Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is now the world's third-richest person

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.

Facebook's Zuckerberg defends steps on virus misinformation

Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg has told the BBC that it has some content likely to result in "immediate and imminent harm" to users and will delete it.

It removed Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro's claim that scientists had "proved" there was a coronavirus cure. That was omitted because, he said, "obviously" it was not valid. He also said that Facebook had removed content from groups claiming the rollout of the digital 5 G network was a cause of the virus spread and in some cases encouraged those who believed it to damage the physical infrastructure of the networks.

Recently , Facebook removed material from former broadcaster and conspiracy theorist David Icke "for repeated violations of our negative misinformation policies." Mr Icke proposed that 5 G mobile telecommunications networks be connected to the spread of the virus and that a Jewish community be behind the virus in another video he proposed. Facebook has maintained, however, that unless there is a risk of real imminent damage, then the company will and should allow what it calls the "widest possible aperture" for Internet freedom of speech.

He also told the BBC that the "arms race" against countries like Russia, Iran , and China is to avoid political intervention. He said the company had been "behind" in the US presidential election in 2016. In his first five-year UK broadcast interview, he said in 2016 Facebook was unprepared for state-sponsored interference.

Previously, Facebook became entangled in a political controversy in which hundreds of millions of data about its users ended up in the hands of political interest groups like Cambridge Analytica. But he said the social media giant, which also controls Whatsapp and Instagram, is now better positioned than other businesses, and even governments, to prevent potential attempts to manipulate political outcomes.

Mr Zuckerberg also defended his personal level of influence over perhaps the most influential media outlets in the world. While Facebook is a public corporation worth almost $700bn (£574bn), it effectively retains complete corporate control due to an ownership structure that gives it a controlling interest while it owns a small fraction of the stock.

He said it helped Facebook to make long-term strategic decisions that proved to be correct, such as waiting to develop the experience of Facebook before releasing it on smartphones and not selling it to rivals early. Facebook continues to face criticism of its inability to identify or define itself as a publisher and therefore assume the kind of editorial duty legally binding on newspapers and conventional broadcasters.

It would be difficult to argue, however, that Facebook , WhatsApp and Instagram did not provide billions of people with the kind of interaction with friends and family that was necessary during this global pandemic, and the consequent restrictions on movement and freedom. Nonetheless, after years of controversy and outrage, it seems obvious that Facebook and Mr Zuckerberg feel more comfortable in their public positions.

Whether there are any winners out of this public health disaster, they include internet businesses such as Twitter, Netflix and Amazon. No one, however, is completely resistant to the deep decline that is already upon us and the proof for which any new economic release is verified.

Facebook understands this, which is one of the reasons why it is keen to support small businesses online by launching a service called Facebook Shops this week. This is an exchange of shared benefits. Those businesses are Facebook's current and future customers. For Facebook what is right for them is perfect.