How Mark Zuckerberg gained more wealth than anyone else this year to become the world’s second-richest person

The Meta CEO leapfrogged Amazon founder Jeff Bezos by $1 billion to take the number two spot on Thursday with a net worth of $206 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He is now behind only Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who boasts a net worth of $256 billion.

Zuckerberg’s wealth is mostly tied up in his 13% stake of Meta, and it has jumped by about $78 billion this year alone thanks to stock gains. That’s more than anybody else on the billionaires list, including Jensen Huang, the CEO of red hot chipmaker Nvidia.

Meta shares skyrocketed this year, closing at a record high of $582.77 on Thursday. And the stock was trading even higher at $590 on Friday, up nearly 70% year to date.

In February, Meta’s stock surged after it announced its first quarterly dividend and a $50 billion stock buyback that pleased investors. Since then, Meta’s stock has benefited from better-than-expected sales in the second quarter and the company’s push into AI. 

After pouring billions into Zuckerberg’s metaverse vision, the company’s Reality Labs division lost less money than expected in the second quarter. The division has also been asked to rein in its spending by 20%, much of which will reportedly take place this year. Those cuts, plus a surprising boost from the company’s announcement of soon-to-come augmented reality glasses, dubbed Orion, which incorporate the company’s AI, have pushed the company’s stock up even further as investors applaud its innovation.

The stock has also seen a boost from Zuckerberg’s push for efficiency and flattening of the company’s corporate structure over the past few years. 

While the gap between Musk and Zuckerberg seems vast, tech fortunes can vary wildly, and it’s not unimaginable that the two could trade places in the future. As recently as June, Musk’s net worth was lower than Zuckerberg’s. The Tesla CEO has for years been shuffling in and out of the top spot, competing with billionaire peers Bezos and LVMH’s Bernard Arnault. 

Tesla’s stock has rebounded from its tumult earlier this year, pushing up Musk’s wealth, much of which is tied up in his stake in the company. Tesla shares are now about two times higher than the 52-week low they hit in April. Musk’s wealth was also boosted when Tesla shareholders approved the restoration of a $45 billion pay package for the CEO in June. 

While Musk and Zuckerberg compete on the list of the richest people, their conflict has also broken into the public sphere as of late. Last year, Musk challenged mixed-martial-arts aficionado Zuckerberg to a cage fight via a post on X. Zuckerberg accepted and was keen on setting up the event before Musk bailed.

“If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me,” he wrote in a post on his X-lookalike website, Threads.