Mark Zuckerberg Surpasses Jeff Bezos, Becomes World's Second Richest Person

The total net worth of the Meta CEO has now exceeded the GDP of Kuwait which is 160.4 billion dollars.

Zuckerberg is now roughly 50 billion dollars behind Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index is a daily ranking of the world's richest people. The figures are updated at the close of every trading day in the new york.

In 2024, Mark Zuckerberg's net worth surged by 78 billion dollars, the largest increase among the 500 wealthiest individuals, according to the Bloomberg Index. Zuckerberg holds a 13 percent stake in Meta, a Menlo Park-based company, which has significantly boosted his wealth and ranking on the index this year.

Meta has been making substantial investments in data centers and computing infrastructure to strengthen its leadership in artificial intelligence. The company is also advancing other initiatives, such as the Orion augmented reality glasses, which were launched last month.

Meta's stock has performed exceptionally well in 2024, with shares climbing nearly 70 percent since the start of the year. This surge has been a major driver of Mark Zuckerberg's rising personal fortune and has fueled investor optimism. The company credits its sales growth to its significant investments in artificial intelligence (AI).

This marks a remarkable recovery for Meta, which laid off 21,000 employees in late 2022 as part of a cost-cutting strategy spearheaded by Zuckerberg. The initiative is widely seen as a critical factor in the company's rebound.

Despite substantial spending on virtual and augmented reality technologies, investor confidence in Meta remains strong. The company's core advertising business continues to thrive. Zuckerberg, Meta's 40-year-old co-founder and CEO, has climbed four spots on the wealth index this year.