Mark Zuckerberg simply secured his place because the world’s second-richest particular person for the primary time ever—and he might be on his solution to the highest.
The Meta CEO leapfrogged Amazon founder Jeff Bezos by $1 billion to take the quantity two spot on Thursday with a internet value of $206 billion, in line with the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He’s now behind solely Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who boasts a internet value of $256 billion.
Zuckerberg’s wealth is usually tied up in his 13% stake of Meta, and it has jumped by about $78 billion this yr alone due to inventory positive aspects. That’s greater than anyone else on the billionaires checklist, together with Jensen Huang, the CEO of purple scorching chipmaker Nvidia.
Meta shares skyrocketed this yr, closing at a report excessive of $582.77 on Thursday. And the inventory was buying and selling even increased at $590 on Friday, up almost 70% yr thus far.
In February, Meta’s inventory surged after it introduced its first quarterly dividend and a $50 billion inventory buyback that happy traders. Since then, Meta’s inventory has benefited from better-than-expected gross sales within the second quarter and the corporate’s push into AI.
After pouring billions into Zuckerberg’s metaverse imaginative and prescient, the corporate’s Actuality Labs division misplaced much less cash than anticipated within the second quarter. The division has additionally been requested to rein in its spending by 20%, a lot of which can reportedly happen this yr. These cuts, plus a shocking enhance from the corporate’s announcement of soon-to-come augmented actuality glasses, dubbed Orion, which incorporate the corporate’s AI, have pushed the corporate’s fill up even additional as traders applaud its innovation.
The inventory has additionally seen a lift from Zuckerberg’s push for effectivity and flattening of the corporate’s company construction over the previous few years.
Whereas the hole between Musk and Zuckerberg appears huge, tech fortunes can fluctuate wildly, and it’s not unimaginable that the 2 might commerce locations sooner or later. As not too long ago as June, Musk’s internet value was decrease than Zuckerberg’s. The Tesla CEO has for years been shuffling out and in of the highest spot, competing with billionaire friends Bezos and LVMH’s Bernard Arnault.
Tesla’s inventory has rebounded from its tumult earlier this yr, pushing up Musk’s wealth, a lot of which is tied up in his stake within the firm. Tesla shares at the moment are about two occasions increased than the 52-week low they hit in April. Musk’s wealth was additionally boosted when Tesla shareholders authorised the restoration of a $45 billion pay bundle for the CEO in June.
Whereas Musk and Zuckerberg compete on the checklist of the richest folks, their battle has additionally damaged into the general public sphere as of late. Final yr, Musk challenged mixed-martial-arts aficionado Zuckerberg to a cage battle by way of a submit on X. Zuckerberg accepted and was eager on establishing the occasion earlier than Musk bailed.
“If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me,” he wrote in a submit on his X-lookalike web site, Threads.
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