It’s one thing to be a billionaire. Only 2,781 members of the world’s population, which is nearing 8 billion people, have reached that status. And even fewer people have a multibillion-dollar net worth, with a select few reaching the coveted $100 billion position.
Zuckerberg, however, not only just broke into the $200 billion club—he’s also the biggest winner on the list having accumulated dozens of billions in wealth this year.
Zuckerberg’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. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has had the second-biggest jump in net worth this year, gaining $58 billion in wealth. Growth aside, Musk has the highest net worth with $265 billion to his name, with Bezos tracking behind him at $216 billion.
“I define our strategy as if we can learn faster than every other company, we’re going to win,” Zuckerberg said during a taping of the Acquired podcast last week. “We’re going to build a better product than everyone else because we’re going to get it out first or early. You learn faster.”
While Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook 20 years ago, only takes a $1 salary, he makes up for it in “other compensation” and his massive stake in Meta. He’s the largest shareholder of Facebook’s parent company, owning about 345.5 million shares, according to Meta’s April proxy statement. Plus, he took home $24.4 million in “other compensation” this year. Much of that other compensation goes toward protecting Zuckerberg, much as with other high-profile CEOs.
“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 did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment regarding Zuckerberg’s net worth.
Zuckerberg’s push for ‘efficiency’
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 jarring 60%, and an even more impressive 85% year over year. It opened trade at more than $557 per share on Tuesday.
Zuckerberg credits the company’s focus on AI for Meta’s strong performance this year.
“Meta AI is on track to be the most used AI assistant in the world by the end of the year,” Zuckerberg said in an earnings statement in July. Indeed, revenue rose 22% to $39.07 billion from $32 billion in Q2.
While AI has been a boon for the company, Zuckerberg’s “Year of Efficiency” at Meta has been a challenge for many of its other workers and for some of its biggest projects, including augmented reality. This cost-cutting initiative started in February 2023 and has resulted in mass layoffs from the tech giant.
“This decision is part of our larger efforts to prioritize the products we believe will best serve the future needs of our consumers and business customers alike,” Meta said in a statement.
