The Maestro of Wall Street — the Chairman and Founder of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett is no longer world’s third richest person, and that’s because his charitable giving, which he kicked off in earnest in 2006. This left the spot open for one more CEO who made his fortune from technology — Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. It’s the first time that the three wealthiest people on the ranking made their fortunes from technology — Amazon’s Jeff Bezos at no.1, Microsoft’s Bill Gates at no. 2 and now Mark Zuckerberg at no. 3.
Facebook Inc co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has overtaken Warren Buffett as the world’s third-richest person, further solidifying technology as the most robust creator of wealth, Bloomberg reported. Zuckerberg, who trails only Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, eclipsed Buffett Friday as Facebook shares climbed 2.4 percent, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Zuckerberg, 34, is now worth $81.6 billion, about $373 million more than Buffett, the 87-year-old chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Zuckerberg’s ascent has been driven by investors’ continued embrace of Facebook, the social-network giant that shook off the fallout from a data-privacy crisis that hammered its shares, sending them to an eight-month low of $152.22 on March 27. The stock closed Friday at a record $203.23.
Technology fortunes make up about a fifth of the more than $5 trillion in wealth tracked by the Bloomberg index, more than any other sector. The ranking, which tracks the world’s 500 richest people, is updated after the close of each trading day in New York.