Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s fortune tops US$100 billion for first time
- 36-year-old social media boss becomes world’s third centibillionaire, joining Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates
- Tech founders have accumulated staggering amounts of wealth as coronavirus pandemic drives more people online
Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth passed $100 billion for the first time Thursday after Facebook hit a record on optimism about the release of its TikTok competitor Reels.
The 36-year-old joins fellow tech titans Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates as the only people in the world who currently have centibillionaire status, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Zuckerberg’s net worth is largely derived from his 13 per cent stake in Facebook.
The founders of America’s largest technology companies have enjoyed a mind-boggling accumulation of wealth this year as the coronavirus pandemic drives more people online, despite the US economy contracting at its fastest pace on record.
Zuckerberg has gained about US$22 billion this year. Bezos is up more than US$75 billion.
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The five largest American tech companies – Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Facebook and Microsoft – currently have market valuations equivalent to about 30 per cent of US gross domestic product, nearly double what they were at the end of 2018.
US Senator Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, plans to introduce legislation to tax what he called “obscene wealth gains” during the coronavirus crisis.
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The “Make Billionaires Pay Act” would tax 60 per cent of the increase in the ultra-wealthy’s net worth from March 18 through the end of the year and use the revenue to cover out-of-pocket health care expenses of all Americans.
Zuckerberg, who founded the social media giant from his Harvard University dorm room in 2004, has said he plans to give away 99 per cent of his Facebook shares over his lifetime.
