Zuckerberg's wealth rose to $87 billion amid thousands of job cuts: Report
Meta is expected to cut 10,000 jobs between March and May this year and will not hire for 5,000 open roles.
Meta chief executive officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg's wealth shot up by $10 billion to $87 billion ( ₹7.11 lakh crore), this amid layoffs of thousands of employees in recent times.
On Thursday, Meta stocks rose by 14 per cent on Thursday after the social media behemoth reported revenues of #28.6 billion in the first quarter of this year. Zuckerberg's wealth rose by highest margin in over a year, making him the 12th richest person on the planet as per the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. The 38-year-old tech boss derives most of his fortune from his stake in Meta, which is 13 per cent, Business Insider reported.
However, Zuckerberg is known for his humble lifestyle. This despite spending lavishly on Hawaiian real estate and Italian sports cars. The Harvard dropout's wealth is in contrast to 2022 when his fortune had dropped by $40 billion in the first nine months of the year. This had left him at 20th spot on the Bloomberg list last September.
The depletion in wealth was attributed to Meta's expensive foray into the metaverse and the industry-wide tech slump. In November, the Facebook co-founder's wealth had hit a low of $35 billion in November last year.
According to report, Meta is expected to cut 10,000 jobs between March and May this year and will not hire for 5,000 open roles. The layoffs are in addition to the 11,000 job cuts implemented by the company last November.
But Zuckerberg is not letting go of his metaverse ambitions. He has told investors that a narrative has developed that his company is moving away from focus on the metaverse vision, which is not accurate. He said that the company is focusing on artificial intelligence and metaverse for years now.