Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth has plummeted by $71 billion this year – more than any other billionaire tracked by Bloomberg’s ratings.
Zuckerberg, 38, was worth $142 billion in September 2021. On Tuesday he was worth a mere $56 billion, Bloomberg reported.
The economic headwinds meant that Zuckerberg was ranked 20th among global billionaires – his lowest spot since 2014.
Zuckerberg was placed below three Waltons, and two members of the Koch family.
The New York-born billionaire has seen his fortune steadily slip away since he launched Meta, Facebook’s parent company, in October 2021.
Zuckerberg himself has come under intense scrutiny for his policies on content – first, during the 2016 election, with the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and then with battles over censorship and content monitoring.
He has been called to testify before Congress, with Republicans accusing him of censorship and Democrats saying he did not do enough.
In February, Meta revealed no growth in monthly Facebook users, triggering a historic collapse in its stock price and slashing Zuckerberg’s fortune by US$31 billion – among the biggest one-day declines in wealth ever.
Meta has recently faced controversy over its plan to promote Reels – short videos – on Instagram, which it owns.
And the tech industry as a whole is facing challenges, as advertisers reassess their spending amid looming recession.
Meta is performing worse than its peers, Bloomberg reported – down 57 percent this year, versus 14 percent for Apple, 26 percent for Amazon and 29 percent for Google’s parent company Alphabet.
Almost all of Zuckerberg’s wealth is tied up in Meta stock.
He holds more than 350 million shares, according to the company’s latest proxy statement.
