Zuckerberg tumbles to fifth as Meta’s stock sinks
Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth dropped sharply after Meta Platforms announced plans for a $30 billion debt offering, causing his position among global billionaires to slip to fifth. The Facebook parent company’s stock plummeted 11 percent on Thursday, marking its steepest decline since 2022 and reducing Zuckerberg’s fortune to $235.2 billion. Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Larry Page of Alphabet both surpassed him in rankings for the first time since October 2023.
Meta revealed it would pursue the largest investment-grade bond sale this year to fund artificial intelligence development. The single-day loss of $29.2 billion represented the fourth-biggest market-driven wealth decline ever tracked by Bloomberg. Concerns mounted after Meta projected capital spending could reach $118 billion in the current year and potentially more in 2026, prompting at least two analysts to downgrade the stock.
Meanwhile, Alphabet shares rose 2.5 percent following stronger-than-expected revenue driven by cloud computing and AI services. Amazon stock has climbed more than 30 percent since mid-April as investors responded positively to its cloud division’s growth and partnerships with AI companies like Anthropic. Third-quarter results at Amazon exceeded projections, pushing shares higher in after-hours trading.
