WASHINGTON: Mark Zuckerberg has become the fourth-richest person in the world by crossing Jeff Bezos.
The 31-year-old, who is currently on paternity leave, saw his fortune climb to $50 billion once stocks closed, continuing a surprisingly successful start to 2016 for the social network. Facebook has risen 9.5 percent in the past month despite a rocky few weeks for US stocks.
It means that Zuckerberg has moved from sixth place to fourth place on the world billionaire list in just one week – all while he is off work to spend time with his newborn daughter Maxima.
Meanwhile, his fellow billionaires are floundering. Amazon’s Bezos, who started January 2016 the fourth-richest worth $59.7 billion, is now worth $49.1 billion, pushing him out of the top five richest list. He lost $6 billion in just one day on Wednesday. Since the first trading day of the year, the e-marketing firm has slumped a staggering 18 percent, which is worth $10.6 billion.
Still, he is a significant way up from this time last year, when he was 16th on the list. Amazon enjoyed an astonishing 2015, virtually doubling Bezos’s fortune. By December 31, he had added $30.7 billion to his net worth.
Mexico’s Carlos Slim, who was ahead of Zuckerberg two weeks ago, has also suffered. America Móvil Chief Executive Slim has been rocked by economic woes in Latin America, primarily Brazil pushing his fortune down $3.3 billion. As ever, Bill Gates remains sitting comfortably in the top spot with a fortune of $78.7 billion. Spanish Zara owner Amancio Ortega, worth $69.3 billion, is the second-richest person in the world.
