SAN FRANCISCO (BLOOMBERG) - Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg saw his fortune rise US$6.2 billion (S$8.85 billion) in trading on Thursday (Jan 28) after the world's biggest social network delivered another quarter of record revenue.
That gives the 31-year-old a net worth of US$47.6 billion at 1:15 pm in New York, enough to surpass the US$45.9 billion holdings of brothers Charles and David Koch, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Facebook reported on Wednesday that fourth-quarter sales were up 52 per cent to US$5.84 billion and net income had more than doubled to US$1.56 billion from a year earlier. More than 1.59 billion users are now logging on every month, according to the company.
Thursday's surge turned a year-to-date decline of more than US$4 billion for Zuckerberg into a US$1.9 billion gain for the year and pushed him above the Kochs, whose industrial holdings have been hit by lower oil prices.
The five billionaires that remain above the tech entrepreneur in the ranking - Bill Gates, Amancio Ortega, Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos and Carlos Slim - have lost a combined US$24 billion so far this month through Wednesday trading as global equities slump amid dimming investor expectations of global growth.
Mr Zuckerberg is now one of only three billionaires among the 20 richest people on Earth to see an increase this year, according to the Bloomberg index, a daily ranking of the world's 400 richest people.
The billionaires had a combined net worth of US$3.7 trillion as of Jan 27, a 14 per cent decline from their peak of US$4.3 trillion on May 18, 2015.
The index's daily ranking updates every day at 5 pm in New York and does not reflect intraday changes.
World's top 6 billionaires and their net worth change
1. Microsoft founder Bill Gates, 60
Now worth: US$77.9 billion
Down: US$5.9 billion
2. Zara owner Amancio Ortega, 79
Now worth: US70.2 billion
Down: US$2.7 billion
3. Investment guru Warren Buffett, 85
Now worth: US$59.1 billion
Down: US$3.2 billion
4. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, 52
Now worth: US$51.9 billion
Down: 7.8 billion
5. Telecom magnate Carlos Slim, 76
Now worth: US$47.8 billion
Down: US$4.5 billion
6. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, 31
Now worth: US$47.6 billion
Up: US$1.9 billion
