Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, has a new title: world’s second richest person. The Facebook founder has officially surpassed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The businessman’s net worth reached a whopping $206.2 billion, making him more than $1 billion richer than Bezos. Both men still trail Elon Musk by around $50 billion, according to the Index.
This year has been one of drastic growth for Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. As shares of Meta Platforms Inc. have been rising this year, most dramatically in the second quarter, when they grew by 23%, so have the CEO’s. On Thursday, the stock closed at an all-time high of $582.77, meaning Zuckerberg, who has a 13% stake in the company, saw his net worth take a leap, too.
This year alone, the CEO’s net worth has risen by $78 billion. With that, he has jumped not one but four spots on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Between 2022 and 2023, Meta was going through some major upheaval, including multiple rounds of massive layoffs, which saw at least 21,000 employees exiting the company to cut costs. Zuckerberg explained at the time that the layoffs were part of the brand’s “Year of Efficiency.” In a blog post, he wrote about streamlining operations and making a more efficient, better tech company.
“A leaner org will execute its highest priorities faster,” he explained. “People will be more productive, and their work will be more fun and fulfilling. We will become an even greater magnet for the most talented people. That’s why in our Year of Efficiency, we are focused on canceling projects that are duplicative or lower priority and making every organization as lean as possible.”
In recent years, the company has leaned hard into AI, which seems to be a massive a major part of the brand’s growth this year. Even as the company’s costs grew in the second quarter, so did its revenue. Meta’s daily active users increased 6.5% year-over-year to 3.27 billion this year, proving that the company is still a social media giant, paving the way for other apps.
Jeffrey Wlodarczak, a senior analyst at Pivotal Research Group, explained Meta’s success in a note to clients this week called “In Zuck We Trust.” In it, he explained how the company’s AI initiatives, both for advertisements that target customers, and otherwise, have paid off. He wrote, “In a world that is constantly changing, fueled by the rapid development of AI, we feel comfortable that Zuckerberg can successfully navigate Meta to the win.”
Wlodarczak added, “In our opinion, Instagram/Reels/Stories will eventually emerge as the dominant social platform globally (ex-China), partly at the expense of Facebook, given we believe they already have the best product with the ability to layer on new enhancements/products to drive quick uptake.”
And in case you were wondering, here are the current top 10 richest people in the world:
- Elon Musk $256B
- Mark Zuckerberg $206B
- Jeff Bezos $205B
- Bernard Arnault $193B
- Larry Ellison $179B
- Bill Gates $161B
- Larry Page $150B
- Steve Ballmer $145B
- Warren Buffett $143B
- Sergey Brin $141B