Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, 36, has become the third centibillionaire in the World.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Zuckerberg’s fortune has topped $100bn for the first time, placing him among members of the world’s centibillionaires’ club, after Facebook’s shares surged by 6% on investor optimism over the news the company plans to launch Instagram Reels, a rival to the Chinese video-sharing application TikTok.
Facebook announced the US rollout of Instagram Reels after US President Donald Trump banned US companies from dealing with ByteDance and Tencent, the Chinese owners of TikTok and the WeChat messaging service.
The 36-year old media magnate has now joined Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder, and Bill Gates, Microsoft’s founder, as the only people who have centibillionaire status, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index said.
Mark Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook in 2004 and owns a 13% stake in the company, gained about US$22 billion this year.