Mark Zuckerberg climbs the ranks of world’s richest

Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has grown his wealth by more than $78 billion thus far in 2024.

Transcript

00:00I'm Conway Gittins reporting from the New York Stock Exchange.

00:03Here's what we're watching on the street today.

00:05Stocks began the week under pressure as escalating warfare in the Middle East offset economic

00:10optimism at home.

00:12In other news, move over Jeff Bezos.

00:14Mark Zuckerberg has taken over your spot as the world's second richest person.

00:18Zuckerberg has also eclipsed the fortune of LVMH founder Bernard Arnault.

00:24According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Zuckerberg's personal wealth sits at $206

00:28billion, only bested by Elon Musk's $265 billion.

00:34Zuckerberg's finances took a big leap in 2024 with the addition of $78.1 billion in his

00:40coffers.

00:41Much of the bouncing wealth came from one source, his stake in Meta Platforms, the parent

00:46company of Facebook and Instagram.

00:48Meta shares have soared roughly 70% to record highs near $600 a pop.

00:54Meta has seemingly weathered political and financial storms which held the stock back

00:58in the past.

01:00Zuckerberg had to steer the ship after being called down to Capitol Hill several times

01:04to defend Facebook for its role in spreading political misinformation.

01:09And then there was the disastrous pivot to the metaverse from which he had to make a

01:12U-turn after his stock plunged on spending concerns.

01:17Zuckerberg survived both crises and now Meta and its various products, including threads

01:21and WhatsApp, are on the mend.

01:24Zuckerberg's embrace of AI is helping too.

01:26He says that with half a billion monthly active users, it won't be long before Meta

01:31AI becomes the biggest AI assistant in the world.

01:34That of course will add even more dollars to Zuckerberg's wealth since the value of

01:39Meta's stock is based on how many eyeballs he can get for advertisers.

01:44That'll do it for your daily briefing from the New York Stock Exchange.

01:47I'm Conway Gittins with the street.