Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has joint the centibillionaire club, as the social network’s shares skyrocketed on Thursday. 36 year old joined Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, are the two other people to have achieved this status.
Mark owns 13% equity in Facebook, and following the 6% rise in the company’s shares on Thursday, his net worth passed $100 billion. Market experts predict that this is following the social media network’s recent rollout Instagram Reels, which is a competition to its Chinese counterpart TikTok. Notably, it has become popular after TikTok was banned in India and other countries following suit.
Furthermore, as half the world still under coronavirus lockdown, most people at home have gone online, causing a surge in usage of technological services. Zuckerberg’s net worth has risen by about $22bn this year, while Bezos’s fortune has jumped by more than $75bn. Apple could hit a valuation of $2tn in trading on Friday, the first US company to reach such a milestone.
The US senator Bernie Sanders wants to introduce legislation to tax what he called “obscene wealth gains” during the coronavirus crisis, despite the US economy shrinking at its fastest pace on record. The “Make Billionaires Pay Act” would impose a 60% tax on wealth gains made by the super-rich from 18 March through to the end of the year. The revenue would be used to cover the healthcare expenses of US citizens struggling to pay.