According to Bloomberg and Forbes Billionaires Index estimates, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth has dropped by $70 billion this year, dropping him to the 20th richest person in the world.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth has dropped by $70 billion this year, a 55% drop. Meta’s net income has declined as a result of massive investments in the metaverse and a drop in user numbers.
Zuckerberg is now the world’s 20th richest person, trailing Elon Musk and Gautam Adani, who remain first and second, respectively.
According to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, Zuckerberg began the year with a fortune of $125 billion.
According to the data, it has since dropped to $55.3 billion, a drop of just over 55%. According to Forbes, his net worth is $53.4 billion.
Zuckerberg is ranked 20th, just ahead of Jim, Rob, and Alice Walton, the children of Walmart co-founder Sam Walton.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is by far the richest person on the list, with Forsige estimating his fortune at $268 billion.
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus, has had a turbulent year since Zuckerberg announced it would become a “metaverse” company and then unveiled a massive rebranding last October.
Following that, Facebook reported its first-ever drop in user numbers, losing approximately one million daily active users in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Last fall, whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked information from internal company documents, including claiming to have seen internal research that found Instagram contributed to eating disorders and suicidal thoughts in teenage girls.
In the second quarter, Meta’s net income fell 36%, or more than $3 billion, compared to the same period in 2021.
In an April proxy statement, the company stated that it had spent around $10 billion on metaverse investments in 2021, accounting for roughly half of its capital expenditure.
According to Meta, over 10,000 people were working on metaverse projects as of April. In 2022, Meta has reduced hiring due to an economic downturn that has impacted the entire tech sector.