Mark Zuckerberg became the world’s second-richest person for the first time on Oct 3, jumping ahead of Jeff Bezos as shares of Meta Platforms Inc continue to climb.
Zuckerberg’s bet on the metaverse – which initially looked like a huge bust – has paid off in recent months, pushing his net worth to a high-water mark of US$206.2bil (RM871.99bil), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That puts him US$1.1bil (RM4.65bil) ahead of Amazon.com Inc’s Bezos and almost US$50bil (RM211.41bil) behind Tesla Inc’s Elon Musk.
Meta shares have risen 23% since reporting better-than-expected sales in the second quarter and touting its push into the type of large language models that power AI chatbots. The stock closed Thursday at all-time high of US$582.77 (RM2,463.77).
Meta has spent heavily on data centres and computing power as Zuckerberg works to build a leading position in the industry-wide AI race. The company has also moved ahead with other long-term projects, including its Orion augmented reality glasses, which the company introduced last month.
Zuckerberg, who owns a 13% stake in the Menlo Park, California-based company, has seen his fortune grow US$78bil (RM329.76bil) so far this year, the most of any of the world’s 500 richest people tracked by the Bloomberg index.
The 40-year-old co-founder and chief executive officer has gained four spots this year on the wealth index. – Bloomberg
