately owned SpaceX, which increased Musk's net worth by around $50 billion in one fell swoop to $439.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk speaks at an America PAC town hall on October 26 , 2024 , in Lancaster , Pa. Samuel Corum via Getty Images Musk's fortune has taken a drastic swing since late 2022, when his net worth dropped by more than $200 billion. But it's been notably boosted since Donald Trump's presidential victory last month, with Musk being his most visible political contributor and champion. Tesla Inc.'s stock is up almost 65% since before the election, boosted by anticipation that Trump will speed up the launch of self-driving cars and abolish tax breaks for electric vehicles that b...
Read more