(Bloomberg) — Mark Zuckerberg became the world’s second-richest person for the first time on Thursday, surpassing Jeff Bezos as shares of Meta Platforms Inc. continue to rise.
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Zuckerberg’s bet on the metaverse — which initially looked like a colossal failure — has paid off in recent months, sending his net worth to a high of $206.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That puts him $1.1 billion ahead of Amazon.com Inc.’s Bezos. and nearly $50 billion behind Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk.
Meta shares have risen 23% since reporting better-than-expected sales in the second quarter and highlighting the kind of big language models that power AI chatbots. The stock closed at an all-time high of $582.77 on Thursday.
Meta has invested heavily in data centers and computing power as Zuckerberg works to build a leading position in the industry-wide AI race. The company has also made progress on other long-term projects, including the 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 by $78 billion so far this year, the most of any of the world’s 500 richest people, followed by Bloomberg index.
The 40-year-old co-founder and CEO has achieved four places on the wealth index this year.
–With help from Jack Witzig.
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