[imagesource:x/@ Sir Doge of the Coin/AI generated]
Sure, it’s impressive to be a billionaire—just 2,781 lucky souls among nearly eight billion on this planet can claim that title.
Let’s not get too carried away, though, as even fewer boast a multi-billion-dollar fortune and only a handful have managed to hit the elusive $100 billion mark.
However, now there’s an even more illustrious camp – the $200 billion club – and only three of tech’s biggest moguls have reached that summit: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla/X CEO Elon Musk, and now, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Zuckerberg hasn’t just waltzed into the $200 billion club—he’s also the star of the show, racking up tens of billions in wealth this year alone. The Meta man’s wealth has ballooned by an incredible $72.2 billion this year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, bringing his total net worth to $200 billion. Growth aside, Musk still holds the highest net worth with $265 billion to his name, while Bezos is trucking on behind him at $216 billion.
This puts Zuckerberg on top of other major tech executives including Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and former Microsoft CEOs Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.
We pause to watch Bo Burnham spit some truths from the 1:16 mark:
While Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook 20 years ago, might be content with a $1 salary, he more than makes up for it through “other compensation” and his substantial stake in Meta. As the largest shareholder of Facebook’s parent company, he holds around 345.5 million shares, as revealed in Meta’s April proxy statement.
On top of that, he pocketed $24.4 million in “other compensation” this year—most of which likely funds his personal security, just like other high-profile CEOs who need to keep their fortunes and egos protected.
“We believe that Mr. Zuckerberg’s role puts him in a unique position: He is synonymous with Meta and, as a result, negative sentiment regarding our company is directly associated with, and often transferred to, Mr. Zuckerberg,” Meta wrote in the SEC filing.
Meta, which owns and operates Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp, has performed well this year. Since the start of 2024, Meta’s stock is up a face-slapping 60%, and an even more impressive 85% year over year.
Someone needs to put a cap on this.
[source:fortune]