Zuckerberg passes Bezos to become the second richest person in the world

Zuckerberg’s bet on the metaverse — which initially seemed like a huge windfall — has paid off in recent months, pushing his net worth to an all-time high of $206.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That puts him $1.1 billion ahead of Amazon.com Inc.’s Bezos. and nearly $50 billion behind Elon Musk of Tesla Inc.

Meta shares are up 23% since reporting better-than-expected second-quarter sales and touting its push into the kind of big language models that power AI chatbots. Shares closed Thursday at an all-time high of $582.77.

Meta has spent heavily on data centers and computing power as Zuckerberg works to build a leadership position in the industry-wide AI race. The company has also continued with other long-term projects, including the Orion augmented reality glasses, which the company introduced last month.

Zuckerberg, who owns a 13 percent stake in the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company, has seen his fortune grow by $78 billion so far this year, the most among the world’s 500 richest people tracked by the Bloomberg index.

The 40-year-old co-founder and chief executive has gained four places this year on the wealth index.