Topline
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth swelled dramatically Thursday thanks to a massive post-earnings rally for his company’s stock—and the 38-year-old billionaire is now more than twice as rich as he was six months ago.
Mark Zuckerberg has 10 billion reasons to smile Thursday.
Key Facts
Shares of Meta gained 14% in early Thursday trading, hitting a 14-month high after the firm’s Wednesday earnings report smashed analyst expectations for profit and revenue.
Zuckerberg, who is the Facebook parent’s largest individual shareholder, grew $10.3 billion richer amid the rally, according to Forbes’ calculations.
Zuckerberg now holds an $85.1 billion fortune, about 140% higher than it was last fall as Meta shares hovered at a seven-year low, but his net worth is still far below its 2021 peak of $136.4 billion.
Remarkably, Zuckerberg’s net worth has now risen by more than $10 billion following each of Meta’s last two earnings reports, having tacked on some $12 billion following the February report that similarly topped top and bottom-line estimates.
Thanks to the surge, Zuckerberg leapfrogged Spanish fast-fashion mogul Amancio Ortega to become the world’s 14th-wealthiest person.
Surprising Fact
Thursday is on pace to be Meta stock’s sixth-best day ever. A 23% surge on February 2 after its prior quarterly update was its second-largest gain ever and its biggest since July 2013.
Key Background
Meta, which notched $28.6 billion in revenue over the first three months of 2023 and $5.7 billion in net income, continues to regain faith from investors as Zuckerberg leads a push to rein in costs and refocus on the company’s bread-and-butter advertising business. Shares of the Silicon Valley firm are up more than 90% year to date, recovering a good deal of the stock’s 76% crash between September 2021 and October. The company’s stock slump happened amid its push into augmented and virtual reality, or the metaverse. The metaverse division has lost roughly $20 billion in its less than two-year existence, but Meta’s social media operations have proven resilient, with revenue from Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp growing 4% year-over-year. “Meta’s challenges were largely temporary,” Deutsche Bank analyst Benjamin Black wrote in a note to clients.
What To Watch For
How Meta can leverage the artificial intelligence boom. Zuckerberg mentioned AI some 18 times in his opening statement during Wednesday’s earning call, asserting his firm is “no longer behind” competitors in “building out our AI infrastructure.” Zuckerberg also claimed its AI and metaverse pushes are interlinked, and investors will pay a close eye to see if Zuckerberg and company can avoid multibillion-dollar cash bleeds in its fresh foray. In a Thursday note to clients, Bernstein analyst Mark Shmulik asked: “Can Meta stay disciplined while participating in the AI boom?”