Mark Zuckerberg could become the richest person on the planet after a $51 billion wealth surge this year

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Mark Zuckerberg has rocketed up the ranks of the world’s richest people — and could take the top spot for the first time.

The CEO of Meta Platforms — Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp’s parent company — has grown his net worth by an unmatched $51 billion this year to reach $179 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Zuckerberg sits in fourth place at the time of writing, behind Tesla’s Elon Musk (worth $248 billion), Amazon’s Jeff Bezos (worth $202 billion), and LVMH’s Bernard Arnault (worth $180 billion). The social media mogul started the year in sixth place but ranked third, above the luxury goods tycoon, just last week.

He trails Musk and Bezos by some distance, but he could quickly narrow the gap as technology fortunes are notoriously volatile. Musk was worth just $164 billion as recently as April, while Bezos was worth a little less in early January than Zuckerberg is now. A few bad days for Tesla and Amazon, and a few good ones for Meta, would allow Zuckerberg to seize the top spot.

It’s true that Meta, Tesla, and Amazon trade similarly as all three are mega-cap US tech stocks, meaning Zuckerberg, Musk, and Bezos’ fortunes tend to rise and fall in tandem. But a bad earnings report, a bombshell lawsuit, an antitrust investigation, or a disaster of any kind could knock Musk and Bezos below Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg could also climb to the peak if Musk and Bezos make some large philanthropic donations. After all, the only reason that Warren Buffett isn’t the richest person on the planet with a $300 billion-plus net worth is that he’s donated more than half his Berkshire Hathaway stock.

The Meta chief has been outpacing Musk and Bezos in wealth accumulation this year, putting him on track to overtake them. His $51 billion gain this year far surpasses their respective increases of $19 billion and $25 billion.

Zuckerberg, 40, probably has more time than Musk, 53, and Bezos, 60, to grow his already vast fortune. Buffett amassed over 99% of his fortune after turning 65, author Morgan Housel notes in “The Psychology of Money.” That shows how powerful a long time horizon is in compounding wealth.

Despite being far younger, Zuckerberg commands a greater net worth than business titans Bill Gates, Buffett, and the “Google Guys,” Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Early start

Zuckerberg founded Facebook in 2004 when he was 19 and took it public in 2012 at age 28. Meta now stands as the world’s seventh-largest public company with a $1.3 trillion market capitalization, making it more valuable than many corporate behemoths, including Buffett’s Berkshire ($989 billion), Musk’s Tesla ($723 billion), Walmart ($633 billion), or JPMorgan ($585 billion).

Zuckerberg has staged quite a comeback in recent years. Meta stock tanked by over 75% between September 2021 and November 2022 as investors balked at Zuckerberg’s decision to plow tens of billions of dollars into its nascent metaverse business, and soured on tech stocks more broadly. The slump slashed Zuckerberg’s net worth to just $35 billion at its nadir.

But the stock has soared over fivefold since then — and 65% in the past year — to hover at record levels of above $500. The rally, which has quintupled Zuckerberg’s net worth too, reflects Wall Street betting that Meta will win big from the AI revolution, and investors’ relief that Zuckerberg has reined in his spending.

Zuckerberg isn’t nipping at Musk and Bezos’ heels yet, but his strong momentum and the vicissitudes of tech wealth could mean that changes pretty soon.