Mark Zuckerberg has officially joined the world’s most exclusive club of the ultra rich. The Facebook founder and CEO this week became a Centibillionaire, meaning that he is worth more than $100 billion.
Zuckerberg achieved the remarkable milestone after shares in his social network surged. The elite club features two other men; Microsoft’s Bill Gates and, yeah, you guessed it, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.
Zuckerberg founded Facebook while in Havard in 2004 and to date, his biggest asset is his 13 percent stake in the company. This is according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which tracks the world’s wealthiest people. Zuckerberg, 36, is also Facebook’s chairman and controlling shareholder.
This latest boost happened on Thursday after Facebook’s stock surged 6.5 percent following the launch of Instagram Reels, the company’s TikTok clone. The release happened just as US president Donald Trump threatened to ban TikTok in the country. Trump issued an executive order giving the company 45 days to complete a sales deal or face the ban.
ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, has been in talks with Microsoft to acquire the company although the Chief of the popular short video making company has expressed reservations due to Trump’s forceful approach.
Facebook shares have climbed almost 30 percent this year, adding about $22 billion to Zuckerberg’s wealth.
Zuckerberg signed The Giving Pledge in 2010 which is an initiative started by Warren Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates to encourage the world’s wealthiest people to donate the bulk of their fortunes to charity.
In 2015, Zuckerberg went a step further and announced that he would give away what he makes from 99 percent of his Facebook stake.
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