Zuckerberg is now the world's third richest individual after a $30 billion rise in his wealth after the coronavirus crisis began
Despite the economic implications of the pandemic, in just two months, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has added more than $30 billion to its income. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking updated on May 21, Zuckerberg's rise in net worth has won him the title of third-richest individual. Zuckerberg currently stands at an estimated $87.8 billion, rising above billionaires including Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett and Bernard Arnault the fashion mogul.
When Silicon Valley and the Bay Area were first told to shelter in place in mid-March, Zuckerberg was worth $57.5 billion, according to Bloomberg 's estimates, and placed fifth on the list. In an attempt to control the coronavirus outbreak, California remains under lockdown, but Facebook's CEO has added billions to its resources.
The spike in Zuckerberg 's ranking is possibly due to the success of his business at a period when almost 40 million U.S. employees were laid off. On April 29, Facebook posted earnings which were better than anticipated in the first quarter. The company's sales and daily active users exceed Wall Street estimates, raising $17.74 billion and reaching 1.73 billion users in the first three months of 2020. The company also announced that its app family, which includes Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, had crossed 3 billion monthly users. Facebook stock jumped as much as 8 per cent by the next morning, netting the company $44 billion in market value added.
However, Facebook said that over the last three weeks of the first quarter it has experienced a "major decline" in advertisement demand. While the first-quarter results were fairly positive across the board for tech firms and social media, a major effect on the economy remains to be seen. Results for the second quarter — covering business from April 1 to June 30 — may better reflect the effect coronavirus pandemic has on business. Facebook has also announced expansions of its business toward e-commerce and video chatting over the past two months. Recently , Facebook launched Messenger Rooms, a video-chat facility for up to 50 people at the time, while apps such as Zoom and Houseparty encountered major bumps in use.
Just this week, Facebook said its core platform and Instagram were getting an e-commerce feature called Shops that allows businesses to add their profiles to virtual storefronts. Zuckerberg is third behind Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on the list of the richest men.
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