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What just happened? Mark Zuckerberg has achieved a lot during his long career in the tech industry, but yesterday saw the Meta CEO achieve another first: he is now the second richest person in the world, having passed Jeff Bezos after his total net worth reached $206 billion.
Things weren't looking rosy for Meta in 2022 as it suffered a downturn following the pandemic boom period. For the first time since its inception 17 years ago, the number of global daily Facebook users declined as the company's shares fell 24%, wiping $200 billion off its market value.
But Meta's shares have skyrocketed since then, climbing from $90 in November 2022 to $582.77 today. The price has increased over 64% during the year-to-date period alone.
Meta's success has seen Zuckerberg's fortune climb to $206 billion – he has a 13% stake in the company – putting him ahead of third-place Bezos by $1 billion, though the Meta boss is still $50 billion behind leader Elon Musk.
| Rank | Name | Total net worth | $ Last change | $ YTD change | Country / Region | Industry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elon Musk | $256B | - $5.97B | + $27.1B | United States | Technology |
| 2 | Mark Zuckerberg | $206B | + $3.43B | + $78.1B | United States | Technology |
| 3 | Jeff Bezos | $205B | - $2.62B | + $28.2B | United States | Technology |
| 4 | Bernard Arnault | $193B | - $2.38B | - $14.2B | France | Consumer |
| 5 | Larry Ellison | $179B | - $1.14B | + $55.9B | United States | Technology |
| 6 | Bill Gates | $161B | - $508M | + $20.4B | United States | Technology |
| 7 | Larry Page | $150B | - $64.0M | + $23.4B | United States | Technology |
| 8 | Steve Ballmer | $145B | - $213M | + $13.9B | United States | Technology |
| 9 | Warren Buffett | $143B | - $1.32B | + $22.9B | United States | Diversified |
| 10 | Sergey Brin | $141B | - $61.4M | + $21.2B | United States | Technology |
| 11 | Amancio Ortega | $114B | - $482M | + $26.1B | Spain | Retail |
| 12 | Michael Dell | $110B | + $991M | + $31.6B | United States | Technology |
| 13 | Jensen Huang | $107B | + $3.42B | + $63.5B | United States | Technology |
| 14 | Mukesh Ambani | $107B | - $4.29B | + $10.5B | India | Energy |
| 15 | Jim Walton | $103B | - $50.0M | + $30.2B | United States | Retail |
Courtesy of Bloomberg
One area of the Bloomberg Billionaire's Index where Zuckerberg does lead is the year-to-date change. His wealth has increased an enormous $78.1 billion this year, almost $15 billion more than second-place Jensen Huang, whose fortune has jumped $63.5 billion on the back of Nvidia providing the majority of the advanced AI hardware being used today.
As is sadly so often the case, Meta's turnaround was prompted by a streamlining process that saw 21,000 people let go from the firm. Investors welcomed the cost-cutting move, sending the stock in the right direction.
Meta's stock price over the last five years
Meta has reported better-than-expected sales this year, and is pushing hard into the generative AI field with its own Large Language Models and chatbots – the sort of stuff that investors love, even if most of the public isn't as enthusiastic.
Meta's stock has reached an all-time high following Meta Connect 2024, which had huge focus on artificial intelligence. The company also revealed several new tech products, including a pair of AR smart glasses capable of projecting holograms directly into a user's field of vision. Jensen Huang called the Project Orion glasses "a big deal."