Zuckerberg drops two spots in billionaire ranks as Meta AI plans shake investors
The company has reported third-quarter sales and profit that topped estimates, sending shares surging in after-hours trading
[NEW YORK] Mark Zuckerberg fell to fifth place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the lowest in nearly two years, as investors spooked by Meta Platforms’ planned US$30 billion debt sale sent the company’s shares spiralling amid a flurry of tech earnings shaking up the ranks of the world’s richest.
Meta’s stock fell 11 per cent, the most since 2022, after the company said that it was going to issue the biggest investment-grade bond offering of the year to boost spending on artificial intelligence (AI) research, dropping Zuckerberg’s net worth to US$235.2 billion, according to the wealth index.
He was leapfrogged by Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos and Alphabet’s Larry Page, who had not been among the four-richest people since October 2023. Alphabet’s shares climbed 2.5 per cent after it reported revenue that beat analysts’ expectations amid a surge in demand for its cloud and AI services.
Zuckerberg’s US$29.2 billion drop was the fourth-largest one-day market-driven decline ever recorded by Bloomberg’s wealth index.
Meta’s stock had gained 28 per cent this year before Thursday’s (Oct 30) swoon, adding US$57 billion to Zuckerberg’s fortune. But doubts over Meta’s ballooning AI budget gave investors pause, with at least two analysts downgrading the company’s shares after it said that it expected to spend up to US$118 billion in capital expenditures this year and possibly more in 2026.
Amazon shares have gained more than 30 per cent since a mid-April low. Investors have cheered its cloud-computing unit, which has steadily grown as it has signed splashy deals with AI firms, including Anthropic.
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The company reported third-quarter sales and profit that topped estimates, sending shares surging in after-hours trading. BLOOMBERG
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