Zuckerberg is now richer than warren buffet

Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, has surpassed Warren Buffet also known as the Oracle of Omaha as the World’s third richest man with a net worth of $81. 4billion. He is now the 3rd richest tech founder in the world leaving behind the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway as Facebook shares rose by 2. 4percent. His rise to third position can be attributed to Facebook’s success in getting rid of the allegations on data-privacy crisis and gaining a total of $8. 8billion this year. The Nebraska-based company of Buffett owns Geico, Clayton Homes and Dairy Queen, BNSF Railway, Lubrizol, Fruit of the Loom, Helzberg Diamonds, Long & Foster, FlightSafety International, Pampered Chef, and NetJets, and also owns 38. 6% of Pilot Flying. He also has shares of Coca-Cola and American Express.

Presently, the top three richest people in the world hail from the technology sector. This sector has 5percent of the $5trillion total wealth. Tech stocks have seen a quite a rise in the current year 2018. Netflix has more than doubled, Amazon has risen to 46 percent, Apple stocks have seen a rise of 11 percent, and Google has increased to 9 percent. Facebook as one of the three companies, was started in the year 2004 initially named as Face smash, keeping the membership to Harvard students only. Later in 2006 its accessibility was expanded to other universities and high school students too. Anyone above the age of 13 could make an account on Facebook. In 2012, Facebook decided to do its first IPO. Since then, it has been connecting millions of people across the world.

Most of the revenue of Facebook is generated through advertising. There are almost six million active advertisers on Facebook. It has lower clickthrough rate (CTR) because most of its users are youngsters who use ad-blocking software leading to lower revenue from CTR. Recently, Facebook has faced allegations regarding infringing the privacy of its users by selling the information to third parties, yet, the social networking giant stands to earn remarkable profits during the first quarter of the current year 2018 because it was able to shook off the allegations imposed on it.

Philanthropic measures

As per the updated calculation of April 2018, Zuckerberg’s wealth recorded an increase of $1billion because he had granted fewer shares as previously calculated by Bloomberg. He also plans to make 99 percent of his Facebook shares public during his lifespan. It is said that Buffett slipped to fourth position due to his charitable practices, contributing as much as $290million worth of Berkshire Hathaway class B shares. He has always been well-known for his charitable giving. He has made donations of worth $30. 9billion since 2006 out of which $24 billion has been given to Bill Gate’s foundation.

Bloomberg calculates the net worth of person by taking into account the dividend income paid and proceeds from the sale of public and closely held shares. It ensures the calculation to be as transparent as possible. It does not include the value of assets which are unverified in its calculation. . The rankings of the billionaires are revised on daily basis.

With the volatility faced by the stock prices in the technology sector, it will be interesting to watch who climbs up or slips down the ladder in future.