The majority of Mark Zuckerberg's wealth is derived from his ownership of Meta Platforms, the largest social network in the world and a former Facebook
In what ways does he spend his billions?
Mark Zuckerberg is the name that almost always comes to mind when you think of social media.
With good reason, he is the brains behind Facebook and is the owner of a number of digital communication platforms under the Meta umbrella, such as Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp. A company presentation from January 2025 states that Meta Platforms has approximately 3.4 billion users every day.
With a net worth of £232 billion, he is easily among the wealthiest people in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. But according to Forbes, Mark Zuckerberg is worth £227.1 billion.
We learn how Zuckerberg made his fortune and what factors have shaped his current net worth.
According to a February 2025 filing, Mark Zuckerberg's ownership stake in Meta accounts for nearly all of his net worth, or roughly 13 percent. How did it begin?
Zuckerberg developed the Facemash website while still a Harvard University student, allowing users to score their peers' attractiveness. Although it was shut down due to controversy, Zuckerberg got the idea for a social networking site from it. He started a new endeavor that would eventually become Facebook.
In order to build the new website, Zuckerberg recruited Dustin Moskovitz and Eduardo Saverin, his roommates, to work with him in their dorm room. When they first launched it, it was called Facebook.com on February 4, 2004.
The popularity of it grew rapidly. Initially restricted to the Harvard campus, Zuckerberg and his team later extended the website to other colleges as it grew. They approached venture capitalists to raise the money needed for the expansion. They consequently relocated their business to Palo Alto, California, where they can coexist with other rapidly expanding startups.
The company's value was £525 million by 2006. In 2007, Facebook then made its services available to anybody with an email address. In 2007, Microsoft invested approximately £240 million in Facebook when it acquired a 1 percent stake in the company. It was the largest IPO in history in 2012, when the company was valued at £104 billion.
Facebook to Meta.
In an indication of a change in emphasis toward the metaverse, Facebook rebranded itself as Meta in October 2021. The metaverse is essentially a digital version of Marvel, with a variety of uses ranging from socializing to education to gaming.
Facebook was the sole company at first, but it quickly underwent a number of mergers and acquisitions. Among its well-known investments are WhatsApp (£19 billion) and Instagram (£1 billion) in 2012.
In 2019, Zuckerberg made all three platforms use an end-to-end encrypted system. In an effort to further integrate the two social media behemoths, The Verge revealed a year later that he had combined Instagram and Messenger chats on both iOS and Android.
For Zuckerberg, the journey has been successful thus far. According to a Fortune analysis, he earned over £2.02 billion in 2024. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, investments in AI also caused the CEO and co-founder of Meta to see a 70 percent increase in wealth, bringing his total wealth to approximately £72 billion.
Business Insider claims that the company's shares have increased by more than 17 percent this year due to the excitement surrounding AI. Trading Economics estimates that Meta's market capitalization is currently £1.65 trillion, placing it in the trillion-dollar club alongside companies like Apple and Amazon.
According to MSN, Zuckerberg recently carried out a number of stock transactions amounting to approximately £9.17 million in Metas Class A Common Stock. The price of each share ranged from £700 to £716.
Over the years, Zuckerberg has given away a portion of his fortune to charitable organizations. The Startup Education foundation was established by him with the goal of raising the standard of public education in Newark. In 2010, Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett signed The Giving Pledge, pledging to donate the majority of their fortune to charitable causes. In addition, he gave the Silicon Valley Community Foundation 18 million Facebook shares to help with housing and education for kids.
With his wife, Priscilla Chan, Zuckerberg founded the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. It seeks to eradicate diseases, create economic opportunities, and advance affordable housing.
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