Mark Zuckerberg fell to fifth place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his lowest level in nearly two years, after investors reacted cautiously to Meta’s (BDR: ) plan to issue $30 billion in debt. The announcement provoked the technology sector that has been messing with the list of the richest in the world.
Meta’s shares fell 11%, the biggest drop since 2022, after the company announced that it will issue the largest investment grade bond issue of the year to expand investments in artificial intelligence research. As a result, Zuckerberg’s fortune fell to US$235.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg richest index.
He was overtaken by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos () and Alphabet’s Larry Page (), who have not been among the four richest since October 2023. Alphabet shares rose 2.5% after the company reported revenue above expectations, driven by strong demand for cloud services and artificial intelligence.
Take your business to the next level with the country’s top entrepreneurs!
Zuckerberg’s $29.2 billion loss was the fourth-largest daily drop ever recorded in the Bloomberg index driven by market movements.
Before Thursday’s fall, Meta’s shares were up 28% for the year, adding US$57 billion to the founder’s wealth. But the rise in forecast spending on AI has raised concerns among investors: At least two analysts downgraded their recommendation for the stock after the company said it could spend up to $118 billion on capital expenditures this year, and possibly more in 2026.
since the mid-April low. The performance was driven by the cloud computing division, which has been growing consistently and signing contracts with AI companies, including Anthropic. The company reported sales and profit in the third quarter above estimates, which caused shares to soar in trading after the market closed.
© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.
