Tough luck, Zuck!
Mark Zuckerberg tumbled from third to fifth place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index after Meta’ stock plunged 11% on Thursday — wiping out $29.2 billion from his fortune in just one day.
The 41-year-old CEO’s net worth fell to $235.2 billion, his lowest ranking in nearly two years, as investors recoiled from Meta’s plan to issue $30 billion in new debt to fund artificial intelligence spending, according to Bloomberg.
The drop was the fourth-largest one-day market-driven loss ever recorded by Bloomberg’s wealth index.
Zuckerberg reportedly refused to clap Wednesday after singer Billie Eilish said at the Wall Street Journal Magazine Innovator Awards that billionaires should “give your money away.”
Meta’s steepest stock selloff since 2022 followed the company’s announcement that it would raise its total expense forecast for 2025 to as much as $118 billion — including up to $72 billion in capital expenditures — to expand its AI infrastructure, with even higher spending anticipated in 2026.
The staggering outlay triggered at least two analyst downgrades, with some warning that Meta’s AI ambitions could squeeze profits.
Zuckerberg, who saw his net worth soar by $57 billion earlier this year as Meta shares rose 28%, was leapfrogged by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Google co-founder Larry Page.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk sits comfortably atop the billionaires ranking, followed by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
Both Bezos and Page benefited from strong earnings that drove up their companies’ stock prices.
Amazon’s shares have surged more than 30% since April amid renewed optimism about its cloud-computing unit, which has inked deals with AI startups including Anthropic.
Alphabet stock climbed 2.5% after the company posted better-than-expected third-quarter revenue, powered by demand for cloud and AI services.
Meta’s $30 billion bond sale — the biggest investment-grade offering of 2025 — was meant to bolster spending on AI, data centers and metaverse projects.
Instead, it sparked fears that the social media giant is overextending financially just as competitors gain ground in AI-driven advertising.
The rout marked a sharp reversal for Zuckerberg, who earlier this year was closing in on Bezos and Elon Musk in the global wealth rankings.
Despite his massive wealth, Zuckerberg has cultivated a public image of modesty — often photographed in plain T-shirts and jeans — while quietly indulging in some of the most extravagant purchases among Silicon Valley elites.
The Meta boss has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into real estate, including a massive estate on Kauai, Hawaii, that reportedly includes an underground bunker with a blast-resistant door.
Zuckerberg has denied reports of a “doomsday bunker.”
He also owns multiple homes near his main Palo Alto, Calif., residence, which was designed to maintain privacy.
Zuckerberg’s Hawaiian holdings now span thousands of acres, making him one of the state’s largest private landowners.
Local reports say his property features an extensive security system and a network of tunnels linking buildings across the compound.
Though once known for driving modest vehicles such as a Honda Fit, Zuckerberg owns an ultra-rare Italian Pagani Huayra valued at over $1 million, along with a growing collection of vintage cars.
Those include Ford Broncos and a custom Porsche worth about $250,000.
In recent years, he entered the superyacht scene in dramatic fashion. Zuckerberg purchased the 387-foot yacht Launchpad for an estimated $300 million, along with a $30 million support vessel dubbed Wingman.
For his 40th birthday, Zuckerberg reportedly hosted an extravagant bash aboard Launchpad — one of several lavish celebrations he’s thrown in recent years.
The billionaire also commissioned a 7-foot statue of his wife, Priscilla Chan, a piece that underscores both his personal affection and penchant for eye-catching displays of wealth.
Meta shares were down nearly 2% as of 2 p.m. ET on Friday.
Zuckerberg has not publicly commented on the market drop. The Post has sought comment from Meta.
Credit: Source link
