Mark Zuckerberg became the world's second-richest person for the first time on Thursday after Meta stock hit a record high.
The CEO of Meta Platforms — which owns Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp — has increased his net worth by $78 billion since January to reach $206.2 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Zuckerberg's massive wealth gain this year means he's now worth $1.1 billion more than Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Zuckerberg is now behind only Tesla CEO Elon Musk (worth about $256 billion) on the Bloomberg rich list. The social media mogul started the year in sixth place but has overtaken LVMH's Bernard Arnault and Oracle's Larry Ellison as well as Bezos.
Although Zuckerberg is a considerable distance behind Musk, he could quickly narrow the gap as technology fortunes are notoriously volatile.
Musk's net worth was below Zuckerberg's current wealth as recently as mid-June, and he was worth as little as $164 billion in April. A few bad days for Tesla, and a few good ones for Meta, could allow Zuckerberg to snatch first place.
Meta stock dipped almost 3.4% on Thursday, while Meta closed up 1.7%.
It's true that Meta, Tesla, and Amazon trade similarly as all three are mega-cap tech stocks, meaning Zuckerberg, Musk, and Bezos' fortunes tend to rise and fall in tandem. But a bad earnings report, a bombshell lawsuit, an antitrust investigation, or a disaster of any kind could have major ramifications.
Zuckerberg could also climb to the peak if Musk makes some large philanthropic donations. After all, the only reason that Warren Buffett isn't the richest person on the planet with a $300 billion-plus net worth is that he's donated more than half his Berkshire Hathaway stock.
The Meta chief's wealth accumulation this year surpasses the gains for anyone else on the list.
Zuckerberg, 40, probably has more time than Musk, 53, to grow his already vast fortune. Buffett amassed over 99% of his fortune after turning 65, author Morgan Housel notes in "The Psychology of Money." That shows how powerful a long time horizon is in compounding wealth.
Despite being far younger, Zuckerberg commands a greater net worth than business titans Bill Gates, Buffett, and the "Google Guys," Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Most of his fortune comes from his 13% stake in Meta.
Early start
Zuckerberg founded Facebook in 2004 when he was 19 and took it public in 2012 at age 28. Meta now stands as the world's sixth-largest public company with an almost $1.5 trillion market capitalization, making it more valuable than Buffett's Berkshire ($985 billion), Tesla ($754 billion), Walmart ($646 billion), JPMorgan ($583 billion), and many other corporate behemoths.
Zuckerberg has staged quite a comeback in recent years. Meta stock tanked by more than 75% between September 2021 and November 2022 as investors balked at its leader's decision to plow tens of billions of dollars into its nascent metaverse business, and soured on tech stocks more broadly. The slump slashed Zuckerberg's net worth to just $35 billion at its nadir.
But the stock has soared 68% this year to record levels above $580. The rally, which has more than quintupled Zuckerberg's net worth, reflects Wall Street betting that Meta will win big from the AI revolution, and investors' relief that Zuckerberg has reined in his spending.
