Mark Zuckerberg Is $8 Billion Richer In One Week After Facebook Earnings Surprise Analysts

THE CHANGING FORTUNES OF THE WORLD’S RICHEST

he fortunes of some of the world’s richest people spiked up this week after America’s largest tech companies announced blockbuster first quarter earnings.

Mark Zuckerberg enjoyed the largest jump in wealth, getting $8 billion richer during Facebook’s earnings week to wind up with an estimated net worth of $117.8 billion. The social media giant shattered analysts’ expectations Wednesday afternoon with $26.1 billion in first-quarter revenue, 48% higher than last year, helping push the stock up by 7.3% Thursday to a record high. Facebook’s 8% gain for the week far outpaced the S&P 500 Index’s flat showing and the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 0.5% decline.

Facebook’s revenue was nearly $3 billion higher than analysts had predicted, and its $9.5 billion net income—$3.30 per share—beat average expectations of $2.33 per share. Facebook’s surge also increased the net worths of billionaire cofounders Dustin Moskovitz and Eduardo Saverin by more than $1 billion each.

The world’s wealthiest person also had a good week. Jeff Bezos crossed the $200 billion mark for the first time since last October and is now worth an estimated $201.4 billion, $6.7 billion more than a week ago. Amazon stock rose 3.8% during the week in anticipation of the company’s first quarter earnings report. The company’s first quarter revenue and profit crushed expectations on Thursday, though the stock closed Friday down slightly for the day. Still, shares ended the week up 3.8%, also boosting the fortune of Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie Scott by $2.2 billion to an estimated $61.2 billion.

Like its peers, Google parent Alphabet beat estimates Tuesday with first quarter revenues of $55.3 billion, 34% higher than last year. That figure helped drive a 2.3% rise in Alphabet stock this week, lifting the fortunes of cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin by $2.9 billion each. Page is now worth an estimated $102.7 billion, and Brin joined him as a centibillionaire Wednesday before Google’s stock decline Friday lowered his fortune to an estimated $99.6 billion.

Jiang Rensheng was the week’s biggest winner outside of the U.S. Shares of his Chinese vaccine firm Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products rose 16.6% this week, lifting his fortune by $4.4 billion to an estimated $30.9 billion. Zhifei’s three-dose Covid-19 vaccine was approved for emergency use in China in March; Jiang’s net worth has grown by more than 300% since the beginning of the pandemic.