SAN FRANCISCO, USA — Meta Platforms Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer, Mark Zuckerberg, has seen a staggering surge in his net worth, which now amounts to a whopping $110 billion.
From a starting point of $45.6 billion at the beginning of this year, the 39-year-old billionaire’s fortune has rocketed by an astonishing 141%.
This meteoric rise has mainly been fuelled by the robust performance of Meta’s stock, which has delivered impressive gains to investors throughout the year, resulting in a 150% year-to-date increase.
Meta’s shares started the year at $124.74 and have soared to $297.17 as of July 21, 2023.
“The company’s latest product, Threads, has also generated significant excitement across the internet,” said a spokesperson for Meta. “Although sign-up demand has moderated from its initial surge, the product’s ability to engage millions of users while competing with established rivals has been noteworthy.”
Analysts on Friday, July 21, 2023, have taken note of Threads’ potential, subsequently revising their 2024 profit estimates for Meta upwards in anticipation of the product’s monetization.
In another strategic move, Zuckerberg’s collaboration with Microsoft on Llama, a next-generation open-source machine language model, has also played a critical role in Meta’s stock surge.
“The company’s foray into artificial intelligence adoption, particularly through the partnership with Microsoft, has reverberated positively across the global market,” according to a spokesperson for Meta.
Zuckerberg’s vast fortune primarily comes from his ownership stake of approximately 13% in Meta Platforms, previously known as Facebook, as disclosed in the company’s 2023 proxy statement.
Meta Platforms boasts an impressive 3.7 billion active users monthly, with Facebook alone accounting for around 3 billion users, as reported in a January 2023 company presentation.
Zuckerberg’s holdings are structured through trusts and holding companies, as disclosed in the proxy.
He has also pledged to donate 99% of his shares over his lifetime, as stated in a December 2015 SEC filing.
As Zuckerberg’s wealth continues to skyrocket, the global market awaits further developments in the tech mogul’s financial journey.
Despite his vast wealth, his commitment to philanthropy reminds us of social responsibility’s role in the world of tech entrepreneurship.
