Zuckerberg is now world’s second wealthiest person

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Zuckerberg is now world's second wealthiest person

Mark Zuckerberg became the world’s second-richest person for the first time on Thursday, jumping ahead of Jeff Bezos as shares of Meta Platforms continue to climb.

Zuckerberg’s bet on the metaverse — which initially looked like a huge bust — has paid off in recent months, pushing his net worth to a high-water mark of US$206.2-billion (R3.6-trillion), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That puts him $1.1-billion ahead of Amazon.com’s Bezos and almost $50-billion behind Tesla’s Elon Musk.

Meta shares have risen 23% since reporting better-than-expected sales in the second quarter and touting its push into the type of large language models that power AI chatbots. The stock closed on Thursday at all-time high of $582.77.

Meta has spent heavily on data centers and computing power as Zuckerberg works to build a leading position in the industry-wide AI race. The company has also moved ahead with other long-term projects, including its Orion augmented reality glasses, which the company introduced last month.

Read: Mark Zuckerberg joins the $200-billion club

Zuckerberg, who owns a 13% stake in the Menlo Park, California-based company, has seen his fortune grow by $78-billion so far this year, the most of any of the world’s 500 richest people tracked by the index.