Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and chief executive officer of Meta Platforms (META), has become the world’s second richest person.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Zuckerberg’s net worth has reached $206.2 billion U.S., placing him second on the world’s rich list behind Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk.
Zuckerberg surpassed Jeff Bezos, the former Amazon (AMZN) CEO who has a net worth of $205.1 billion U.S., to become the second richest person on the planet.
Zuckerberg now trails Elon Musk by about $50 billion U.S., according to Bloomberg.
Zuckerberg’s wealth is due to his 13% stake in Meta Platforms. His net worth has risen by nearly $80 billion U.S. since the beginning of the year as Meta’s stock has increased.
Meta Platforms’ shares closed at an all-time high of $582.77 U.S. on Oct. 3, up nearly 70% on the year.
The steady rise of Meta’s stock has come as the company reports rising sales and profits. In July, the company said that its second-quarter sales grew 22% to $39.07 billion U.S.
Meta has also undertaken a major cost-cutting plan that led to 21,000 employees losing their jobs, which equated to about a quarter of the company’s workforce.
Meta Platforms debuted new artificial intelligence and virtual reality technologies at its annual developer conference at the end of September.
New devices that are set to go on sale in coming months include augmented reality sunglasses and a cheaper version of the popular Quest virtual reality headset.
