Mark Zuckerberg made $11 billion rich today

Shares of Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, surged more than 17% on Thursday, making Zuckerberg nearly $11 billion richer in a single day. Earlier in the day, shares surged 19%, briefly adding $11.5 billion to Zuckerberg’s net worth.

Even though Meta fell short of Wall Street’s first-quarter earnings guidance and reported its slowest revenue growth in years, investors celebrated the change in user numbers, a key metric for advertisers.
Thursday’s dizzying reaction contrasted sharply with Meta’s disastrous fourth-quarter results, which sent stocks plummeting in early February in what was the biggest single-day crash in Wall Street history. The loss also knocked out Zuckerberg, who owns 13% of Meta, from his 9th place among the world’s super-rich, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

As of the end of Wednesday, Zuckerberg was in 18th place with a net worth of $65 billion. Thursday’s rally should lift him up a few notches and boost his net worth to around $76 billion.

Despite the fact that Meta (FB) rose on Thursday, stocks remain 39% lower for the year and face severe headwinds.

The company is battling competitors like TikTok, struggling to monetize popular video content, and facing disruption to its core advertising business due to changes to Apple’s privacy policy.

Meta also noted that its business has been affected by Russia’s war in Ukraine – Facebook and Instagram were blocked in Russia last month – and expects these issues to continue into the current quarter.

— Claire Duffy of CNN Business contributed to this report.

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