Mark Zuckerberg Becomes Richer Than Elon Musk

Mark Zuckerberg became richest man than musk

Musk's wealth has shrunk by $48.4 billion this year, while Zuckerberg has added $58.9 billion to his fortune as Meta Platforms Inc. climbs to fresh highs.

The two billionaires' rivalry extends beyond their wealth.

Mark Zuckerberg passed Elon Musk on Friday to become the third-richest person in the world, the first time since 2020 the arch-rival billionaires have held those positions.

Musk, who ranked first on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as recently as early March, fell to fourth after Reuters reported Tesla Inc. had canceled plans for a less-expensive car, sending shares lower. (Musk denied the report.) That followed news earlier in the week that Tesla's vehicle deliveries fell in the three months through March, their first year-over-year decline since the early days of the Covid pandemic.

Musk's wealth has shrunk by $48.4 billion this year, while Zuckerberg has added $58.9 billion to his fortune as Meta Platforms Inc. climbs to fresh highs, including a new record on Friday.
It's the first time Zuckerberg has broken into the top three on Bloomberg's ranking of the richest people since Nov. 16, 2020, when he was worth $105.6 billion and Musk's fortune was $102.1 billion. Musk now has a net worth of $180.6 billion; Zuckerberg's is $186.9 billion.

The reversal of the wealth gap between Musk and Zuckerberg, which was as big as $215 billion in November 2021, illustrates how once-hot electric vehicle stocks have been usurped by big tech, and particularly anything involving artificial intelligence.
Tesla shares have fallen 34% this year, making it the worst performer in the S&P 500 Index. It's been battered by a global slowdown in EV demand, growing competition in China and production problems in Germany. Meta, meanwhile, has surged 49% thanks to strong quarterly earnings and excitement about the company's AI initiatives. It's the fifth-best performer .

The two billionaires' rivalry extends beyond their wealth: Musk and Zuckerberg have been engaged in an ongoing public spat that intensified when Meta launched Threads, a social-media platform that competes with Musk's X. The two even traded barbs last year about a possible cage fight. Musk, 52, recently revived the idea on X, saying he would fight Zuckerberg, 39, "anywhere, anytime."
Musk's net worth could take a further hit after his $55 billion Tesla pay package was struck down by a Delaware judge. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index continues to use the options from that pay package, which are one of Musk's largest assets, in its calculations of his wealth.

The individuals on this list belong to an even more exclusive club and wield still more power. Many are founders of technology giants, with much of their wealth still invested in the companies they started.

These billionaires can, however, still borrow against that wealth to avoid selling stock, deferring (or eliminating for heirs) taxes on unrealized capital gains in the process. Multi-billionaires can also take advantage of a panoply of tax deductions to offset reported income, leaving some on this list paying no income tax in recent years.

With so much of their wealth in publicly traded stocks, the net worth of the richest fluctuates along with the market valuations of the companies they own. Below are the 10 wealthiest people on the planet, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. All figures are current as of April 1, 2024.

How did Mark Zuckerberg make his money?

Facebook was not the first social media platform—a computerized bulletin board in Chicago existed as far back as 1978. It wasn’t the first social networking site, either: that distinction goes to Six Degrees, which was founded in 1996. But what Facebook did that was light years ahead of its competitors—what made it truly revolutionary—was that its business was constantly innovating and evolving to meet its users' needs while embracing its staggering growth.

This contrasted with other platforms of the early 2000s, which relied on more traditional, MBA-style strategies like forecasting and planning, effectively stifling innovation. (Remember MySpace, anyone?)

Zuckerberg was a visionary in that way, listening to what his audience wanted and building applications customized to their needs, minting profits all the way. He changed Facebook’s membership model from a private, university-only model at its launch in 2004 to being public-inclusive by September 2006. He also introduced Facebook Marketplace in 2007, which allowed users to sell products and services.

But none of these earlier ventures received as much capital as Facebook. PayPal’s Peter Thiel made a $500,000 angel investment in the company in June 2004; by 2005, Facebook had generated an additional $13 million from venture capitalists (it also shed “the” from its name that year).

By 2006, Facebook was worth $525 million, and in 2007, Microsoft bought a 1.6% stake in the company, adding another $240 million infusion. By the time Facebook went public on May 18, 2012, the company was worth $104 billion, making it one of the largest IPOs in history.

At what age did Zuckerberg become a billionaire?
Zuckerberg was only 23 years old at the time of Facebook’s IPO in 2012, making him the youngest billionaire to date.

Boston, MA - September 22: Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan announce a $500 million gift from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to Harvard, all to fund a new institute called the Kempner Institute to study natural and artificial intelligence. (Photo by Lane Turner/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Chan and Zuckerberg have three children together and co-founded the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

Who is Mark Zuckerberg’s wife?

Mark Zuckerberg met his wife, Priscilla Chan, at Harvard. She graduated with a B.S. in Biology in 2007 and went on to obtain an M.D. in pediatrics from the University of California, San Francisco in 2012. They married the day after Facebook’s IPO, on May 19, 2012, and have three daughters together: Maxima, August, and Aurelia.

At what age did Zuckerberg become a billionaire?

Zuckerberg was only 23 years old at the time of Facebook’s IPO in 2012, making him the youngest billionaire to date.

Boston, MA - September 22: Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan announce a $500 million gift from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to Harvard, all to fund a new institute called the Kempner Institute to study natural and artificial intelligence. (Photo by Lane Turner/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Chan and Zuckerberg have three children together and co-founded the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.