Mark Zuckerberg is now the world’s second-richest person, ahead of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, after shares of Facebook’s parent company Meta rose sharply on its strong second-quarter results.
The founder and chief executive of Meta now has a personal fortune worth $206 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That puts him $1 billion ahead of Mr Bezos and $50 billion behind Tesla’s founder and chief executive Elon Musk, the world's richest man.
The majority of Mr Zuckerberg's wealth is derived from his 13 per cent stake in the Menlo Park, California-based firm, the world’s biggest social media company.
Mr Zuckerberg has seen his fortune grow $78 billion so far this year, the most of any of the world’s 500 richest people tracked by the Bloomberg index. The 40-year-old has gained four spots this year on the wealth index. He was also one of the biggest wealth movers of 2023.
He could receive a payout of about $700 million a year from Meta's first-ever dividend announced for investors this year. In February, Meta announced plans to buy back an additional $50 billion in shares and issue its first quarterly dividend since listing in May 2012.
Meta shares have risen 23 per cent since it reported better-than-expected sales in the second quarter. The stock closed at an all-time high of $582.77 on Thursday.
The Facebook parent beat Wall Street estimates for revenue and profit in the second quarter. It reported revenue growth of 22 per cent annually to $39.07 billion in the three-month period, marking a fourth straight quarter of growth in excess of 20 per cent. Net income jumped 73 per cent to $13.47 billion.
It is spending heavily on artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality technology, a big area of focus for investors. Meta has been pouring money into data centre infrastructure and computing power that Mr Zuckerberg said is necessary to stay ahead of the competition.
In 2022, Mr Zuckerberg shed $71 billion – or 57 per cent – from his net worth as the stock market bear run eroded the personal wealth of many of the world’s technology billionaires.
A billionaire’s net worth is typically tied to the equity of their companies and can live and die on the back of volatile global stock markets.
Mr Zuckerberg's wealth rout began in February 2022, when he fell out of the list of the world’s top 10 wealthiest people – and the elite $100 billion club – for the first time since 2015, Reuters reported.
At the time, he lost $29 billion of his net worth after Meta’s stock recorded its biggest one-day fall on February 4, when it dropped by 26 per cent and erased more than $200 billion from the company’s market capitalisation.
Mr Zuckerberg’s one-day wealth decline in February 2022 is among the biggest in history and came after Mr Musk’s $35 billion single-day paper loss in November 2020, Reuters reported. The Facebook founder ended 2022 with a net worth of $44 billion and was ranked the world's 25th-wealthiest person, down from a high of number three in 2021.
However, Mr Musk holds the world record for the biggest wealth loss in history after shedding $182 billion from his net worth between November 2021 and January 2023, the Guinness World Records said.
In March this year, Mr Musk was knocked off his perch as the world’s richest person after the electric vehicle maker’s shares tumbled. In the span of only one day, Mr Musk lost $17.6 billion from his personal fortune, pushing him out of the $200 billion club and into second place on the index below Mr Bezos.
Mr Zuckerberg started Facebook at Harvard in 2004 at the age of 19 for students to match names with photos of classmates. He took Facebook public in May 2012 and now owns about 13 per cent of the company's stock, according to Forbes magazine.
Facebook changed its name to Meta Platforms in November 2021 in a sign it was shifting the company's focus to the metaverse.
In December 2015, Mr Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, pledged to give away 99 per cent of their Meta stake over their lifetimes.
Top 10 richest people in the world
1. Elon Musk – $256 billion
2. Mark Zuckerberg – $206 billion
3. Jeff Bezos – $205 billion
4. Bernard Arnault – $193 billion
5. Larry Ellison – $179 billion
6. Bill Gates – $161 billion
7. Larry Page – $150 billion
8. Steve Ballmer – $145 billion
9. Warren Buffett – $143 billion
10. Sergey Brin – $141 billion
Source: Bloomberg Billionaires Index
ICC men's cricketer of the year
2004 - Rahul Dravid (IND) ; 2005 - Jacques Kallis (SA) and Andrew Flintoff (ENG); 2006 - Ricky Ponting (AUS); 2007 - Ricky Ponting; 2008 - Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI); 2009 - Mitchell Johnson (AUS); 2010 - Sachin Tendulkar (IND); 2011 - Jonathan Trott (ENG); 2012 - Kumar Sangakkara (SL); 2013 - Michael Clarke (AUS); 2014 - Mitchell Johnson; 2015 - Steve Smith (AUS); 2016 - Ravichandran Ashwin (IND); 2017 - Virat Kohli (IND); 2018 - Virat Kohli; 2019 - Ben Stokes (ENG); 2021 - Shaheen Afridi
Low turnout
Two months before the first round on April 10, the appetite of voters for the election is low.
Mathieu Gallard, account manager with Ipsos, which conducted the most recent poll, said current forecasts suggested only two-thirds were "very likely" to vote in the first round, compared with a 78 per cent turnout in the 2017 presidential elections.
"It depends on how interesting the campaign is on their main concerns," he told The National. "Just now, it's hard to say who, between Macron and the candidates of the right, would be most affected by a low turnout."
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The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz GLA
Price, base / as tested Dh150,900 / Dh173,600
Engine 2.0L inline four-cylinder
Transmission Seven-speed automatic
Power 211hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 1,200rpm
Fuel economy, combined 6.4L / 100km
How to keep control of your emotions
If your investment decisions are being dictated by emotions such as fear, greed, hope, frustration and boredom, it is time for a rethink, Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG, says.
Greed
Greedy investors trade beyond their means, open more positions than usual or hold on to positions too long to chase an even greater gain. “All too often, they incur a heavy loss and may even wipe out the profit already made.
Tip: Ignore the short-term hype, noise and froth and invest for the long-term plan, based on sound fundamentals.
Fear
The risk of making a loss can cloud decision-making. “This can cause you to close out a position too early, or miss out on a profit by being too afraid to open a trade,” he says.
Tip: Start with a plan, and stick to it. For added security, consider placing stops to reduce any losses and limits to lock in profits.
Hope
While all traders need hope to start trading, excessive optimism can backfire. Too many traders hold on to a losing trade because they believe that it will reverse its trend and become profitable.
Tip: Set realistic goals. Be happy with what you have earned, rather than frustrated by what you could have earned.
Frustration
Traders can get annoyed when the markets have behaved in unexpected ways and generates losses or fails to deliver anticipated gains.
Tip: Accept in advance that asset price movements are completely unpredictable and you will suffer losses at some point. These can be managed, say, by attaching stops and limits to your trades.
Boredom
Too many investors buy and sell because they want something to do. They are trading as entertainment, rather than in the hope of making money. As well as making bad decisions, the extra dealing charges eat into returns.
Tip: Open an online demo account and get your thrills without risking real money.
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Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
Tank warfare
Lt Gen Erik Petersen, deputy chief of programs, US Army, has argued it took a “three decade holiday” on modernising tanks.
“There clearly remains a significant armoured heavy ground manoeuvre threat in this world and maintaining a world class armoured force is absolutely vital,” the general said in London last week.
“We are developing next generation capabilities to compete with and deter adversaries to prevent opportunism or miscalculation, and, if necessary, defeat any foe decisively.”
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
