Mark Zuckerberg’s fortune surged by more than $28 million after the Meta CEO profited off his company’s record-breaking stock surge.
As of Monday, Zuckerberg is the world’s fourth-richest person, with a net worth of $170 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Zuckerberg’s wealth was buoyed by Meta’s share price, which skyrocketed to an all-time high of $474.99 per share — a 20% gain — as of Friday’s closing bell.
The gain added $197 billion to the Facebook-parent’s market capitalization, Bloomberg reported — a the highest-ever single-session market value addition, surpassing the $190 billion one-day gains made by Apple and Amazon in 2022.
Though Zuckerberg only takes home a reported $1 salary from Meta, the 39-year-old’s post as the company’s biggest shareholder leaves him benefiting the most from the stock rally, which was attributed to Meta’s impressive quarterly earnings report.
The company’s fourth-quarter earnings of $5.33 per share exceeded projections.
Its expected sales of up to $37 billion in its first fiscal quarter of 2024 was also higher than analysts anticipated — as Zuckerberg continues his so-called “year of efficiency” initiative that has cut costs and reportedly hurt morale, but shored up billions in profits for the social media giant.
Zuckerberg’s recent $28.1 billion windfall means his wealth has advanced a total of $42.4 billion so far this year — more than any of his fellow billionaires, catapulting him ahead of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and the tech behemoth’s former CEO, Steve Ballmer, who now the fifth- and sixth-richest people on the world, respectively, per Bloomberg’s calculations.
Elon Musk remains the world’s richest person — though the gap between the Tesla and SpaceX CEO and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who currently sits in the No. 2 spot, has closed since the start of this year.
Musk, who touts a $205 billion fortune, has lost $24.4 billion so far this year, according to Bloomberg. His wealth has suffered as Tesla’s stock has dipped nearly 26% year-to-date.
At this rate, the 52-year-old stands to lose his top spot to Bezos, who has a $197 billion fortune, especially after a judge ruled that Musk’s $56 billion pay package at Tesla was unfair to shareholders.
Musk’s compensation remains in limbo, as his lawyers can still appeal the ruling in Delaware Supreme Court.
Zuckerberg could also continue to climb his way up the billionaire ranking after receiving an astronomical payout of $700 million annually thanks to Meta’s new quarterly cash dividend of 50 cents per share of common stock beginning this March, which the company revealed in its latest earnings report.
Since Zuckerberg owns a roughly 13% stake in Meta — some 350 million shares — he’s due to receive $175 million per fiscal quarter, according to Bloomberg data.
As Zuckerberg’s wealth surged, the high-earning executive was questioned during a Senate hearing about Meta’s child-protection practices.
After testifying that his company spent $5 billion on safety last year, Zuckerberg made a stunning apology to the parents of online child sex abuse victims during his latest Capitol Hill appearance — though it was billed as “too little, too late,” by New Mexico attorney general Raúl Torrez, whose office has sued Meta for exposing kids to adult sex content and alleged child predators.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
