Mark Zuckerberg fell to fifth place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the lowest in nearly two years, as investors spooked by Meta’s planned $30 billion debt sale sent the company’s shares soaring amid a wave of tech profits that shook the ranks of the world’s richest.
Meta shares fell 11%, the most since 2022, after the company said it was issuing the biggest investment-grade bond offering of the year to boost spending on AI researchdropping Zuckerberg’s net worth to $235.2 billion, according to the Wealth Index.
He was surpassed by Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com Inc. and Larry Page of Alphabet Inc., who had not been among the four richest people since October 2023. Alphabet shares rose 2.5% after reporting revenue that beat analyst expectations amid a surge in demand for its cloud and artificial intelligence services.
Zuckerberg’s $29.2 billion drop It was the fourth-largest one-day market-driven drop ever recorded by the Bloomberg Wealth Index.
Meta shares had gained 28% this year before Thursday’s swoon, adding $57 billion to Zuckerberg’s fortune. But questions about Meta’s growing AI budget gave investors pause, with at least two analysts downgrading the company’s stock after it said it expected to spend up to $118 billion on capital spending this year and possibly more in 2026.
Amazon shares have gained more than 30% since a low in mid-April. Investors have applauded its cloud computing unit, which has grown steadily as it signed splashy deals with artificial intelligence firms including Anthropic. The company reported third-quarter sales and earnings that topped estimates, sending shares into after-hours trading.
