Mark Zuckerberg Is Now Third-Richest Person On Earth
NEW YORK (CNN Money) -- Move over, Warren Buffett: Mark Zuckerberg is now the third-richest person in the world.
The Facebook CEO jumped ahead on Friday with a net worth of $81.6 billion, according to calculations by Bloomberg. That put him about $373 million in front of Buffett, the legendary investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO.
Zuckerberg claimed the No. 3 spot on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index because Facebook shares rose 2.4%. The stock has spiked about 15% this year.
For the first time, the three richest people alive are all tech titans. Amazon's Jeff Bezos, worth about $141 billion, is first, followed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, according to the Bloomberg index.
Tech stocks have been a bright spot in a sometimes volatile market this year. Netflix has more than doubled, Amazon has surged 46%, Apple is up about 11%, and Google has gained 9%.
Lindsey Bell, an investment strategist with CFRA Research, said last month that she expects tech stocks to help lead the market higher over the next year.
Buffett is betting on tech, too. Berkshire Hathaway bought about 75 million shares of Apple stock during the first three months of the year, adding to the 165 million shares it already had.
He was relatively late to tech. Buffett didn't report his first purchase of Apple shares until two years ago. Now Apple is one of Berkshire's largest holdings.
Buffett gives billions of dollars to charity every year. Zuckerberg has pledged to give away 99% of his Facebook shares.
The-CNN-Wire
By Danielle Wiener Brenner. CNN's Chris Isidore contributed to this report.
™ & © 2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
