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Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now the fifth richest person in the world following a surge in Meta’s share price that has seen his net worth increase more than any other individual this year.
In 2024 so far, Zuckerberg has already seen his net worth increase by $14.3 billion, in movements that have put him in fifth place on Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, ahead of former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and behind Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
Zuckerberg, who owns a 13% stake in Meta
META,
is now set to see his net worth boom even further over the coming days, on the back of a surge in shares in the social media company he first set up in 2004 while a student at Harvard University.
Shares in Meta increased 15% in post-market trading on Thursday following the Facebook owner’s decision to start declare its first ever dividend on the back of a sharp increase in the company’s revenues.
The surge in Meta’s share price in out-of-hours trading on Thursday saw the company’s market cap increase by more than $140 billion, to $1.17 trillion.
Meta shares have increased by 14% in 2024 and by 109% over the previous 12 months, with stock in the California company up 933% since Facebook’s initial public offering in 2012. Facebook changed its name to Meta Platforms in October 2021.
Zuckerberg, who became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire aged 23 in 2007, is also set to receive $700 million a year in dividends from Meta via his stake in the company.
The increases have seen the 39-year-old, who was born in White Plains, New York, ascend the ranks of Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, which is now increasingly dominated by U.S. tech billionaires.
With a net worth of $142 billion, Zuckerberg now sits behind Tesla
TSLA,
CEO Elon Musk ($205 billion), LVMH
MC,
CEO Bernard Arnault ($185 billion), Amazon
AMZN,
founder Jeff Bezos ($144 billion, and Microsoft
MSFT,
founder Bill Gates ($144 billion) on the list of the world’s richest individuals.
Just two individuals listed on the top 10 — luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault and Berkshire Hathaway
BRK.B,
CEO Warren Buffett — made their money outside the tech industry, while only the LVMH founder is from outside the U.S.
The fast-paced growth in Zuckerberg’s net worth saw him top the ranks of those who have made the sharpest increases in their wealth this year, ahead of Indian steel magnate Gautam Adani and Nvidia
NVDA,
CEO Jensen Huang.
Zuckerberg’s bulging net worth comes as the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, has seen his wealth drop by more than any other individual in 2024 so far, in seeing his net worth decrease by $23.6 billion in 2024, following a sharp 24% drop in Tesla’s share price. Musk currently owns a 13% stake in Tesla.
Zuckerberg, alongside billionaires including Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, has vowed to give away 99% of his wealth.
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