Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse Gamble Pays Off with a $201 Billion Fortune
Mark Zuckerberg’s bet on the metaverse initially seemed like a colossal mistake, wiping out more than $100 billion (approximately Rs. 8,39,113 crore) from his net worth. But now it’s paying off big time.
Buoyed by a record high share price of Meta Platforms, Zuckerberg’s net worth has grown nearly sixfold in less than two years to $201 billion (approximately Rs. 16,86,617 crore), the first time he has crossed the $200 billion (approximately Rs. 16) mark . 78,226 crore), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He has moved to fourth place on the list of the world’s 500 richest people, behind Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault.
While other tech titans have made big jumps in net worth this year — Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, for example, has more than doubled his wealth to $106.2 billion (about Rs.8,91,138 crore) — none has grown as much like Zuckerberg’s. He has added $73.4 billion (approximately Rs. 6,15,908 crore) to his fortune since January 1, thanks to his 13 percent stake in Meta. The stock closed at a record high on Wednesday and is up 60 percent this year.
It’s a long way from 2022, when Zuckerberg’s stock and fortune took a nosedive after his company underwent massive changes, including a name change and major investments in the metaverse. At the time, Meta was struggling to gain a foothold in short video, while competitor TikTok was growing in popularity. Now analysts think Facebook’s move to Meta is finally coming to fruition as the company leans heavily on its Orion Augmented Reality glasses.
“With the confluence of Meta’s hardware improvements over the past five years and advances with AI, Orion represents Meta’s evolution from a social media company to a Metaverse company,” JMP Securities analysts wrote in a note to investors this week.
Since 2022, Meta has laid off tens of thousands of employees, shrinking its global workforce by 25 percent. The Menlo Park, California-based company has taken steps to improve stock performance, including a $50 billion (roughly Rs. 4,18,928 crore) share buyback program and Meta’s first-ever quarterly dividend.
The company has also jumped on the artificial intelligence (AI) bandwagon, investing heavily in data centers and computing power as Zuckerberg works to build a leadership position in the industry-wide AI race. The company recently announced further investments in AI-generated creators, who interact one-on-one with online fans.
Zuckerberg’s public image has also changed dramatically from two years ago. Previously portrayed as a nerdy techie, the 40-year-old CEO has turned his attention to wakesurfing and mixed martial arts. A photo of a seven-foot statue of his wife, Priscilla Chan, recently went viral on Instagram, with Zuckerberg claiming he was “bringing back the Roman tradition of making sculptures of your wife.”
He has also said he plans to stay out of politics. Having previously expressed his views on social justice, inequality and immigration issues, he has since publicly expressed regret for some of his political activities.
“I don’t think I had much understanding of the political environment, and I think I just fundamentally misdiagnosed the problem,” he said during a live podcast event in San Francisco.
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