Transcript:
Conway Gittens: I’m Conway Gittens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here’s what we’re watching on TheStreet today.
Stocks began the week under pressure as escalating warfare in the Middle East offset economic optimism at home.
Related: Mark Zuckerberg fires back at a major concern about social media
In other news - move over Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg has taken over your spot as the world’s second richest person. Zuckerberg has also eclipsed the fortune of LVMH founder Bernard Arnault.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Zuckerberg’s personal wealth sits at $206 billion, only bested by Elon Musk’s $265 billion.
Zuckerberg’s finances took a big leap in 2024, with the addition of $78.1 billion in his coffers. Much of the bounce in wealth came from one source: his stake in Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. Meta shares have soared roughly 70 percent to record highs near $600 a pop.
Meta has seemingly weathered political and financial storms, which held the stock back in the past. Zuckerberg had to steer the ship after being called down to Capitol Hill several times to defend Facebook for its role in spreading political misinformation. And then there was the disastrous pivot to the Metaverse from which he had to make a U-turn after his stock plunged on spending concerns.
Zuckerberg survived both crises and now Meta and its various products including, Threads and What’s App, are on the mend. Zuckerberg’s embrace of AI is helping, too. He says that with half-a-billion monthly active users, it won’t be long before Meta AI becomes the biggest AI assistant in the world. That, of course, will add even more dollars to Zuckerberg’s wealth since the value of Meta’s stock is based on how many eyeballs he can get for advertisers.
That’ll do it for your Daily Briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Conway Gittens with TheStreet.
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