According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the net worth of assets Mark Zuckerbergthe CEO of Meta reached $206.2 billion on Thursday, from Jeff Bezossurpassed the former CEO of Amazon with a net worth of $205.1 billion. This index shows that the co-founder of Facebook is now behind with a difference of almost 50 billion dollars Elon Muskthe CEO of Tesla is located.
With his 13% stake in Meta, Zuckerberg’s net worth has increased by $78 billion since the beginning of this year, more than any other person on Bloomberg’s 500 richest people. Meta shares closed at a record high of $582.77 on Thursday, representing a nearly 68% jump from early January (mid-December 1402); when the company’s shares were trading at $346.29.
Zuckerberg’s ascension to second place on the list of the world’s richest people shows that his growth in personal wealth is correlated with increased investor enthusiasm for the social networking giant’s growing profits this year.
Wall Street has consistently supported Meta throughout 2024, as the company’s quarterly earnings reports consistently topped analysts’ estimates. Meta announced in July that its second-quarter sales grew 22 percent to $39.07 billion, the fourth consecutive quarter with more than 20 percent revenue growth.
Meta has cited its large investments in artificial intelligence as an important factor in improving the performance of its online advertising platform and, as a result, sales growth. The company’s online advertising system took a big hit in 2021 with the introduction of Apple’s iOS privacy update. Meta announced in February 2022 (Bahman and Esfand 1400) that privacy changes would cost it $10 billion.
Zuckerberg launched a massive cost-cutting program in late 2022 that extended into the following year, culminating in the layoff of 21,000 employees. This number is approximately a quarter of the company’s workforce.
Investors reacted positively to Meta’s cost reductions, the company’s online advertising business performed better, boosted by extensive advertising campaigns from Chinese retailers including TEMU.
While Meta continues to spend billions on virtual reality and augmented reality technologies, as long as the company’s core advertising business remains healthy, investors will remain bullish on the world’s social media giant.
Meta recently introduced Orion augmented reality glasses. The few people who have tested the prototype of the said glasses have had positive opinions about it.
